1. Perform `./gradlew preVerifyRelease` locally (after pulling all upstream changes). The Jenkins job does only the release steps, and we need to make sure tests are ok
3. Close all issues associated with the version as closed. Be sure to remove the version from any issues that are not resolved (e.g. rejected) - the Jira "release notes" mechanism includes all issues with that version as the fix-for regardless of the resolution
4. Start the https://ci.hibernate.org/view/Release/job/hibernate-orm-release-jdk17/[Jenkins job]. It is a parameterized build - Jenkins will prompt user for needed information:
.. The version to be released (e.g. 7.0.0.Final)
.. The next development version (e.g. 7.0.1-SNAPSHOT)