-- originally written by Gerd Moellmann, amended by Francesco Potortì
with the initial help of Eli Zaretskii
-For each step, check for possible errors.
+
+Steps to take before starting on the first pretest in any release sequence:
+
+1. Decide on versions of automake and autoconf, and ensure you will
+ have them available for the duration of the release process.
+
+2. Consider increasing the value of the variable
+ `customize-changed-options-previous-release' in cus-edit.el to
+ refer to a newer version of Emacs. (This is probably needed only
+ when preparing the first pretest for a major Emacs release.)
+ Commit cus-edit.el if changed.
+
+
+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
+ 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.
-3. Regenerate Emacs' etc/AUTHORS file (M-x load-file RET
- lisp/emacs-lisp/authors.el RET, then M-x authors RET, then save
- the *Authors* buffer). This may require fixing syntactically
- incorrect ChangeLog entries beforehand.
+3. 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 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.
4. Set the version number (M-x load-file RET admin/admin.el RET, then
- M-x set-version RET). For a release, add released change log
+ M-x set-version RET). For a release, add released ChangeLog
entries (M-x add-release-logs RET).
For a pretest, start at version .90. After .99, use .990 (so that
it sorts).
- If needed, increment the value of the variable
- `customize-changed-options-previous-release' in cus-edit.el to
- refer to a newer release of Emacs. (This is probably needed only
- when preparing a major Emacs release, or branching for it.)
-
5. autoreconf -i -I m4 --force
make bootstrap
-6. Commit etc/AUTHORS, all the files changed by M-x set-version, and
- lisp/cus-edit.el (if modified).
- Copy lisp/loaddefs.el to lisp/ldefs-boot.el and commit lisp/ldefs-boot.el.
+6. 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. Check the contents of the new tar with
+7. ./make-dist --snapshot --no-compress
+
+ 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/>.
something like `find . | sort' in a clean bzr tree, and compare the
results against the new tar contents.
-8. xdelta delta emacs-OLD.tar.gz emacs-NEW.tar.gz emacs-OLD-NEW.xdelta
-
-9. tar -zxf emacs-NEW.tar.gz; cd emacs-NEW
- ./configure && make && make -n install
+8. 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
to do that is to visit the old log in Emacs, change the version
number of the old Emacs to __, do the same with the new log and do
M-x ediff. Especially check that Info files aren't built.
-10. cd EMACS_ROOT_DIR; bzr tag TAG
- TAG is EMACS_PRETEST_XX_YY_ZZZ for a pretest, EMACS_XX_YY for a
- release.
+9. cd EMACS_ROOT_DIR && bzr 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).
-11. Now you should upload the files to the GNU ftp server. In order to
+10. 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
+
+ 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. Mail <ftp-upload@gnu.org>
- for instructions.
+ 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:
+
+ For a pretest:
+ gnupload [--user your@gpg.key.email] --to alpha.gnu.org:emacs/pretest \
+ FILE.gz FILE.xz ...
+
+ For a release:
+ gnupload [--user your@gpg.key.email] --to ftp.gnu.org:emacs \
+ FILE.gz FILE.xz ...
+
+ You only need the --user part if you have multiple GPG keys and do
+ not want to use the default.
+ Obviously, if you do not have a fast uplink, be prepared for the
+ upload to take a while.
- You can use the gnupload script to upload each FILE, like this:
- gnupload --to alpha.gnu.org:emacs/pretest FILE (for a pretest)
- gnupload --to ftp.gnu.org:emacs FILE (for a release)
- Instead of using gnupload, for each FILE, create a detached GPG
- binary signature and a clearsigned directive file like this:
+ If you prefer to do it yourself rather than use gnupload:
+
+ For each FILE, create a detached GPG binary signature and a
+ clearsigned directive file like this:
+
gpg -b FILE
echo directory: emacs/pretest > FILE.directive (for a pretest)
echo directory: emacs > FILE.directive (for a release)
For a pretest, place the files in /incoming/alpha instead, so that
they appear on ftp://alpha.gnu.org/.
- For a release, upload a bz2 tarfile as well; this can save a lot
- of bandwidth.
-
-12. After five minutes, verify that the files are visible at
- ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/pretest/ for a pretest, at
+11. 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.
-13. For a pretest, announce it on emacs-devel and BCC the pretesters.
- For a release, announce it on info-gnu@gnu.org,
- info-gnu-emacs@gnu.org, and emacs-devel.
+ Download them and check the signatures. Check they build.
+
+12. For a pretest, announce it on emacs-devel and info-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
+ 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.)
-14. For a release, update the Emacs homepage in the web repository.
+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.