EF Core 12 release checklist

[AndriySvyryd]

RC1 (Code-complete)

• (@AndriySvyryd) Finish API reviews
• (@AndriySvyryd) Code cleanup
• (@AndriySvyryd) Make sure to target only the latest TFM (except for tools)
• (@AndriySvyryd) Make sure that new language features are supported without preview flag (runtime-async and safe)
• (@AndriySvyryd) Update .NET SDK version to latest public preview

RC2

• (@AndriySvyryd) Run SqlServer and Cosmos tests against Azure
• (@AndriySvyryd) Make sure we depend on LTS SqlClient Microsoft.Data.SqlClient 7.0.0 #37949
• (@AndriySvyryd) Make sure we depend on non-preview Mono.TextTemplating
• (@AndriySvyryd) Make sure we depend on the Microsoft.Extensions.* versions that correspond to our TFM so that the shared framework is used when the app targets that TFM
• (@SamMonoRT) Review all of our (transitive) dependencies to make sure that the support policies are aligned
• (@AndriySvyryd) Update threat model, review warnings from CG, NuGet Audit and other validation tools

GA

• (@AndriySvyryd) Move issues from preview milestones to GA
• (@AndriySvyryd) Verify changes from servicing branches were merged correctly (especially MSRC if any)
• (@AndriySvyryd) Verify all quirks removed
• (@wtgodbe) Update inter-branch and internal mirroring flows
• (@AndriySvyryd) Update What's New and breaking changes
• (@AndriySvyryd) Update the ToC to point to the new What's New page
• (@SamMonoRT) Publish API docs for EF and Microsoft.Data.Sqlite
  • (@SamMonoRT) Update the DocFX configuration to exclude API marked with [EntityFrameworkCoreInternal], see https://github.com/dotnet/EntityFramework.Docs/pull/3033/changes#diff-aade58da7dfd1dc86c2efa6b46a26f06fde472df3734bc333c791929d6d136a5
• (@AndriySvyryd) Update references to the new API with links to the API documentation

Post-release

• (@AndriySvyryd) Update Docs samples to use GA (Update samples to .NET 11 EntityFramework.Docs#5126)
• (@AndriySvyryd) Update https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/ef/core/miscellaneous/platforms
• (@AndriySvyryd) Delete preview branches and branches for releases that are no longer supported (create tags), delete stale branches and PRs
• (@AndriySvyryd) Remove obsolete members for the next non-LTS release
• (@AndriySvyryd) Make sure we depend on the Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.CSharp.Workspaces that corresponds to our TFM (e.g. 4.8.0 for net8.0) once released
• (@AndriySvyryd) Create a checklist for 13