add maintainer docs for building and publishing

This change adds details about building and publishing Ansible package
docs using the GH workflow. Additionally this change adds details about
maintaining Read the Docs projects and the community package docs builds
repository.

MAINTAINERS.md

@@ -84,3 +84,177 @@ Submit a PR with the changes and request a core team review.
 
 Update the list of active branches in the `hacking/tagger/tag.py` script on the `devel` branch.
 Add the new stable branch and remove the lowest version from the `DEFAULT_ACTIVE_BRANCHES` tuple.
+
+## Updating the package doc builds repository
+
+The `ansible-community/package-doc-builds` repository holds the deployed output of package doc builds.
+For each version of the Ansible package that is currently supported, there needs to be a corresponding branch in the `ansible-community/package-doc-builds` repository.
+
+Before the docs for new package version can be built on Read the Docs, someone needs to create a branch as follows:
+
+```bash
+# Make sure your checkout is up to date.
+git fetch upstream
+
+# Create the new package version branch against the devel branch.
+git checkout -b 11 upstream/devel
+
+# Push the new package version branch to the repository.
+git push upstream 11
+```
+
+## Updating the package docs build workflow
+
+The build workflow lists the Ansible package versions as input options, for example:
+
+```yaml
+options:
+- devel
+- '11'
+- '10'
+- '9'
+```
+
+After creating a new branch for the Ansible package version in the `ansible-community/package-doc-builds` repository, you should check that the build workflow lists that version as an option.
+If the version is not listed, open a PR against the `devel` branch to update the workflow file.
+
+## Maintaining Read the Docs projects
+
+There are two Read the Docs projects associated with the `ansible-documentation` repository, as follows:
+
+* Ansible package
+* Ansible core
+
+### Configuration files
+
+The Ansible package and Ansible core projects use separate configuration files, as follows:
+
+* Ansible package configuration is the `package-doc-builds` repository at [https://github.com/ansible-community/package-doc-builds/blob/devel/.readthedocs.yaml](https://github.com/ansible-community/package-doc-builds/blob/devel/.readthedocs.yaml)
+* Ansible core configuration is in the `ansible-documentation` repository at [https://github.com/ansible/ansible-documentation/blob/devel/.readthedocs.yaml](https://github.com/ansible/ansible-documentation/blob/devel/.readthedocs.yaml)
+
+> Each branch has its own Read the Docs configuration file.
+
+Most of the time there is no need to update the Read the Docs configuration files.
+The only change that should be necessary between versions is the Python version, for example:
+
+```yaml
+build:
+  os: ubuntu-22.04
+  tools:
+    python: >-
+      3.11
+```
+
+This Python version should match whatever version is used in the `ansible-documentation` repository to compile requirements and build the documentation.
+For example, the `stable-2.18` branch uses Python 3.11.
+The Python version should be also be 3.11 in the Read the Docs configuration for both Ansible package and Ansible core.
+
+> In the Read the Docs settings, the **Build pull requests for this project** option is selected only for the Ansible core project.
+> The configuration file for that project is in the `ansible-documentation` repository, which accepts pull requests.
+> The `package-doc-builds` repository is used to hold generated artifacts from the build workflow and does not get pull requests.
+
+### Updating Read the Docs for new releases
+
+When there is a new version of the Ansible package or Ansible core, someone needs to updates the Read the Docs project.
+
+To update the Ansible package project, do the following:
+
+1. Ensure you have maintainer access to the project.
+2. Navigate to the [package-doc-builds dashboard](https://app.readthedocs.org/projects/package-doc-builds/).
+3. Select the **Add version** button and select the new version to activate, which should be a new `XX` branch.
+4. Wait for the new version build to complete and then edit the main project settings.
+5. From the **Default branch** drop-down, select the new version that should correspond to "latest" and save your changes.
+
+To update the Ansible core project, do the following:
+
+1. Ensure you have maintainer access to the project.
+2. Navigate to the [ansible-core dashboard](https://app.readthedocs.org/projects/ansible-core/).
+3. Select the **Add version** button and select the new version to activate, which should be a new `stable-*` branch.
+
+### Hiding versions on Read the Docs
+
+Hiding older versions removes them from the fly-out menu on Read the Docs as well as search results.
+Older versions of the documentation that are not supported or EOL should be hidden.
+It is also possible to hide doc builds before they are released to evaluate the content.
+At release day, all that is needed is to toggle the switch so the build is no longer hidden and, in the case of the package docs, update the default branch for the project.
+
+To hide versions, do the following:
+
+1. Open the settings for the version you want to remove.
+2. Select the **Hidden** option.
+
+See [How to hide a version and keep its documentation online](https://docs.readthedocs.io/en/stable/guides/hiding-a-version.html) for more information.
+
+## Building and deploying Ansible community documentation
+
+Content available at `https://ansible.readthedocs.io/projects/ansible/latest/` is built and deployed from the `ansible-documentation` repository using a GitHub workflow.
+This section explains how maintainers can build and deploy the Ansible package docs using that workflow.
+
+> Details about what each job in the workflow does is beyond the scope of this maintainer guide.
+> Refer to the comments in the workflow itself for more information.
+
+### Building community documentation
+
+The Ansible package docs build workflow allows you to run a Sphinx build with the `make webdocs` target on GitHub hosted runners.
+The workflow can build from any account or org as well as from the `ansible-documentation` repository.
+For instance, if you wanted to build the content of a branch in someone's fork, you can provide those details as inputs when running the workflow.
+
+To build the docs, do the following:
+
+1. Navigate to the [Ansible package docs build](https://github.com/ansible/ansible-documentation/actions/workflows/build-package-docs.yaml) workflow.
+2. Select the **Run workflow** drop-down to open the dialog.
+3. Provide the necessary inputs and then select **Run workflow**.
+
+> If the workflow fails for any reason, the `docs-bot` posts a message in the `#docs:ansible.com` channel on Matrix.
+
+When the workflow run is complete, you can find the output available as an artifact on the **Summary** page.
+The artifact is named **package-docs-build** and contains a tarball with the generated HTML and other build assets.
+
+### Deploying to stage
+
+To evaluate changes from a particular branch, you can deploy the docs build to a stage environment at [https://ansible-community.github.io/package-doc-builds/](https://ansible-community.github.io/package-doc-builds/).
+
+This stage environment is a GitHub pages deployment.
+When you deploy to stage, a job in the workflow run unpacks the contents of the **package-docs-build** artifacts and pushes them to the `gh-pages` branch of the `ansible-community/package-doc-builds` repository.
+
+To deploy to stage, do the following:
+
+1. Follow the steps to build the docs with the `Ansible package docs build` workflow.
+2. Select the **Deploy the build** option.
+3. Select **test** from the **Deployment environment** drop-down.
+
+If the build job succeeds, a member of the `community-docs-maintainers` team must review and approve the deployment.
+
+You can find details about the workflow run, including a link to the stage deployment, from the **Summary** page of the workflow run.
+Build logs are available from each job in the workflow run.
+
+### Deploying to Read the Docs
+
+To publish Ansible package docs to Read the Docs, do the following:
+
+1. Ensure that the target branch exists in the `ansible-community/package-doc-builds` repository.
+   For example, if you want to publish version `10` of the package docs then a branch named `10` should exist in the repository.
+   The deploy job pushes the generated HTML and other build assets to that target branch.
+2. Follow the steps to build the docs with the `Ansible package docs build` workflow.
+3. Select the **Deploy the build** option.
+4. Select **production** from the **Deployment environment** drop-down.
+
+If the build job succeeds, a member of the `community-docs-maintainers` team must review and approve the deployment.
+
+You can find details about the workflow run, including a link to the Read the Docs project deployment, from the **Summary** page of the workflow run.
+Build logs are available from each job in the workflow run.
+
+> The resulting documentation is available on Read the Docs only if the version is active in the `package-doc-builds` project.
+> If the version is hidden in the project, that documentation will not be available in the fly-out menu or search results.
+
+### Reviewing deployments
+
+The `deploy-package-docs` job in the Ansible package docs build workflow uses a deployment protection rule.
+This rule requires a member of the [community-docs-maintainers](https://github.com/orgs/ansible/teams/community-docs-maintainers) team to review any deployment to stage or Read the Docs.
+
+Members of that team can do the following when they receive email notifications of pending deployments:
+
+1. Review deployment details on the **Summary** page of the workflow run.
+2. Provide comments, if necessary, and then approve or reject the deployment.
+
+> You should always provide comments to justify deployment rejections.