1.14.0: Clean up release_docs directory (#2353)

* Added a README to release_docs

* Removed maintenance branch HISTORY documents

* Consolidated HDF5 1.13 history into RELEASE.txt

* Removed 1.12.0 entries that were not properly cleaned out

* Fix unescaped brackets

* Okay, let's try square brackets

* Make the version notation uniform

* Added some helpful text about introduction boilerplate

* Added 1.X.0 release info to HISTORY files

* Update the README.md file

* Fixed text in HISTORY intros

1 files changed, 102 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/release_docs/README.md b/release_docs/README.md
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+# The `release_docs` directory
+
+## Intro
+
+This directory contains instructions for building and using the library as
+well as the HDF5 history files.
+
+## HISTORY files
+
+The HISTORY files contain the history of this branch of HDF5. They fall into
+three categories.
+
+### HISTORY-\[VERSION 1\]-\[VERSION 2\].txt
+
+These files are created when we release a new major version and include all
+the changes that were made to develop while creating a major release.
+
+### HISTORY-\[VERSION\].txt
+
+This file contains the changes that were made to a maintenance branch since
+it split off from `develop`. It will also be found in the `develop` branch
+when experimental releases have been created.
+
+### RELEASE.txt
+
+This is the changelog for the current version of the library.
+
+For a MAJOR release (or in `develop`) this files lists all the changes since the
+last major version. For a MINOR release (or in a maintenance branch), this file
+lists all the changes since the last release in the maintenance branch.
+
+Examples:
+
+* The file for HDF5 1.14.0 includes all the changes since HDF5 1.12.0
+* The file for HDF5 1.10.9 includes all the changes since HDF5 1.10.8
+* The file in `develop` includes all the changes since the last major release
+* The file in `hdf5_1_14` includes all the changes since the last minor HDF5 1.14 release
+
+Note that we make no effort to bring maintenance branch HISTORY files back to
+develop. If you want to compare, say, 1.10.4 with 1.12.3, you'd have to get
+the history files from those releases and compare them by hand.
+
+## Creating new releases
+
+### MAJOR release
+
+* If there were experimental releases, merge the experimental HISTORY file
+  and the current RELEASE.txt by category to create a separate, unified
+  file that ignores the experimental releases. Don't check this in yet or
+  clobber any existing HISTORY/RELEASE files, but put it someplace handy for
+  use in later steps.
+
+* Create the new maintenance branch
+
+In develop:
+* Create the new HISTORY-\[VERSION 1\]-\[VERSION 2\].txt file
+    * If there is an experimental HISTORY file, add RELEASE.txt to the beginning of it and use that
+    * Otherwise, start with RELEASE.txt
+    * Add the introduction boilerplate like in the other HISTORY files (TOC, etc.)
+* Delete any experimental HISTORY file
+* Clear out RELEASE.txt
+
+Note that we're KEEPING any experimental release history information in the
+HISTORY-\[VERSION 1\]-\[VERSION 2\].txt file, so do NOT use the merged file in
+the above steps!
+
+In the new maintenance branch:
+* Create the new HISTORY-\[VERSION\].txt file
+    * If there is an experimental HISTORY file use the combined file you created earlier
+    * Otherwise, start with RELEASE.txt
+    * Add the introduction boilerplate like in the other HISTORY files (TOC, etc.)
+* Delete any experimental HISTORY file
+* Clear out RELEASE.txt
+
+* Create the new release branch
+
+In the new release branch:
+* If there were experimental releases, use the combined file you created earlier as RELEASE.txt
+* Otherwise the RELEASE.txt will be used as-is
+
+### MINOR release
+
+* Create the release branch
+
+In the maintenance branch:
+* Add the contents of RELEASE.txt to the beginnnig of HISTORY-\[VERSION\].txt
+* Clear out RELEASE.txt
+
+### EXPERIMENTAL release
+
+* Add the contents of RELEASE.txt to the beginnnig of HISTORY-\[VERSION\].txt
+* Clear out RELEASE.txt
+
+## INSTALL files
+
+These files include instructions for building and installing HDF5 on various
+platforms.
+
+## USING files
+
+These files document how to build HDF5 applications with an installed HDF5
+library.