Releasing packages

Rez packages can be built and deployed to the release_packages_path using the rez-release tool. This tool performs the following actions:

• All actions that the rez-build tool performs.

• Executes all configured release_hooks.

• Executes all configured src/rezplugins/release_vcs plugins.

When to release vs build

Packages can be installed to the release_packages_path manually by running rez-build -i --prefix /path/to/repo, so why would you use rez-release?

Well, here are a few benefits of rez-release:

• The package will automatically go to the configured release_packages_path, whereas rez-build will go to the local_packages_path by default.

• Tests being run by with the rez-test tool can run specifically prior to release, ensuring that releases pass any configured tests first.

• Automatic sanity checks to ensure local repo is ready for release.

• Automatic VCS tagging.

• Many helpful package attributes are automatically added to the released package definition file.

If you’re working locally, these additional steps and checks may slow you down, so it may be better to stick with rez-build.