Automate publishing to npm

[stevenbenner]

It is possible to automate the npm publish step for releasing a new version of PowerTip with GitHub Actions. Publishing the package in this manner also has the ability to include npm package provenance. Which may be beneficial to developers who use PowerTip.

This would hopefully be one less thing to think about when publishing a new release. So it's probably a good idea to implement this via automation.

It is worth considering packing up the downloadable archive via actions as well.

• Create a new GitHub Actions workflow to publish PowerTip to npm when a new tagged version is pushed.
• Update release-process.md document.
• Configure secrets

[p4535992]

Hi @stevenbenner sorry to bother is version 1.4.0 coming soon ? No hurry just as information.

[stevenbenner]

@p4535992 I'm not sure myself.

The primary feature of version 1.4.0 will be support for jQuery version 4.0.0. Other than this issue, the dev work for 1.4.0 should already be finished. But the last time I checked we only have beta versions of jQuery 4, and I am hesitant to publish a release that is based on a beta version. I would much prefer to have a release candidate of jQuery before releasing the next version of PowerTip.

So my current plan is to release 1.4.0 after the first jQuery 4 RC - assuming that they don't say anything to make me think that there will be a chain subsequent RCs, or that the RC is unstable.

[stevenbenner]

Last month GitHub announced a better way to publish npm packages. The new method doesn't require creating an npm token. It does not even require saving a secret to GitHub and making it available to an actions workflow with elevated privileges. So automatic publishing should be implemented using trusted publishers.