5 release_managers_guide - Releasing a new version of perl 5.x
7 Note that things change at each release, so there may be new things not
8 covered here, or tools may need updating.
10 =head1 MAKING A CHECKLIST
12 If you are preparing to do a release, you can run the
13 F<Porting/make-rmg-checklist> script to generate a new version of this
14 document that starts with a checklist for your release.
16 This script is run as:
18 perl Porting/make-rmg-checklist \
19 --type [BLEAD-POINT or MAINT or ...] > /tmp/rmg.pod
21 You can also pass the C<--html> flag to generate an HTML document instead of
24 perl Porting/make-rmg-checklist --html \
25 --type [BLEAD-POINT or MAINT or ...] > /tmp/rmg.html
29 This document describes the series of tasks required - some automatic, some
30 manual - to produce a perl release of some description, be that a release
31 candidate, or final, numbered release of maint or blead.
33 The release process has traditionally been executed by the current
34 pumpking. Blead releases from 5.11.0 forward are made each month on the
35 20th by a non-pumpking release engineer. The release engineer roster
36 and schedule can be found in Porting/release_schedule.pod.
38 This document both helps as a check-list for the release engineer
39 and is a base for ideas on how the various tasks could be automated
42 The checklist of a typical release cycle is as follows:
44 (5.10.1 is released, and post-release actions have been done)
48 a few weeks before the release, a number of steps are performed,
49 including bumping the version to 5.10.2
51 ...a few weeks pass...
53 perl-5.10.2-RC1 is released
55 perl-5.10.2 is released
57 post-release actions are performed, including creating new
60 ... the cycle continues ...
64 Some of the tasks described below apply to all four types of
65 release of Perl. (blead, RC, final release of maint, final
66 release of blead). Some of these tasks apply only to a subset
67 of these release types. If a step does not apply to a given
68 type of release, you will see a notation to that effect at
69 the beginning of the step.
75 =item Release Candidate (RC)
77 A release candidate is an attempt to produce a tarball that is a close as
78 possible to the final release. Indeed, unless critical faults are found
79 during the RC testing, the final release will be identical to the RC
80 barring a few minor fixups (updating the release date in F<perlhist.pod>,
81 removing the RC status from F<patchlevel.h>, etc). If faults are found,
82 then the fixes should be put into a new release candidate, never directly
86 =item Stable/Maint release (MAINT).
88 A release with an even version number, and subversion number > 0, such as
91 At this point you should have a working release candidate with few or no
94 It's essentially the same procedure as for making a release candidate, but
95 with a whole bunch of extra post-release steps.
97 Note that for a maint release there are two versions of this guide to
98 consider: the one in the maint branch, and the one in blead. Which one to
99 use is a fine judgement. The blead one will be most up-to-date, while
100 it might describe some steps or new tools that aren't applicable to older
101 maint branches. It is probably best to review both versions of this
102 document, but to most closely follow the steps in the maint version.
104 =item A blead point release (BLEAD-POINT)
106 A release with an odd version number, such as 5.15.0 or 5.15.1.
108 This isn't for production, so it has less stability requirements than for
109 other release types, and isn't preceded by RC releases. Other than that,
110 it is similar to a MAINT release.
112 =item Blead final release (BLEAD-FINAL)
114 A release with an even version number, and subversion number == 0, such as
115 5.14.0. That is to say, it's the big new release once per year.
117 It's essentially the same procedure as for making a release candidate, but
118 with a whole bunch of extra post-release steps, even more than for MAINT.
126 Before you can make an official release of perl, there are a few
127 hoops you need to jump through:
129 =head3 PAUSE account with pumpkin status
131 Make sure you have a PAUSE account suitable for uploading a perl release.
132 If you don't have a PAUSE account, then request one:
134 https://pause.perl.org/pause/query?ACTION=request_id
136 Check that your account is allowed to upload perl distros: go to
137 L<https://pause.perl.org/pause/authenquery?ACTION=who_pumpkin> and check that
138 your PAUSE ID is listed there. If not, ask Andreas KE<0xf6>nig to add your ID
139 to the list of people allowed to upload something called perl. You can find
140 Andreas' email address at:
142 https://pause.perl.org/pause/query?ACTION=pause_04imprint
144 =head3 search.cpan.org pumpkin status
146 Make sure that search.cpan.org knows that you're allowed to upload
147 perl distros. Contact Graham Barr to make sure that you're on the right
150 =head3 rt.perl.org update access
152 Make sure you have permission to close tickets on L<http://rt.perl.org/>
153 so you can respond to bug report as necessary during your stint. If you
154 don't, make an account (if you don't have one) and contact the pumpking
155 with your username to get ticket-closing permission.
157 =head3 git checkout and commit bit
159 You will need a working C<git> installation, checkout of the perl
160 git repository and perl commit bit. For information about working
161 with perl and git, see F<pod/perlgit.pod>.
163 If you are not yet a perl committer, you won't be able to make a
164 release. Have a chat with whichever evil perl porter tried to talk
165 you into the idea in the first place to figure out the best way to
168 =head3 git clone of https://github.com/perlorg/perlweb
170 For updating the L<http://dev.perl.org> web pages, either a Github account or
171 sweet-talking somebody with a Github account into obedience is needed. This
172 is only needed on the day of the release or shortly afterwards.
174 =head3 Quotation for release announcement epigraph
176 You will need a quotation to use as an epigraph to your release announcement.
178 =head2 Building a release - advance actions
180 The work of building a release candidate for an even numbered release
181 (BLEAD-FINAL) of perl generally starts several weeks before the first
182 release candidate. Some of the following steps should be done regularly,
183 but all I<must> be done in the run up to a release.
185 =head3 dual-life CPAN module synchronisation
187 To see which core distro versions differ from the current CPAN versions:
189 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/core-cpan-diff -x -a
191 However, this only checks whether the version recorded in
192 F<Porting/Maintainers.pl> differs from the latest on CPAN. It doesn't tell you
193 if the code itself has diverged from CPAN.
195 You can also run an actual diff of the contents of the modules, comparing core
196 to CPAN, to ensure that there were no erroneous/extraneous changes that need to
197 be dealt with. You do this by not passing the C<-x> option:
199 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/core-cpan-diff -a -o /tmp/corediffs
201 Passing C<-u cpan> will probably be helpful, since it limits the search to
202 distributions with 'cpan' upstream source. (It's OK for blead upstream to
203 differ from CPAN because those dual-life releases usually come I<after> perl
206 See also the C<-d> and C<-v> options for more detail (and the C<-u> option as
207 mentioned above). You'll probably want to use the C<-c cachedir> option to
208 avoid repeated CPAN downloads and may want to use C<-m file:///mirror/path> if
209 you made a local CPAN mirror. Note that a minicpan mirror won't actually work,
210 but can provide a good first pass to quickly get a list of modules which
211 definitely haven't changed, to avoid having to download absolutely everything.
213 For a BLEAD-POINT or BLEAD-FINAL release with 'cpan' upstream, if a CPAN
214 release appears to be ahead of blead, then consider updating it (or asking the
215 relevant porter to do so). (However, if this is a BLEAD-FINAL release or one of
216 the last BLEAD-POINT releases before it and hence blead is in some kind of
217 "code freeze" state (e.g. the sequence might be "contentious changes freeze",
218 then "user-visible changes freeze" and finally "full code freeze") then any
219 CPAN module updates must be subject to the same restrictions, so it may not be
220 possible to update all modules until after the BLEAD-FINAL release.) If blead
221 contains edits to a 'cpan' upstream module, this is naughty but sometimes
222 unavoidable to keep blead tests passing. Make sure the affected file has a
223 CUSTOMIZED entry in F<Porting/Maintainers.pl>.
225 If you are making a MAINT release, run C<core-cpan-diff> on both blead and
226 maint, then diff the two outputs. Compare this with what you expect, and if
227 necessary, fix things up. For example, you might think that both blead
228 and maint are synchronised with a particular CPAN module, but one might
229 have some extra changes.
231 =head3 How to sync a CPAN module with a cpan/ distro
237 Fetch the most recent version from CPAN.
241 Unpack the retrieved tarball. Rename the old directory; rename the new
242 directory to the original name.
246 Restore any F<.gitignore> file. This can be done by issuing
247 C<git checkout .gitignore> in the F<cpan/Distro> directory.
251 Remove files we do not need. That is, remove any files that match the
252 entries in C<@IGNORABLE> in F<Porting/Maintainer.pl>, and anything that
253 matches the C<EXCLUDED> section of the distro's entry in the C<%Modules>
258 Restore any files mentioned in the C<CUSTOMIZED> section, using
259 C<git checkout>. Make any new customizations if necessary. Also,
260 restore any files that are mentioned in C<@IGNORE>, but were checked
261 into the repository anyway.
265 For any new files in the distro, determine whether they are needed.
266 If not, delete them, and list them in either C<EXCLUDED> or C<@INGORE>.
267 Otherwise, add them to C<MANIFEST>, and run C<git add> to add the files
272 For any files that are gone, remove them from C<MANIFEST>, and use
273 C<git rm> to tell git the files will be gone.
277 If the C<MANIFEST> file was changed in any of the previous steps, run
278 C<perl Porting/manisort --output MANIFEST.sort; mv MANIFEST.sort MANIFEST>.
282 For any files that have an execute bit set, either remove the execute
283 bit, or edit F<Porting/exec-bit.txt>
287 Run C<make> (or C<nmake> on Windows), see if C<perl> compiles.
291 Run the tests for the package.
295 Run the tests in F<t/porting>.
299 Update the C<DISTRIBUTION> entry in F<Porting/Maintainers.pl>.
303 Run a full configure/build/test cycle.
307 If everything is ok, commit the changes.
311 For entries with a non-simple C<FILES> section, or with a C<MAP>, you
312 may have to take more steps than listed above.
314 F<Porting/sync-with-cpan> is a script that automates most of the steps
315 above; but see the comments at the beginning of the file. In particular,
316 it has not yet been exercised on Windows, but will certainly require a set
317 of Unix tools such as Cygwin, and steps that run C<make> will need to run
320 =head3 dual-life CPAN module stability
322 Ensure dual-life CPAN modules are stable, which comes down to:
324 for each module that fails its regression tests on $current
325 did it fail identically on $previous?
326 if yes, "SEP" (Somebody Else's Problem)
327 else work out why it failed (a bisect is useful for this)
329 attempt to group failure causes
331 for each failure cause
332 is that a regression?
333 if yes, figure out how to fix it
334 (more code? revert the code that broke it)
336 (presumably) it's relying on something un-or-under-documented
337 should the existing behaviour stay?
338 yes - goto "regression"
339 no - note it in perldelta as a significant bugfix
340 (also, try to inform the module's author)
342 =head3 monitor smoke tests for failures
344 Similarly, monitor the smoking of core tests, and try to fix. See
345 L<http://doc.procura.nl/smoke/index.html> and L<http://perl5.test-smoke.org/>
346 for a summary. See also
347 L<http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.daily-build.reports/> which has
350 Similarly, monitor the smoking of perl for compiler warnings, and try to
353 =head3 update perldelta
355 Get perldelta in a mostly finished state.
357 Read F<Porting/how_to_write_a_perldelta.pod>, and try to make sure that
358 every section it lists is, if necessary, populated and complete. Copy
359 edit the whole document.
361 You won't be able to automatically fill in the "Updated Modules" section until
362 after Module::CoreList is updated (as described below in
363 L<"update Module::CoreList">).
365 =head3 Bump the version number
367 Do not do this yet for a BLEAD-POINT release! You will do this at the end of
370 Increase the version number (e.g. from 5.12.0 to 5.12.1).
372 For a release candidate for a stable perl, this should happen a week or two
373 before the first release candidate to allow sufficient time for testing and
374 smoking with the target version built into the perl executable. For
375 subsequent release candidates and the final release, it is not necessary to
376 bump the version further.
378 There is a tool to semi-automate this process:
380 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/bump-perl-version -i 5.10.0 5.10.1
382 Remember that this tool is largely just grepping for '5.10.0' or whatever,
383 so it will generate false positives. Be careful not change text like
384 "this was fixed in 5.10.0"!
386 Use git status and git diff to select changes you want to keep.
388 Be particularly careful with F<INSTALL>, which contains a mixture of
389 C<5.10.0>-type strings, some of which need bumping on every release, and
390 some of which need to be left unchanged.
391 The line in F<INSTALL> about "is binary incompatible with" requires a
392 correct choice of earlier version to declare incompatibility with.
394 For the first RC release leading up to a BLEAD-FINAL release, update the
395 description of which releases are now "officially" supported in
396 F<pod/perlpolicy.pod>.
398 When doing a BLEAD-POINT or BLEAD-FINAL release, also make sure the
399 C<PERL_API_*> constants in F<patchlevel.h> are in sync with the version
400 you're releasing, unless you're absolutely sure the release you're about to
401 make is 100% binary compatible to an earlier release. When releasing a MAINT
402 perl version, the C<PERL_API_*> constants C<MUST NOT> be changed as we aim
403 to guarantee binary compatibility in maint branches.
405 After editing, regenerate uconfig.h (this must be run on a system with a
408 $ perl regen/uconfig_h.pl
410 This might not cause any new changes.
412 You may also need to regen opcodes:
414 $ ./perl -Ilib regen/opcode.pl
416 You may have to add stub entries in C<%Module::CoreList::version>,
417 C<%Module::CoreList::deprecated> and C<%Module::CoreList::Utils::delta>.
418 If so, you must up their version numbers as well.
422 $ git clean -xdf # careful if you don't have local files to keep!
423 $ ./Configure -des -Dusedevel
431 B<review the delta carefully>
433 $ git commit -a -m 'Bump the perl version in various places for 5.x.y'
435 At this point you may want to compare the commit with a previous bump to
436 see if they look similar. See commit f7cf42bb69 for an example of a
437 previous version bump.
439 When the version number is bumped, you should also update Module::CoreList
440 (as described below in L<"update Module::CoreList">) to reflect the new
443 =head3 update INSTALL
445 Review and update INSTALL to account for the change in version number;
446 in particular, the "Coexistence with earlier versions of perl 5" section.
448 Be particularly careful with the section "Upgrading from 5.X.Y or earlier".
449 The "X.Y" needs to be changed to the most recent version that we are
450 I<not> binary compatible with.
452 For MAINT and BLEAD-FINAL releases, this needs to refer to the last
453 release in the previous development cycle (so for example, for a 5.14.x
454 release, this would be 5.13.11).
456 For BLEAD-POINT releases, it needs to refer to the previous BLEAD-POINT
457 release (so for 5.15.3 this would be 5.15.2).
459 =head3 Check copyright years
461 Check that the copyright years are up to date by running:
463 $ ./perl t/porting/copyright.t --now
465 Remedy any test failures by editing README or perl.c accordingly (search for
466 the "Copyright"). If updating perl.c, check if the file's own copyright date in
467 the C comment at the top needs updating, as well as the one printed by C<-v>.
469 =head3 Check more build configurations
471 Try running the full test suite against multiple Perl configurations. Here are
472 some sets of Configure flags you can try:
478 C<-Duseshrplib -Dusesitecustomize>
482 C<-Duserelocatableinc>
490 If you have multiple compilers on your machine, you might also consider
491 compiling with C<-Dcc=$other_compiler>.
493 =head3 update perlport
495 L<perlport> has a section currently named I<Supported Platforms> that
496 indicates which platforms are known to build in the current release.
497 If necessary update the list and the indicated version number.
499 =head3 check a readonly build
501 Even before other prep work, follow the steps in L<build the tarball> and test
502 it locally. Because a perl source tarballs sets many files read-only, it could
503 test differently than tests run from the repository. After you're sure
504 permissions aren't a problem, delete the generated directory and tarballs.
506 =head2 Building a release - on the day
508 This section describes the actions required to make a release
509 that are performed near to, or on the actual release day.
511 =head3 re-check earlier actions
513 Review all the actions in the previous section,
514 L<"Building a release - advance actions"> to ensure they are all done and
517 =head3 create a release branch
519 For BLEAD-POINT releases, making a release from a release branch avoids the
520 need to freeze blead during the release. This is less important for
521 BLEAD-FINAL, MAINT, and RC releases, since blead will already be frozen in
522 those cases. Create the branch by running
524 git checkout -b release-5.xx.yy
526 =head3 build a clean perl
528 Make sure you have a gitwise-clean perl directory (no modified files,
529 unpushed commits etc):
534 then configure and build perl so that you have a Makefile and porting tools:
536 $ ./Configure -Dusedevel -des && make
538 =head3 update Module::CoreList
540 =head4 Bump Module::CoreList* $VERSIONs
542 If necessary, bump C<$Module::CoreList::VERSION> (there's no need to do this for
543 every RC; in RC1, bump the version to a new clean number that will
544 appear in the final release, and leave as-is for the later RCs and final).
545 It may also happen that C<Module::CoreList> has been modified in blead, and
546 hence has a new version number already. (But make sure it is not the same
547 number as a CPAN release.)
549 C<$Module::CoreList::TieHashDelta::VERSION> and
550 C<$Module::CoreList::Utils::VERSION> should always be equal to
551 C<$Module::CoreList::VERSION>. If necessary, bump those two versions to match
554 The files to modify are: F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm>,
555 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList/Utils.pm> and
556 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList/TieHashDelta.pm>.
558 =head4 Update C<Module::CoreList> with module version data for the new release.
560 Note that if this is a MAINT release, you should run the following actions
561 from the maint branch, but commit the C<CoreList.pm> changes in
562 I<blead> and subsequently cherry-pick any releases since the last
563 maint release and then your recent commit. XXX need a better example
565 [ Note that the procedure for handling Module::CoreList in maint branches
566 is a bit complex, and the RMG currently don't describe a full and
567 workable approach. The main issue is keeping Module::CoreList
568 and its version number synchronised across all maint branches, blead and
569 CPAN, while having to bump its version number for every RC release.
570 See this brief p5p thread:
572 Message-ID: <20130311174402.GZ2294@iabyn.com>
574 If you can devise a workable system, feel free to try it out, and to
575 update the RMG accordingly!
579 F<corelist.pl> uses ftp.funet.fi to verify information about dual-lived
580 modules on CPAN. It can use a full, local CPAN mirror and/or fall back
581 on HTTP::Tiny to fetch package metadata remotely.
583 (If you'd prefer to have a full CPAN mirror, see
584 http://www.cpan.org/misc/cpan-faq.html#How_mirror_CPAN)
586 Then change to your perl checkout, and if necessary,
590 Then, If you have a local CPAN mirror, run:
592 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/corelist.pl ~/my-cpan-mirror
596 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/corelist.pl cpan
598 This will chug for a while, possibly reporting various warnings about
599 badly-indexed CPAN modules unrelated to the modules actually in core.
600 Assuming all goes well, it will update
601 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm> and possibly
602 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pod> and/or
603 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList/Utils.pm>.
605 Check those files over carefully:
607 $ git diff dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm
608 $ git diff dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pod
609 $ git diff dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList/Utils.pm
611 =head4 Bump version in Module::CoreList F<Changes>
613 Also edit Module::CoreList's new version number in its F<Changes> file.
615 =head4 Add Module::CoreList version bump to perldelta
617 Add a perldelta entry for the new Module::CoreList version.
619 =for checklist skip RC
621 =head4 Update C<%Module::CoreList::released> and C<CAVEATS>
623 For any release except an RC:
629 Update this version's entry in the C<%released> hash with today's date.
633 Make sure that the script has correctly updated the C<CAVEATS> section
634 (Note, the C<CAVEATS> section is in
635 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pod>)
639 =head4 Commit Module::CoreList changes
641 Finally, commit the new version of Module::CoreList:
642 (unless this is for MAINT; in which case commit it to blead first, then
643 cherry-pick it back).
645 $ git commit -m 'Update Module::CoreList for 5.x.y' dist/Module-CoreList/Changes dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pod dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList/Utils.pm
647 =head4 Rebuild and test
649 Build and test to get the changes into the currently built lib directory and to ensure
650 all tests are passing.
652 =head3 finalize perldelta
654 Finalize the perldelta. In particular, fill in the Acknowledgements
655 section, which can be generated with something like:
657 $ perl Porting/acknowledgements.pl v5.15.0..HEAD
659 Fill in the "New/Updated Modules" sections now that Module::CoreList is updated:
661 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/corelist-perldelta.pl --mode=update pod/perldelta.pod
663 Ideally, also fill in a summary of the major changes to each module for which
664 an entry has been added by F<corelist-perldelta.pl>.
666 Re-read the perldelta to try to find any embarrassing typos and thinkos;
667 remove any C<TODO> or C<XXX> flags; update the "Known Problems" section
668 with any serious issues for which fixes are not going to happen now; and
669 run through pod and spell checkers, e.g.
671 $ podchecker -warnings -warnings pod/perldelta.pod
672 $ spell pod/perldelta.pod
674 Also, you may want to generate and view an HTML version of it to check
677 $ ./perl -Ilib ext/Pod-Html/bin/pod2html pod/perldelta.pod > /tmp/perldelta.html
679 Another good HTML preview option is http://search.cpan.org/pod2html
681 If you make changes, be sure to commit them.
683 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT MAINT RC
685 =head3 remove stale perldeltas
687 For the first RC release that is ONLY for a BLEAD-FINAL, the perldeltas
688 from the BLEAD-POINT releases since the previous BLEAD-FINAL should have
689 now been consolidated into the current perldelta, and hence are now just
690 useless clutter. They can be removed using:
692 $ git rm <file1> <file2> ...
694 For example, for RC0 of 5.16.0:
697 $ git rm perldelta515*.pod
699 =for checklist skip BLEAD-FINAL BLEAD-POINT
701 =head3 add recent perldeltas
703 For the first RC for a MAINT release, copy in any recent perldeltas from
704 blead that have been added since the last release on this branch. This
705 should include any recent maint releases on branches older than your one,
706 but not newer. For example if you're producing a 5.14.x release, copy any
707 perldeltas from recent 5.10.x, 5.12.x etc maint releases, but not from
708 5.16.x or higher. Remember to
710 $ git add <file1> <file2> ...
712 =head3 update and commit perldelta files
714 If you have added or removed any perldelta files via the previous two
715 steps, then edit F<pod/perl.pod> to add/remove them from its table of
716 contents, then run F<Porting/pod_rules.pl> to propagate your changes there
717 into all the other files that mention them (including F<MANIFEST>). You'll
718 need to C<git add> the files that it changes.
720 Then build a clean perl and do a full test
724 $ ./Configure -Dusedevel -des
728 Once all tests pass, commit your changes.
730 =head3 build a clean perl
732 If you skipped the previous step (adding/removing perldeltas),
733 again, make sure you have a gitwise-clean perl directory (no modified files,
734 unpushed commits etc):
739 then configure and build perl so that you have a Makefile and porting tools:
741 $ ./Configure -Dusedevel -des && make
743 =for checklist skip BLEAD-FINAL BLEAD-POINT
745 =head3 synchronise from blead's perlhist.pod
747 For the first RC for a MAINT release, copy in the latest
748 F<pod/perlhist.pod> from blead; this will include details of newer
749 releases in all branches. In theory, blead's version should be a strict
750 superset of the one in this branch, but it's probably safest to diff them
751 first to ensure that there's nothing in this branch that was forgotten
754 $ diff pod/perlhist.pod ..../blead/pod/perlhist.pod
755 $ cp ..../blead/pod/perlhist.pod pod/
756 $ git commit -m 'sync perlhist from blead' pod/perlhist.pod
758 =head3 update perlhist.pod
760 Add an entry to F<pod/perlhist.pod> with the release date, e.g.:
762 David 5.10.1 2009-Aug-06
764 List yourself in the left-hand column, and if this is the first release
765 that you've ever done, make sure that your name is listed in the section
766 entitled C<THE KEEPERS OF THE PUMPKIN>.
768 I<If you're making a BLEAD-FINAL release>, also update the "SELECTED
769 RELEASE SIZES" section with the output of
770 F<Porting/perlhist_calculate.pl>.
772 Be sure to commit your changes:
774 $ git commit -m 'add new release to perlhist' pod/perlhist.pod
776 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT
778 =head3 update patchlevel.h
780 I<You MUST SKIP this step for a BLEAD-POINT release>
782 Update F<patchlevel.h> to add a C<-RC1>-or-whatever string; or, if this is
783 a final release, remove it. For example:
785 static const char * const local_patches[] = {
788 PERL_GIT_UNPUSHED_COMMITS /* do not remove this line */
790 Be sure to commit your change:
792 $ git commit -m 'bump version to RCnnn' patchlevel.h
794 =head3 run makemeta to update META files
796 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/makemeta
798 Be sure to commit any changes (if applicable):
800 $ git status # any changes?
801 $ git commit -m 'Update META files' META.*
803 =head3 build, test and check a fresh perl
805 Build perl, then make sure it passes its own test suite, and installs:
808 $ ./Configure -des -Dprefix=/tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest
810 # or if it's an odd-numbered version:
811 $ ./Configure -des -Dusedevel -Dprefix=/tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest
815 Check that the output of C</tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest/bin/perl -v> and
816 C</tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest/bin/perl -V> are as expected,
817 especially as regards version numbers, patch and/or RC levels, and @INC
818 paths. Note that as they have been built from a git working
819 directory, they will still identify themselves using git tags and
820 commits. (Note that for an odd-numbered version, perl will install
821 itself as C<perl5.x.y>). C<perl -v> will identify itself as:
823 This is perl 5, version X, subversion Y (v5.X.Y (v5.X.Z-NNN-gdeadbeef))
825 where 5.X.Z is the latest tag, NNN the number of commits since this tag,
826 and C<< deadbeef >> commit of that tag.
828 Then delete the temporary installation.
830 =head3 create the release tag
832 Create the tag identifying this release (e.g.):
834 $ git tag v5.11.0 -m "First release of the v5.11 series!"
836 It is B<VERY> important that from this point forward, you not push
837 your git changes to the Perl master repository. If anything goes
838 wrong before you publish your newly-created tag, you can delete
839 and recreate it. Once you push your tag, we're stuck with it
840 and you'll need to use a new version number for your release.
842 =head3 build the tarball
844 Before you run the following, you might want to install 7-Zip (the
845 C<p7zip-full> package under Debian or the C<p7zip> port on MacPorts) or
846 the AdvanceCOMP suite (e.g. the C<advancecomp> package under Debian,
847 or the C<advancecomp> port on macports - 7-Zip on Windows is the
848 same code as AdvanceCOMP, so Windows users get the smallest files
849 first time). These compress about 5% smaller than gzip and bzip2.
850 Over the lifetime of your distribution this will save a lot of
851 people a small amount of download time and disk space, which adds
854 Create a tarball. Use the C<-s> option to specify a suitable suffix for
855 the tarball and directory name:
857 $ cd root/of/perl/tree
858 $ make distclean # make sure distclean works
859 $ git clean -xdf # make sure perl and git agree on files
860 # git clean should not output anything!
861 $ git status # and there's nothing lying around
863 $ perl Porting/makerel -b -s RC1 # for a release candidate
864 $ perl Porting/makerel -b # for a final release
866 This creates the directory F<../perl-x.y.z-RC1> or similar, copies all
867 the MANIFEST files into it, sets the correct permissions on them, then
868 tars it up as F<../perl-x.y.z-RC1.tar.gz>. With C<-b>, it also creates a
871 If you're getting your tarball suffixed with -uncommitted and you're sure
872 your changes were all committed, you can override the suffix with:
874 $ perl Porting/makerel -b -s ''
876 XXX if we go for extra tags and branches stuff, then add the extra details
879 Finally, clean up the temporary directory, e.g.
881 $ rm -rf ../perl-x.y.z-RC1
883 =head3 test the tarball
885 Once you have a tarball it's time to test the tarball (not the repository).
887 =head4 Copy the tarball to a web server
889 Copy the tarballs (.gz and possibly .bz2) to a web server somewhere you
892 =head4 Download the tarball to another machine
894 Download the tarball to some other machine. For a release candidate,
895 you really want to test your tarball on two or more different platforms
896 and architectures. The #p5p IRC channel on irc.perl.org is a good place
897 to find willing victims.
899 =head4 Check that F<Configure> works
901 Check that basic configuration and tests work on each test machine:
903 $ ./Configure -des && make all test
905 # Or for a development release:
906 $ ./Configure -Dusedevel -des && make all test
908 =head4 Run the test harness and install
910 Check that the test harness and install work on each test machine:
913 $ ./Configure -des -Dprefix=/install/path && make all test_harness install
916 =head4 Check C<perl -v> and C<perl -V>
918 Check that the output of C<perl -v> and C<perl -V> are as expected,
919 especially as regards version numbers, patch and/or RC levels, and @INC
922 Note that the results may be different without a F<.git/> directory,
923 which is why you should test from the tarball.
925 =head4 Run the Installation Verification Procedure utility
927 $ ./perl utils/perlivp
929 All tests successful.
932 =head4 Compare the installed paths to the last release
934 Compare the pathnames of all installed files with those of the previous
935 release (i.e. against the last installed tarball on this branch which you
936 have previously verified using this same procedure). In particular, look
937 for files in the wrong place, or files no longer included which should be.
938 For example, suppose the about-to-be-released version is 5.10.1 and the
941 cd installdir-5.10.0/
942 find . -type f | perl -pe's/5\.10\.0/5.10.1/g' | sort > /tmp/f1
943 cd installdir-5.10.1/
944 find . -type f | sort > /tmp/f2
947 =head4 Bootstrap the CPAN client
949 Bootstrap the CPAN client on the clean install:
956 =head4 Install the Inline module with CPAN and test it
958 Try installing a popular CPAN module that's reasonably complex and that
959 has dependencies; for example:
961 CPAN> install Inline::C
964 Check that your perl can run this:
966 $ bin/perl -lwe "use Inline C => q[int f() { return 42;}]; print f"
970 =head4 Make sure that perlbug works
972 Test L<perlbug> with the following:
976 Subject: test bug report
977 Local perl administrator [yourself]:
983 Action (Send/Display/Edit/Subject/Save to File): f
984 Name of file to save message in [perlbug.rep]:
985 Action (Send/Display/Edit/Subject/Save to File): q
987 and carefully examine the output (in F<perlbug.rep]>), especially
988 the "Locally applied patches" section. If everything appears okay, then
989 delete the file, and try it again, this time actually submitting the bug
990 report. Check that it shows up, then remember to close it!
992 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT
994 =head3 monitor smokes
996 XXX This is probably irrelevant if working on a release branch, though
997 MAINT or RC might want to push a smoke branch and wait.
999 Wait for the smoke tests to catch up with the commit which this release is
1000 based on (or at least the last commit of any consequence).
1002 Then check that the smoke tests pass (particularly on Win32). If not, go
1003 back and fix things.
1005 Note that for I<BLEAD-POINT> releases this may not be practical. It takes a
1006 long time for the smokers to catch up, especially the Win32
1007 smokers. This is why we have a RC cycle for I<MAINT> and I<BLEAD-FINAL>
1008 releases, but for I<BLEAD-POINT> releases sometimes the best you can do is
1009 to plead with people on IRC to test stuff on their platforms, fire away,
1010 and then hope for the best.
1012 =head3 upload to PAUSE
1014 Once smoking is okay, upload it to PAUSE. This is the point of no return.
1015 If anything goes wrong after this point, you will need to re-prepare
1016 a new release with a new minor version or RC number.
1018 https://pause.perl.org/
1020 (Login, then select 'Upload a file to CPAN')
1022 If your workstation is not connected to a high-bandwidth,
1023 high-reliability connection to the Internet, you should probably use the
1024 "GET URL" feature (rather than "HTTP UPLOAD") to have PAUSE retrieve the
1025 new release from wherever you put it for testers to find it. This will
1026 eliminate anxious gnashing of teeth while you wait to see if your
1027 15 megabyte HTTP upload successfully completes across your slow, twitchy
1028 cable modem. You can make use of your home directory on dromedary for
1029 this purpose: F<http://users.perl5.git.perl.org/~USERNAME> maps to
1030 F</home/USERNAME/public_html>, where F<USERNAME> is your login account
1031 on dromedary. I<Remember>: if your upload is partially successful, you
1032 may need to contact a PAUSE administrator or even bump the version of perl.
1034 Upload both the .gz and .bz2 versions of the tarball.
1036 Do not proceed any further until you are sure that your tarballs are on CPAN.
1037 Check your authors directory www.cpan.org (the globally balanced "fast"
1038 mirror) to confirm that your uploads have been successful.
1040 =for checklist skip RC BLEAD-POINT
1042 =head3 wait for indexing
1044 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC and BLEAD-POINT>
1046 Wait until you receive notification emails from the PAUSE indexer
1047 confirming that your uploads have been received. IMPORTANT -- you will
1048 probably get an email that indexing has failed, due to module permissions.
1049 This is considered normal.
1051 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT
1053 =head3 disarm patchlevel.h
1055 I<You MUST SKIP this step for BLEAD-POINT release>
1057 Disarm the F<patchlevel.h> change; for example,
1059 static const char * const local_patches[] = {
1062 PERL_GIT_UNPUSHED_COMMITS /* do not remove this line */
1064 Be sure to commit your change:
1066 $ git commit -m 'disarm RCnnn bump' patchlevel.h
1068 =head3 announce to p5p
1070 Mail p5p to announce your new release, with a quote you prepared earlier.
1072 Use the template at Porting/release_announcement_template.txt
1074 Send a carbon copy to C<noc@metacpan.org>
1076 =head3 merge release branch back to blead
1078 Merge the (local) release branch back into master now, and delete it.
1082 git merge release-5.xx.yy
1084 git branch -d release-5.xx.yy
1086 Note: The merge will create a merge commit if other changes have been pushed
1087 to blead while you've been working on your release branch. Do NOT rebase your
1088 branch to avoid the merge commit (as you might normally do when merging a
1089 small branch into blead) since doing so will invalidate the tag that you
1092 =head3 publish the release tag
1094 Now that you've shipped the new perl release to PAUSE and pushed your changes
1095 to the Perl master repository, it's time to publish the tag you created
1098 $ git push origin tag v5.11.0
1100 =head3 update epigraphs.pod
1102 Add your quote to F<Porting/epigraphs.pod> and commit it.
1103 You can include the customary link to the release announcement even before your
1104 message reaches the web-visible archives by looking for the X-List-Archive
1105 header in your message after receiving it back via perl5-porters.
1107 =head3 blog about your epigraph
1109 If you have a blog, please consider writing an entry in your blog explaining
1110 why you chose that particular quote for your epigraph.
1112 =for checklist skip RC
1114 =head3 Module::CoreList nagging
1116 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC>
1118 Remind the current maintainer of C<Module::CoreList> to push a new release
1121 =for checklist skip RC
1123 =head3 new perldelta
1125 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC>
1127 Create a new perldelta.
1133 Confirm that you have a clean checkout with no local changes.
1137 Run F<Porting/new-perldelta.pl>
1141 Run the C<git add> commands it outputs to add new and modified files.
1145 Verify that the build still works, by running C<./Configure> and
1146 C<make test_porting>. (On Win32 use the appropriate make utility).
1150 If F<t/porting/podcheck.t> spots errors in the new F<pod/perldelta.pod>,
1151 run C<./perl -MTestInit t/porting/podcheck.t | less> for more detail.
1152 Skip to the end of its test output to see the options it offers you.
1156 When C<make test_porting> passes, commit the new perldelta.
1160 At this point you may want to compare the commit with a previous bump to
1161 see if they look similar. See commit ba03bc34a4 for an example of a
1162 previous version bump.
1164 =for checklist skip MAINT RC
1168 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC and MAINT>
1170 If this was a BLEAD-FINAL release (i.e. the first release of a new maint
1171 series, 5.x.0 where x is even), then bump the version in the blead branch
1172 in git, e.g. 5.12.0 to 5.13.0.
1174 First, add a new feature bundle to F<regen/feature.pl>, initially by just
1175 copying the exiting entry, and bump the file's $VERSION (after the __END__
1178 "5.14" => [qw(switch say state unicode_strings)],
1179 + "5.15" => [qw(switch say state unicode_strings)],
1181 Run F<regen/feature.pl> to propagate the changes to F<lib/feature.pm>.
1183 Then follow the section L<"Bump the version number"> to bump the version
1184 in the remaining files and test and commit.
1186 If this was a BLEAD-POINT release, then just follow the section
1187 L<"Bump the version number">.
1189 After bumping the version, follow the section L<"update INSTALL"> to
1190 ensure all version number references are correct.
1192 (Note: The version is NOT bumped immediately after a MAINT release in order
1193 to avoid confusion and wasted time arising from bug reports relating to
1194 "intermediate versions" such as 5.20.1-and-a-bit: If the report is caused
1195 by a bug that gets fixed in 5.20.2 and this intermediate version already
1196 calls itself 5.20.2 then much time can be wasted in figuring out why there
1197 is a failure from something that "should have been fixed". If the bump is
1198 late then there is a much smaller window of time for such confusing bug
1199 reports to arise. (The opposite problem -- trying to figure out why there
1200 *is* a bug in something calling itself 5.20.1 when in fact the bug was
1201 introduced later -- shouldn't arise for MAINT releases since they should,
1202 in theory, only contain bug fixes but never regressions.))
1204 =head3 clean build and test
1206 Run a clean build and test to make sure nothing obvious is broken.
1208 In particular, F<Porting/perldelta_template.pod> is intentionally exempted
1209 from podchecker tests, to avoid false positives about placeholder text.
1210 However, once it's copied to F<pod/perldelta.pod> the contents can now
1211 cause test failures. Problems should resolved by doing one of the
1218 Replace placeholder text with correct text.
1222 If the problem is from a broken placeholder link, you can add it to the
1223 array C<@perldelta_ignore_links> in F<t/porting/podcheck.t>. Lines
1224 containing such links should be marked with C<XXX> so that they get
1225 cleaned up before the next release.
1229 Following the instructions output by F<t/porting/podcheck.t> on how to
1230 update its exceptions database.
1236 Finally, push any commits done above.
1238 $ git push origin ....
1240 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT MAINT RC
1242 =head3 create maint branch
1244 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC, BLEAD-POINT, MAINT>
1246 If this was a BLEAD-FINAL release (i.e. the first release of a new maint
1247 series, 5.x.0 where x is even), then create a new maint branch based on
1248 the commit tagged as the current release.
1250 Assuming you're using git 1.7.x or newer:
1252 $ git checkout -b maint-5.12 v5.12.0
1253 $ git push origin -u maint-5.12
1256 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT MAINT RC
1258 =head3 make the maint branch available in the APC
1260 Clone the new branch into /srv/gitcommon/branches on camel so the APC will
1261 receive its changes.
1263 $ git clone --branch maint-5.14 /gitroot/perl.git \
1264 ? /srv/gitcommon/branches/perl-5.14.x
1265 $ chmod -R g=u /srv/gitcommon/branches/perl-5.14.x
1267 And nag the sysadmins to make this directory available via rsync.
1269 XXX Who are the sysadmins? Contact info?
1271 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT RC
1273 =head3 copy perldelta.pod to blead
1275 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC, BLEAD-POINT>
1277 Copy the perldelta.pod for this release into blead; for example:
1280 $ cp -i ../5.10.x/pod/perldelta.pod pod/perl5101delta.pod # for example
1281 $ git add pod/perl5101delta.pod
1283 Don't forget to set the NAME correctly in the new file (e.g. perl5101delta
1284 rather than perldelta).
1286 Edit F<pod/perl.pod> to add an entry for the file, e.g.:
1288 perl5101delta Perl changes in version 5.10.1
1290 Then rebuild various files:
1292 $ perl Porting/pod_rules.pl
1294 Finally, commit and push:
1296 $ git commit -a -m 'add perlXXXdelta'
1297 $ git push origin ....
1299 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT
1301 =head3 copy perlhist.pod entries to blead
1303 Make sure any recent F<pod/perlhist.pod> entries are copied to
1304 F<perlhist.pod> on blead. e.g.
1308 =head3 bump RT version number
1310 Log into http://rt.perl.org/ and check whether the new version is in the RT
1311 fields C<Perl Version> and C<Fixed In>. The easiest way to determine this is to
1312 open up any ticket for modification and check the drop downs next to the
1313 C<Perl Version> and C<Fixed In> labels.
1315 Here, try this link: L<https://rt.perl.org/Ticket/Modify.html?id=10000>
1317 If the new version is not listed there, send an email to C<perlbug-admin at
1318 perl.org> requesting this.
1322 I<You MUST RETIRE to your preferred PUB, CAFE or SEASIDE VILLA for some
1323 much-needed rest and relaxation>.
1325 Thanks for releasing perl!
1327 =head2 Building a release - the day after
1329 =for checklist skip BLEAD-FINAL, MAINT, RC
1331 =head3 update Module::CoreList
1333 I<After a BLEAD-POINT release only>
1335 After Module::CoreList has shipped to CPAN by the maintainer, update
1336 Module::CoreList in the source so that it reflects the new blead
1343 Update F<Porting/Maintainers.pl> to list the new DISTRIBUTION on CPAN,
1344 which should be identical to what is currently in blead.
1348 Bump the $VERSION in F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm>,
1349 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList/TieHashDelta.pm> and
1350 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList/Utils.pm>.
1354 If you have a local CPAN mirror, run:
1356 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/corelist.pl ~/my-cpan-mirror
1360 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/corelist.pl cpan
1362 This will update F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm>,
1363 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pod> and
1364 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList/Utils.pm> as it did before,
1365 but this time adding new sections for the next BLEAD-POINT release.
1369 Add the new $Module::CoreList::VERSION to
1370 F<dist/Module-CoreList/Changes>.
1374 Update F<pod/perldelta.pod> to mention the upgrade to Module::CoreList.
1378 Remake perl to get your changed .pm files propagated into F<lib/> and
1379 then run at least the F<dist/Module-CoreList/t/*.t> tests and the
1380 test_porting makefile target to check that they're ok.
1386 $ ./perl -Ilib -MModule::CoreList -le 'print Module::CoreList->find_version($]) ? "ok" : "not ok"'
1388 and check that it outputs "ok" to prove that Module::CoreList now knows
1389 about blead's current version.
1393 Commit and push your changes.
1397 =head3 check tarball availability
1399 Check various website entries to make sure the that tarball has appeared
1400 and is properly indexed:
1406 Check your author directory under L<http://www.cpan.org/authors/id/>
1407 to ensure that the tarballs are available on the website.
1411 Check C</src> on CPAN (on a fast mirror) to ensure that links to
1412 the new tarballs have appeared: There should be links in C</src/5.0>
1413 (which is accumulating all new versions), and (for BLEAD-FINAL and
1414 MAINT only) an appropriate mention in C</src/README.html> (which describes
1415 the latest versions in each stable branch, with links).
1417 The C</src/5.0> links should appear automatically, some hours after upload.
1418 If they don't, or the C</src> description is inadequate,
1419 ask Ask <ask@perl.org>.
1423 Check L<http://www.cpan.org/src/> to ensure that the C</src> updates
1424 have been correctly mirrored to the website.
1425 If they haven't, ask Ask <ask@perl.org>.
1429 Check L<http://search.cpan.org> to see if it has indexed the distribution.
1430 It should be visible at a URL like C<http://search.cpan.org/dist/perl-5.10.1/>.
1434 =for checklist skip RC
1436 =head3 update dev.perl.org
1438 I<You MUST SKIP this step for a RC release>
1440 In your C<perlweb> repository, link to the new release. For a new
1441 latest-maint release, edit F<docs/shared/tpl/stats.html>. Otherwise,
1442 edit F<docs/dev/perl5/index.html>.
1444 Then make a pull request to Leo Lapworth. If this fails for some reason
1445 and you cannot cajole anybody else into submitting that change, you can
1446 mail Leo as last resort.
1448 This repository can be found on L<github|https://github.com/perlorg/perlweb>.
1450 =head3 update release manager's guide
1452 Go over your notes from the release (you did take some, right?) and update
1453 F<Porting/release_managers_guide.pod> with any fixes or information that
1454 will make life easier for the next release manager.
1461 http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2009-05/msg00608.html,
1462 plus a whole bunch of other sources, including private correspondence.