KOTS is the technology which is used to deliver a Replicated installation. Generally, KOTS should refer to the underlying open source technology and Replicated is the commercially supported project.

Development

tl;dr the make command will build and push a release to your development channel

Authentication

The following environment variables are required to be able to publish to our Replicated account:

REPLICATED_APP: the unique application slug. If in doubt, use gitpod-pov.
REPLICATED_API_TOKEN: a User API Token with Read/Write permissions
REPLICATED_DEV_CHANNEL: the channel to push dev releases to. Use the naming convention dev-<initials> (eg, dev-sje).

Naming conventions

Starts with kots - part of the KOTS configuration. Typically, this will follow the KOTS documentation/conventions
Starts with gitpod - part of the Gitpod application. Typically, this will be something we define/own
Starts with crd - a Custom Resource Definition

Create a development release

A development release can be created by running make create_dev_release. This builds and publishes a new development release to the account. This can then be applied to your development cluster.

Development releases should be used by individual developers when testing and developing a KOTS release.

Create an unstable release

An unstable release can be created by running make create_unstable_release. This builds and publishes a new unstable release to the account. This can then be applied to your development cluster.

Unstable releases should be used as the first part of creating a stable release.

Promoting a release to beta and stable

Beta and stable are the channels used to deliver a KOTS application to the general public. A beta release is considered a release candidate. Once testing has passed, it is promoted to the stable channel.

Promotion of releases from unstable to stable should be done in the management console on the Replicated vendor homepage.