Steps to take before starting on the first pretest in any release sequence:
+0. The release branch (e.g. emacs-24) should already have been made
+ and you should use it for all that follows. Diffs from this
+ branch should be going to the emacs-diffs mailing list.
+
1. Decide on versions of automake and autoconf, and ensure you will
have them available for the duration of the release process.
when preparing the first pretest for a major Emacs release.)
Commit cus-edit.el if changed.
+3. Remove any old pretests from ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/pretest.
+ You can use `gnupload --delete' (see below for more gnupload details).
General steps (for each step, check for possible errors):
-1. `bzr update' (for a bound branch), or `bzr pull'.
- bzr status # check for locally modified files
-
-2. Bootstrap to make 100% sure all elc files are up-to-date, and to
- make sure that the later tagged version will bootstrap, should it be
- necessary to check it out.
+1. git pull # fetch from the repository
+ git status # check for locally modified files
-3. Regenerate the etc/AUTHORS file:
+2. Regenerate the etc/AUTHORS file:
M-: (require 'authors) RET
M-x authors RET
- There is almost guaranteed to be an "*Authors Errors*" buffer with
- problems caused by certain bad ChangeLog entries. You can ignore
- the very old ones (eg lisp/erc has a lot). If there are errors
- related to new entries (especially entries that are new since the
- last pretest), see if you can fix them. If there was a ChangeLog
- typo, fix it. If a file was deleted or renamed, consider adding
- an appropriate entry to authors-ignored-files, authors-valid-file-names,
- or authors-renamed-files-alist.
+ If there is an "*Authors Errors*" buffer, address the issues.
+ If there was a ChangeLog typo, run "make change-history" and then
+ fix the newest ChangeLog history file. If a file was deleted or
+ renamed, consider adding an appropriate entry to
+ authors-ignored-files, authors-valid-file-names, or
+ authors-renamed-files-alist.
If necessary, repeat M-x authors after making those changes.
Save the "*Authors*" buffer as etc/AUTHORS.
Check the diff looks reasonable. Maybe add entries to
authors-ambiguous-files or authors-aliases, and repeat.
- Commit any fixes to ChangeLogs or authors.el.
+ Commit any fixes to authors.el.
-4. Set the version number (M-x load-file RET admin/admin.el RET, then
+3. Set the version number (M-x load-file RET admin/admin.el RET, then
M-x set-version RET). For a release, add released ChangeLog
- entries (M-x add-release-logs RET).
+ entries (create a ChangeLog symlink a la vc-dwim, then run M-x
+ add-release-logs RET, then run the shell command 'vc-dwim --commit').
For a pretest, start at version .90. After .99, use .990 (so that
it sorts).
The final pretest should be a release candidate. Set the version
number to that of the actual release. Pick a date about a week
- from now when you intend to make the release. Use M-x add-release-logs
- to add the ChangeLog entries for that date to the tar file (but
- not yet to the repository). Name the tar file as
- emacs-XX.Y-rc1.tar. If all goes well in the following week, you
- can simply rename the file and use it for the actual release.
+ from now when you intend to make the release. Use vc-dwim and
+ M-x add-release-logs as described above to add commit messages
+ that will appear in the tarball's automatically-generated ChangeLog
+ file as entries for that date.
+
+ Name the tar file as emacs-XX.Y-rc1.tar. If all goes well in the
+ following week, you can simply rename the file and use it for the
+ actual release. If you need another release candidate, remember
+ to adjust the ChangeLog entries.
+
+ If you need to change only a file(s) that cannot possibly affect
+ the build (README, ChangeLog, NEWS, etc.) then rather than doing
+ an entirely new build, it is better to unpack the existing
+ tarfile, modify the file(s), and tar it back up again.
+
+ Never replace an existing tarfile! If you need to fix something,
+ always upload it with a different name.
-5. autoreconf -i -I m4 --force
+4. autoreconf -i -I m4 --force
make bootstrap
make -C etc/refcards
make -C etc/refcards clean
-6. Copy lisp/loaddefs.el to lisp/ldefs-boot.el.
+5. Copy lisp/loaddefs.el to lisp/ldefs-boot.el.
Commit etc/AUTHORS, lisp/ldefs-boot.el, and the files changed
by M-x set-version.
- For a release, also commit the ChangeLog files in all directories.
-7. ./make-dist --snapshot --no-compress
+ If someone else made a commit between step 1 and now,
+ you need to repeat from step 4 onwards. (You can commit the files
+ from step 2 and 3 earlier to reduce the chance of this.)
- Check the contents of the new tar with
- admin/diff-tar-files against an older tar file. Some old pretest
- tarballs may be found at <ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/pretest>;
- old release tarballs are at <ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/emacs/>.
+6. ./make-dist --snapshot --no-compress
+
+ Check the contents of the new tar with admin/diff-tar-files
+ against the previous release (if this is the first pretest) or the
+ previous pretest. If you did not make the previous pretest
+ yourself, find it at <ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/pretest>.
+ Releases are of course at <ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/emacs/>.
If this is the first pretest of a major release, just comparing
with the previous release may overlook many new files. You can try
- something like `find . | sort' in a clean bzr tree, and compare the
+ something like `find . | sort' in a clean repository, and compare the
results against the new tar contents.
-8. tar -xf emacs-NEW.tar; cd emacs-NEW
+7. tar -xf emacs-NEW.tar; cd emacs-NEW
./configure --prefix=/tmp/emacs && make && make install
Use `script' or M-x compile to save the compilation log in
compile-NEW.log and compare it against an old one. The easiest way
M-x ediff. Especially check that Info files aren't built, and that
no autotools (autoconf etc) run.
-9. cd EMACS_ROOT_DIR && bzr tag TAG
+8. cd EMACS_ROOT_DIR && git tag -a TAG && git push origin tag TAG
TAG is emacs-XX.Y.ZZ for a pretest, emacs-XX.Y for a release.
- Shortly before the release, cut the version branch also, and open
- a Savannah support request asking for commits to the new branch to
- be sent to the emacs-diffs mailing list (by default, the list
- normally only gets commits to the trunk).
-
-10. Decide what compression schemes to offer.
+9. Decide what compression schemes to offer.
For a release, at least gz and xz:
gzip --best -c emacs-NEW.tar > emacs-NEW.tar.gz
xz -c emacs-NEW.tar > emacs-NEW.tar.xz
+ For pretests, just xz is probably fine (saves bandwidth).
Now you should upload the files to the GNU ftp server. In order to
do that, you must be registered as an Emacs maintainer and have your
GPG key acknowledged by the ftp people. For instructions, see
http://www.gnu.org/prep/maintain/html_node/Automated-Upload-Registration.html
- The simplest method is to use the gnulib <http://www.gnu.org/s/gnulib/>
- script "build-aux/gnupload" to upload each FILE, like this:
+ The simplest method to upload is to use the gnulib
+ <http://www.gnu.org/s/gnulib/> script "build-aux/gnupload":
For a pretest:
gnupload [--user your@gpg.key.email] --to alpha.gnu.org:emacs/pretest \
For a pretest, place the files in /incoming/alpha instead, so that
they appear on ftp://alpha.gnu.org/.
-11. After five minutes, verify that the files are visible at
+10. After five minutes, verify that the files are visible at
ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/pretest/ for a pretest, or
ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/ for a release.
Download them and check the signatures. Check they build.
-12. For a pretest, announce it on emacs-devel and info-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
- Probably should also include the platform-testers list:
- https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/platform-testers
- For a release, also announce it on info-gnu@gnu.org. (Probably
- bcc the info- addresses to make it less likely that people will
- followup on those lists.)
+11. Send an announcement to: emacs-devel, and bcc: info-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
+ For a pretest, also bcc: platform-testers@gnu.org.
+ For a release, also bcc: info-gnu@gnu.org.
+ (The reason for using bcc: is to make it less likely that people
+ will followup on the wrong list.)
+ See the info-gnu-emacs mailing list archives for the form
+ of past announcements. The first pretest announcement, and the
+ release announcement, should have more detail.
+
+12. After a release, update the Emacs pages as below.
+
+
+UPDATING THE EMACS WEB PAGES AFTER A RELEASE
+
+As soon as possible after a release, the Emacs web pages should be updated.
+Anyone with write access to the Emacs code repository can do this.
+For instructions, see <http://savannah.gnu.org/cvs/?group=emacs>.
+Changes go live more or less as soon as they are committed.
+
+The pages to update are:
+
+emacs.html (for a new major release, a more thorough update is needed)
+history.html
+add the new NEWS file as news/NEWS.xx.y
+
+Use M-x make-manuals from admin/admin.el to regenerate the html
+manuals in manual/. If there are new manuals, add appropriate index
+pages in manual/ and add them to manual/index.html. In the
+manual/html_node directory, delete any old manual pages that are no
+longer present.
+
+Tar up the generated html_node/emacs/ and elisp/ directories and update
+the files manual/elisp.html_node.tar.gz and emacs.html_node.tar.gz.
+
+Use M-x make-manuals-dist from from admin/admin.el to update the
+manual/texi/ tarfiles.
+
+Add compressed copies of the main info pages from the tarfile to manual/info/.
+
+Update the refcards/pdf/ and ps/ directories, and also
+refcards/emacs-refcards.tar.gz (use make -C etc/refcards pdf ps dist).
-13. For a release, update the Emacs homepage in the web repository.
- Also add the new NEWS file as NEWS.xx.y.
- Maybe regenerate the html manuals, update the FAQ, etc, etc.
+Browsing <http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/?root=emacs> is one
+way to check for any files that still need updating.