wiki:ReleaseProcedure

Version 3 (modified by Jari Häkkinen, 17 years ago) ( diff )

Working on 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. 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, or other special branches.

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) (build.xml​), acknowledge contributions (credits.txt​), API changes that may affect backwards compatibility (​API changes), and other files as necessary.

    1. Update version number in build.xml​. Locate and change the below line 
      <property name="base.minorversion" value="B" />
    2. Update credits.txt​. Remember, ego and vanity is the currency of open source projects. Well, there are other reasons for open source projects but credits.txt​ is for boosting peoples' ego.

    3. Make sure that the API incompatibility list is up to date ​API changes. This document should really be changed as the API changes, please do not leave this task to be done at the last minute of release.

    4. Make other changes as needed. If items are missing from this list, please add them with proper instructions for the items changes maintenance.

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

  2. Update copyright statements with 
    ./bin/svndigest --copyright
    Examine the updates and commit changes with svn ci -m "updating copyright statements". For this step ​svndigest is obviously needed.

  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: 
    Please add test command sequence here
    If you fail in this step, please resolve the issues and restart these procedures.

  4. Create a tag using a one liner like 
    svn copy http://lev.thep.lu.se/repository/base/trunk \
    http://lev.thep.lu.se/repository/base/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/base/tags/A.B A.B_dist
cd A.B_dist
ant package
    Upload the new packages to the download are (Currently ~jari/www/base directory). Remove A.B_dist directory.

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

    1. Check out the new minor branch 
      svn co http://lev.thep.lu.se/repository/base/branches/A.B-stable A.B
    2. Update version number in build.xml. Locate and change to the below line 
      <property name="base.maintenanceversion" value="1pre" />
    3. Commit changes to the repository, svn ci -m "Changes for future release A.B.1"

  8. Prepare the trunk for the next minor release

    1. Update version number in build.xml. Locate and change the below line 
      <property name="base.minorversion" value="B+1" />
    2. Commit changes to the repository, svn ci -m "Changes for future release A.[B+1]"

  9. Update DownloadPage

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

      • Change the version number

      • Update the package links to the new version

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

  10. 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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