wiki:ReleaseProcedure

Version 1 (modified by Jari Häkkinen, 17 years ago) ( diff )

Creating release procedure page. This version is stolen from svndigest. Refs ticket:656

Contents

  1. Publishing a release
    1. Minor release procedure
    2. Patch release procedure

Publishing a release

These instructions cover how to release minor and patch releases in a project that uses trac/subversion for revision control and project management. How to release major releases is not covered yet since we have not done that (with the exception of the first release). Release numbering follows the normal convention of major.minor.patch and the APR (see http://apr.apache.org/versioning.html) guidelines for releases are used.

The main development is performed in the trunk branch of the repository. A new release branch is created for each minor release from the trunk and patch releases are snapshots of the minor release branch. This implies that patch work is performed in the minor release branch, and changes made release branch is transferred to the trunk every time a new patch release is made. Remember, patch work should be limited to bug fixes and important fixes only leaving development of new features and designs to the trunk branch.

Releases should only be performed by an appointed member of the team, the Release Manager, and merges should be performed by a Merge Manager. Of course, one team member can be both managers, thus becoming the Release and Merge Manager.

Minor release procedure

This section describes what to do when publishing a minor release.

  1. Make sure that all commits are performed into to the trunk, such as bumping version number(s) (configure.ac), acknowledge contributions (THANKS), update files NEWS and ChangeLog.

    1. Update version number in configure.ac. Locate and change the below line
      AC_INIT([svndigest],[A.B],[jari.at.thep.lu.se])
      
    2. Update THANKS. Remember, ego and vanity is the currency of open source projects. Well, there are other reasons for open source projects but THANKS is for boosting peoples' ego.

    3. Set the date for the new release in NEWS
      version A.B (released 26 June 2007)
      
      Make sure that the items in NEWS cover the new features of the release.

    4. Finalize the links to trac in ChangeLog
      version A.B:
      	- http://trac.thep.lu.se/trac/svndigest/log/trunk?rev=N&stop_rev=M
      	- http://trac.thep.lu.se/trac/svndigest/query?milestone=A.B&order=id
      
      where M should be current HEAD+2 (2 more commits are needed before release).

    5. Commit changes to the repository, svn ci -m "Preparing release A.B"

  2. Update copyright statements with commands
    ./bootstrap
    make all
    make check
    ./bin/svndigest --copyright
    
    Examine the updates and commit changes with svn ci -m "updating copyright statements"

  3. Needless to say, make sure that the program is in a state to be released; make sure that all the tests pass, test the distribution package, and perform all other release tests you think is appropriate:
    ./bootstrap
    make check
    make distcheck
    
  4. Create a tag using a one liner like
    svn copy http://lev.thep.lu.se/repository/svndigest/trunk \
        http://lev.thep.lu.se/repository/svndigest/tags/A.B \
        -m "Tagging version A.B"
    
  5. Update the version list in Trac using the trac-admin tool.

  6. Create a distribution package:
    svn co http://lev.thep.lu.se/repository/svndigest/tags/A.B A.B_dist
    cd A.B_dist
    ./bootstrap
    ./configure [OPTION]...
    make dist
    
    Attach the new package to the DownloadPage. Remove A.B_dist directory.

  7. Update DownloadPage and WikiStart

    1. Update the section Latest stable release to reflect the new version, that is

      • Change the version number

      • Update the package link to the new version

      • Update link to NEWS file to source:tags/A.B/NEWS

    2. In section svndigest latest release update link to [source:tags/A.B/NEWS NEWS] and modify the svn command to
      svn checkout http://lev.thep.lu.se/repository/svndigest/tags/A.B svndigest-A.B
      
    3. In section svndigest stable update link to [milestone:A.B.1 A.B.1] and modify the svn command to
      svn checkout http://lev.thep.lu.se/repository/svndigest/branches/A.B-stable svndigest-A.B
      
    4. In section svndigest devel update link to [milestone:A.B+1 A.B+1].

    5. On WikiStart update links [source:tags/A.B/doc/readme.txt Manual], [source:tags/A.B/NEWS NEWS], and [source:tags/A.B/INSTALL Install], .

  8. Create a new minor branch using a one liner like
    svn copy http://lev.thep.lu.se/repository/svndigest/tags/A.B \
        http://lev.thep.lu.se/repository/svndigest/branches/A.B-stable \
        -m "New minor version A.B branch"
    
  9. Prepare the minor branch for the first patch release

    1. Check out the new minor branch
      svn co http://lev.thep.lu.se/repository/svndigest/branches/A.B-stable A.B
      
    2. Update version number in configure.ac. Locate and change the below line
      AC_INIT([svndigest],[preA.B.1],[jari.at.thep.lu.se])
      
    3. Add an entry in NEWS
      version A.B.1 (released DATE)
      
      The date is set when version A.B.1 is released.

    4. Add an entry in ChangeLog
      version A.B.1:
      	- http://trac.thep.lu.se/trac/svndigest/log/trunk?rev=[M+1]&stop_rev=HEAD
      	- http://trac.thep.lu.se/trac/svndigest/query?milestone=A.B.1&order=id
      
    5. Commit changes to the repository, svn ci -m "Changes for future release A.B.1"

  10. Prepare the trunk for the next minor release

    1. Update version number in configure.ac. Locate and change the below line
      AC_INIT([svndigest],[preA.[B+1]],[jari.at.thep.lu.se])
      
    2. Add an entry in NEWS
      version A.[B+1] (released DATE)
      
      The date is set when version A.[B+1] is released.

    3. Add an entry in ChangeLog
      version A.[B+1]:
      	- http://trac.thep.lu.se/trac/svndigest/log/trunk?rev=HEAD&stop_rev=M+1
      	- http://trac.thep.lu.se/trac/svndigest/query?milestone=A.[B+1]&order=id
      
    4. Commit changes to the repository, svn ci -m "Changes for future release A.[B+1]"

  11. Close the milestone associated with the release and replace head with appropriate revision. Add a new milestone as needed (with log link).

Patch release procedure

This section describes what to do when publishing a patch release A.B.C.

  1. Make sure that all commits are performed into to the branch, such as bumping version number(s) (configure.ac), acknowledge contributions (THANKS), update files NEWS and ChangeLog.

    1. Update version number in configure.ac. Locate and change the below line
      AC_INIT([svndigest],[A.B.C],[jari.at.thep.lu.se])
      
    2. Update THANKS.

    3. Set the date for the new release in NEWS
      version A.B.C (released 27 June 2007)
      
      Make sure that the items in NEWS cover all important bug fixes of the release.

    4. Finalize the links to trac in ChangeLog
      version A.B.C:
      	- http://trac.thep.lu.se/trac/svndigest/log/branches/A.B-stable?rev=N&stop_rev=M
      	- http://trac.thep.lu.se/trac/svndigest/query?milestone=A.B.C&order=id
      
      where N is given by
      $ svn update
      N-2
      
      and M should have been set at previous release.

    5. Commit changes to the repository, svn ci -m "Preparing release A.B.C"

  2. Update copyright statements with commands
    ./bootstrap
    make all
    make check
    ./bin/svndigest --copyright
    
    Examine the updates and commit changes with svn ci -m "updating copyright statements".

  3. Needless to say, make sure that the program is in a state to be released; make sure that all the tests pass, test the distribution package, and perform all other release tests you think is appropriate:
    ./bootstrap
    make check
    make distcheck
    
  4. Create a tag using a one liner like
    svn copy http://lev.thep.lu.se/repository/svndigest/branches/A.B-stable \
        http://lev.thep.lu.se/repository/svndigest/tags/A.B.C \
        -m "Tagging version A.B.C"
    
  5. Update the version list in Trac using the trac-admin tool.

  6. Create a distribution package:
    svn co http://lev.thep.lu.se/repository/svndigest/tags/A.B.C A.B.C_dist
    cd A.B.C_dist
    ./bootstrap
    ./configure [OPTION]...
    make dist
    
    Attach the new package to the DownloadPage. Remove A.B.C_dist directory.

  7. Update DownloadPage and WikiStart

    1. Update the section Latest stable release to reflect the new version, that is

      • Change the version number

      • Update the package link to the new version

      • Update link to NEWS file to source:tags/A.B.C/NEWS

    2. In section svndigest latest release update link to [source:tags/A.B.C/NEWS NEWS] and modify the svn command to
      svn checkout http://lev.thep.lu.se/repository/svndigest/tags/A.B.C svndigest-A.B.C
      
    3. In section svndigest stable update link to [milestone:A.B.[C+1] A.B.[C+1]].

    4. On WikiStart update links [source:tags/A.B/doc/readme.txt Manual], [source:tags/A.B/NEWS NEWS], and [source:tags/A.B/INSTALL Install], .

  8. Prepare the minor branch for the next patch release

    1. Update version number in configure.ac. Locate and change the below line
      AC_INIT([svndigest],[preA.B.[C+1]],[jari.at.thep.lu.se])
      
    2. Add an entry in NEWS
      version A.B.[C+1] (released DATE)
      
      The date is set when version A.B.[C+1] is released.

    3. Add an entry in ChangeLog
      version A.B.[C+1]:
      	- http://trac.thep.lu.se/trac/svndigest/log/branches/A.B-stable?rev=HEAD&stop_rev=[M+1]
      	- http://trac.thep.lu.se/trac/svndigest/query?milestone=A.B.[C+1]&order=id
      
    4. Commit changes to the repository, svn ci -m "Changes for future release A.B.[C+1]"

  9. Merge the patch release into the trunk. To avoid confusion and minimize the risk of loosing fixes, this step is only performed by the Merge Master.

    1. Checkout a pristine version of the trunk.
      svn checkout http://lev.thep.lu.se/repository/svndigest/trunk trunk_merge
      
    2. Merge changes into trunk. In this example the diffence between a minor release tag and the first patch release tag is merged into the trunk WC
      cd trunk_merge
      svn merge http://lev.thep.lu.se/repository/svndigest/tags/A.B \
                http://lev.thep.lu.se/repository/svndigest/tags/A.B.1
      
    3. Resolve all conflicts. Run tests and perform all other appropriate tests to make sure that the merge does not create havoc.

    4. Commit changes to the trunk branch.
      svn commit -m "Merged patch release A.B.1 to the trunk. Delta A.B.1 - A.B"
      
  10. Close the milestone associated with the release and replace head with appropriate revision in log link. Add a new milestone as needed (with a log link).
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