release process improvements (#8564)

website/README.md

@@ -94,6 +94,41 @@ by the appropriate embedded `content` values.
 - `content` values will be **file names** within their appropriately nested
   directory.
 
+### Changing the Release Version
+
+To change the version of Vault displayed for download on the website, head over to `data/version.js` and change the number there. It's important to note that the version number must match a version that has been released and is live on `releases.hashicorp.com` -- if it does not, the website will be unable to fetch links to the binaries and will not compile. So this version number should be changed _only after a release_.
+
+### Displaying a Prerelease
+
+If there is a prerelease of any type that should be displayed on the downloads page, this can be done by editing `pages/downloads/index.jsx`. By default, the download component might look something like this:
+
+```jsx
+<ProductDownloader product="Vault" version={VERSION} downloads={downloadData} />
+```
+
+To add a prerelease, an extra `prerelease` property can be added to the component as such:
+
+```jsx
+<ProductDownloader
+  product="Vault"
+  version={VERSION}
+  downloads={downloadData}
+  prerelease={{
+    type: 'release candidate', // the type of prerelease: beta, release candidate, etc.
+    name: 'v1.0.0', // the name displayed in text on the website
+    version: '1.0.0-rc1' // the actual version tag that was pushed to releases.hashicorp.com
+  }}
+/>
+```
+
+This configuration would display something like the following text on the website, emphasis added to the configurable parameters:
+
+```
+A {{ release candidate }} for Vault {{ v1.0.0 }} is available! The release can be <a href='https://releases.hashicorp.com/vault/{{ 1.0.0-rc1 }}'>downloaded here</a>.
+```
+
+You may customize the parameters in any way you'd like. To remove a prerelease from the website, simply delete the `prerelease` paremeter from the above component.
+
 ## Deployment
 
 This website is hosted on Netlify and configured to automatically deploy anytime

website/pages/downloads/index.jsx

@@ -35,4 +35,15 @@ export async function unstable_getStaticProps() {
       }, {})
     })
     .then(r => ({ props: { downloadData: r } }))
+    .catch(() => {
+      throw new Error(
+        `--------------------------------------------------------
+        Unable to resolve version ${VERSION} on releases.hashicorp.com from link
+        <https://releases.hashicorp.com/vault/${VERSION}/index.json>. Usually this
+        means that the specified version has not yet been released. The downloads page
+        version can only be updated after the new version has been released, to ensure
+        that it works for all users.
+        ----------------------------------------------------------`
+      )
+    })
 }