Release do-nothing script: correct handling of patch releases

.pre-commit-config.yaml

@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@ files: |
         setup\.py|
         docs\/.+\.py|
         lib\/.+\.py|
-        benchmarks\/.+\.py
+        benchmarks\/.+\.py|
+        tools\/.+\.py
     )
 minimum_pre_commit_version: 1.21.0
 

docs/src/developers_guide/release.rst

@@ -88,6 +88,11 @@ New features shall not be included in a patch release, these are for bug fixes.
 A patch release does not require a release candidate, but the rest of the
 release process is to be followed.
 
+As mentioned in :ref:`release_branch`: branch/commit management is much simpler
+if the patch changes are **first merged into the release branch** -
+e.g. ``v1.9.x`` - and are only added to ``main`` during :ref:`merge_back` (post
+release).
+
 
 Before Release
 --------------
@@ -111,6 +116,8 @@ from the `latest CF standard names`_.
 The Release
 -----------
 
+.. _release_branch:
+
 Release Branch
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
@@ -193,6 +200,8 @@ of the new release. Ideally this would be updated before the release, but
 the DOI for the new version is only available once the release has been
 created in GitHub.
 
+.. _merge_back:
+
 Merge Back
 ~~~~~~~~~~
 

noxfile.py

@@ -186,6 +186,7 @@ def tests(session: nox.sessions.Session):
         "-n",
         "auto",
         "lib/iris/tests",
+        "tools",
     ]
     if "-c" in session.posargs or "--coverage" in session.posargs:
         run_args[-1:-1] = ["--cov=lib/iris", "--cov-report=xml"]