XPU Release Branching

Set up torch-xpu-ops for a new PyTorch release cycle: create the release branch, open the tracker issue, submit the workflow-defaults PR, and post the initial tracker comment.

Invocation: /xpu-release-branching release/X.Y

Terminology

Given release/2.12:

• BRANCH = release/2.12
• MAJOR_MINOR = 2.12
• VERSION = v.2.12.0

Step 1 — Verify PyTorch Release Branch

Confirm the pytorch release branch exists and locate the release tracker issue:

# Branch must exist
gh api repos/pytorch/pytorch/branches/release/MAJOR_MINOR --jq '.name'

# Find the pytorch release tracker issue
gh issue list -R pytorch/pytorch -s all \
  --search "[v.MAJOR_MINOR.0] Release Tracker in:title" \
  --json number,title,url -L 1

Read the pytorch release tracker issue body to extract:

• Phase 1 deadline (e.g. "until 27/4/26")
• Phase 2 start (e.g. "after 27/4/26")

These dates are needed for the torch-xpu-ops tracker issue.

Step 2 — Create torch-xpu-ops Release Branch

Get the pinned commit from pytorch's release branch and create the torch-xpu-ops branch from it. If the branch already exists (e.g. retrying after a partial failure), skip this step and verify the branch directly.

# Get the pinned torch-xpu-ops commit on the pytorch release branch
PINNED=$(gh api repos/pytorch/pytorch/contents/third_party/xpu.txt \
  --jq '.content' -H 'Accept: application/vnd.github.v3+json' \
  -f ref=release/MAJOR_MINOR | base64 -d | tr -d '[:space:]')

# Create the release branch at that commit
gh api repos/intel/torch-xpu-ops/git/refs -f ref=refs/heads/release/MAJOR_MINOR -f sha=$PINNED

Verify the branch was created:

gh api repos/intel/torch-xpu-ops/branches/release/MAJOR_MINOR --jq '.name'

Step 3 — Create Release Tracker Issue

Create a milestone PTMAJOR_MINOR in torch-xpu-ops if it does not exist yet:

# Check if milestone exists; create if not
gh api repos/intel/torch-xpu-ops/milestones --jq '.[] | select(.title == "PTMAJOR_MINOR") | .title' \
  || gh api repos/intel/torch-xpu-ops/milestones -f title="PTMAJOR_MINOR" -f state=open

Open the tracker issue with this exact body template:

Title: [VERSION] Release Tracker
Milestone: PTMAJOR_MINOR

Issue body (replace placeholders):

We cut a [release branch](https://github.com/intel/torch-xpu-ops/tree/BRANCH) for the MAJOR_MINOR.0 release.

Our plan from this point is roughly:

- Phase 1 (until <PHASE1_DEADLINE>): work on finalizing the release branch

- Phase 2 (after <PHASE2_START>): perform extended integration/stability/performance testing based on Release Candidate builds.

This issue is for tracking cherry-picks to the release branch.

Refer <PYTORCH_TRACKER_URL>

Where:

• <PHASE1_DEADLINE> / <PHASE2_START> come from the pytorch tracker (Step 1)
• <PYTORCH_TRACKER_URL> is https://github.com/pytorch/pytorch/issues/<NUMBER>

gh issue create -R intel/torch-xpu-ops \
  --title "[VERSION] Release Tracker" \
  --milestone "PTMAJOR_MINOR" \
  --body "$(cat <<'EOF'
<body from template above>
EOF
)"

Record the created issue number for Step 5.

Step 4 — Create Release-Only Changes PR

This PR changes the default branch parameters in workflow files from main to BRANCH.

4a. Create a working branch

git fetch origin BRANCH
git checkout -b release_MAJOR_MINOR_change origin/BRANCH

(Branch naming convention: release_X.Y_change, e.g. release_2.12_change)

4b. Edit workflow files

Two files need updating — .github/workflows/_linux_build.yml and .github/workflows/_windows_ut.yml:

For each file, change the pytorch and torch_xpu_ops input defaults:

# Before
      pytorch:
        ...
        default: 'main'
        description: Pytorch main by default, ...
      torch_xpu_ops:
        ...
        default: 'main'
        description: Torch-xpu-ops main by default, ...

# After
      pytorch:
        ...
        default: 'BRANCH'
        description: Pytorch BRANCH by default, ...
      torch_xpu_ops:
        ...
        default: 'BRANCH'
        description: Torch-xpu-ops BRANCH by default, ...

Only change the default value and update main to BRANCH in the description string. Do not touch any other fields.

4c. Commit and push

git add .github/workflows/_linux_build.yml .github/workflows/_windows_ut.yml
git commit -m "[RELEASE MAJOR_MINOR] Release only changes"
git push origin release_MAJOR_MINOR_change

4d. Open the PR

gh pr create -R intel/torch-xpu-ops \
  --base BRANCH \
  --head release_MAJOR_MINOR_change \
  --title "[RELEASE MAJOR_MINOR] Release only changes"

No description body is needed.

Step 5 — Comment on Release Tracker Issue

Post the cherry-pick tracking comment on the torch-xpu-ops tracker issue created in Step 3:

gh issue comment <ISSUE_NUMBER> -R intel/torch-xpu-ops --body "$(cat <<'EOF'
Link to landed trunk PR (if applicable):
* NA

Link to release branch PR:
* <PR_URL>

Criteria Category:
* Release only changes
EOF
)"

Where <PR_URL> is the URL from Step 4d.

Checklist

• PyTorch release branch exists and tracker issue located
• torch-xpu-ops release branch created from pinned commit
• Release tracker issue created with correct milestone and dates
• Workflow defaults PR opened against release branch
• Tracker comment posted with PR link