chore: update release process documentation (#2871)

Co-authored-by: Sachin D. Shinde <[email protected]>

RELEASING.md

@@ -10,17 +10,20 @@ This is a quick and opinionated set of commands for building and releasing a new
 
 More details can be found in [the `changeset` docs for publishing](https://github.com/changesets/changesets/blob/main/docs/intro-to-using-changesets.md#versioning-and-publishing)
 
-1. Find the `changesets` PR on the `main` or `next` branch.
-   a. If releasing from `next`, ensure that the branch is up to date with main 
-1. Look at the PR and ensure that it looks good. If the version is not correct, you may need to create a new PR that does one of the following:
-   a. If the version is alpha/beta/rc and you prefer a new major/minor/patch, you'll need to run `npx changeset pre exit`. 
-   b. If the version is not alpha/beta/rc and you want it to be, you'll need to run `npx changeset pre enter <alpha|beta|rc|preview>`. 
-   c. If the version is a patch release, and you want it to be a minor, you'll need to make sure that you've committed a `npx changeset add` that has release notes for a minor release.
-1. Once you've merged this to main, the existing PR should be updated to have the intended version.
-1. Once everything looks good, approve the PR and merge. This should create a new release and publish the packages to npm and https://github.com/apollographql/federation/releases.
-1. For now, we may need to do some manual massaging of the npm tags. Run `./scripts/check-npm-packages.sh` and ensure all tags look correct. If (when) they don't, you'll need to manually run `npm dist-tag` to ensure all tags are set to the correct release.
-1. As part of publishing the release, two PRs will be created in `federation-rs`, one for the harmonizer, and the other for the `router-bridge`. If all tests pass and everything looks good, merge `harmonizer` first, then once the Github action is complete, merge the `router-bridge`. 
-
+1. Find the `changesets` release PR on the `main` (patch releases) or `next` (minor/major releases) branch.
+    * If releasing from `next`, ensure that the branch is up to date with main 
+2. Look at the PR and ensure that it looks good. If the version is not correct, you may need to create and merge a new PR that does one of the following:
+    1. If the version is `alpha`/`beta`/`rc` and you prefer a new `major`/`minor`/`patch`, you'll need to run `npx changeset pre exit`. 
+    2. If the version is not `alpha`/`beta`/`rc` and you want it to be, you'll need to run `npx changeset pre enter <alpha|beta|rc|preview>`. 
+    3. If the version is a `patch` release, and you want it to be a `minor`, you'll need to make sure that you've committed a `npx changeset add` that has release notes for a minor release.
+3. Once everything looks good, approve the PR and merge. This should create a new [GH release](https://github.com/apollographql/federation/releases) and publish the packages to NPM.
+4. Verify whether NPM tags are correct (as occassionally we may need to manually fix them). Run `./scripts/check-npm-packages.sh` and ensure all tags look correct. If (when) they don't, you'll need to manually run `npm dist-tag` to ensure all tags are set to the correct release.
+5. As part of publishing the release, two PRs will be created in `federation-rs`, one for the `harmonizer`, and the other for the `router-bridge`.
+    1. If all tests pass and everything looks good, merge `harmonizer` PR first.
+    2. Once the `harmonizer` release (Github action) is complete, merge the `router-bridge` PR.
+6. When releasing minor/major versions, you will need to create a follow up PR to merge changes from `next` to `main` branch.
+   * In order to preserve the change history between `next` and `main` branches, make sure to use `merge` commit. By default, all PRs should be `squashed` so you might need to temporarily re-enable `merge` commits in the repository settings.
+
 ![celebrate](https://media.giphy.com/media/LZElUsjl1Bu6c/giphy.gif)
 
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