move maintainers guide

Author: joshgoebel

MAINTAINERS_GUIDE.md

@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+Maintainer's Guide
+==================
+
+
+Commit Policy
+-------------
+
+* Pull requests from outside contributors require a review from a maintainer.
+
+* Maintainers should avoid working on a main branch directly and create branches for everything. A code review from another maintainer is recommended but not required, use your best judgment.
+
+
+
+Release process
+---------------
+
+Releases (minor) typically happen on a 6-week schedule.
+
+For major/minor releases you'll be releasing from `main`  For patch releases you'll be releasing from a stable branch, such as `11-stable`.  This allows ongoing development of new features to continue in isolation (in main) without those changes leaking into patch releases (which should focus only on fixing breaking changes).
+
+The goal being that minor version series always get more stable over time and that patch releases do not add features.
+
+* For patch releases: First switch to the associated stable branch (i.e., `11-stable`)
+
+* Update `CHANGES.md` with everything interesting since the last update.
+
+* Update version numbers using the three-part x.y.z notation everywhere:
+
+  * The header in `CHANGES.md` (this is where the site looks for the latest version number)
+  * `version` attribute in `package.json`
+  * `version` attribute in `package-lock.json` (run `npm install`)
+  * `release` variable in `docs/conf.py`
+  * All mentions of version number in the `README.md`
+  * Update `SECURITY.md` version table
+
+* Commit the version changes and tag the commit with the version number (`10.4.0`, no "v" prefix or anything like that)
+
+* For major/minor releases: Create (or push push) the `[major]-stable` branch such as `11-stable`
+
+IE, the `11-stable` branch should always point to the latest stable release in the 11 series.
+
+* Push the commit the tag (`git push && git push 10.4.0`)
+
+
+Pushing the tag triggers the update process which can be monitored at http://highlightjs.org/api/release/
+
+When something didn't work *and* it's fixable in code (version numbers mismatch, last minute patches, etc), simply make another release incrementing the third (revision) part of the version number.