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 passes...
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 =for checklist skip RC
176 =head3 Quotation for release announcement epigraph
178 I<SKIP this step for RC>
180 For all except an RC release of perl, you will need a quotation
181 to use as an epigraph to your release announcement.
183 =head2 Building a release - advance actions
185 The work of building a release candidate for an even numbered release
186 (BLEAD-FINAL) of perl generally starts several weeks before the first
187 release candidate. Some of the following steps should be done regularly,
188 but all I<must> be done in the run up to a release.
190 =head3 dual-life CPAN module synchronisation
192 To see which core distro versions differ from the current CPAN versions:
194 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/core-cpan-diff -x -a
196 However, this only checks whether the version recorded in
197 F<Porting/Maintainers.pl> differs from the latest on CPAN. It doesn't tell you
198 if the code itself has diverged from CPAN.
200 You can also run an actual diff of the contents of the modules, comparing core
201 to CPAN, to ensure that there were no erroneous/extraneous changes that need to
202 be dealt with. You do this by not passing the C<-x> option:
204 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/core-cpan-diff -a -o /tmp/corediffs
206 Passing C<-u cpan> (and maybe C<-u undef>) will probably be helpful, since
207 it limits the search to distributions with those upstream sources. (It's
208 OK for blead upstream to differ from CPAN because those dual-life releases
209 usually come I<after> perl is released.
211 See also the C<-d> and C<-v> options for more detail (and the C<-u> option as
212 mentioned above). You'll probably want to use the C<-c cachedir> option to
213 avoid repeated CPAN downloads and may want to use C<-m file:///mirror/path> if
214 you made a local CPAN mirror. Note that a minicpan mirror won't actually work,
215 but can provide a good first pass to quickly get a list of modules which
216 definitely haven't changed, to avoid having to download absolutely everything.
218 For a BLEAD release with 'cpan' upstream, if a CPAN release appears to be ahead
219 of blead, then consider updating it (or asking the relevant porter to do so).
220 If blead contains edits to a 'cpan' upstream module, this is naughty but
221 sometimes unavoidable to keep blead tests passing. Make sure the affected file
222 has a CUSTOMIZED entry in F<Porting/Maintainers.pl>. For 'undef' upstream,
223 you'll have to use your judgment for whether any delta should be ignored (like
224 'blead' upstream) or treated like a 'cpan' upstream and flagged. Ask around on
225 #p5p if you're not sure.
227 If you are making a MAINT release, run C<core-cpan-diff> on both blead and
228 maint, then diff the two outputs. Compare this with what you expect, and if
229 necessary, fix things up. For example, you might think that both blead
230 and maint are synchronised with a particular CPAN module, but one might
231 have some extra changes.
233 =head3 How to sync a CPAN module with a cpan/ distro
239 Fetch the most recent version from CPAN.
243 Unpack the retrieved tarball. Rename the old directory; rename the new
244 directory to the original name.
248 Restore any F<.gitignore> file. This can be done by issuing
249 C<git checkout .gitignore> in the F<cpan/Distro> directory.
253 Remove files we do not need. That is, remove any files that match the
254 entries in C<@IGNORE> in F<Porting/Maintainer.pl>, and anything that
255 matches the C<EXCLUDED> section of the distro's entry in the C<%Modules>
260 Restore any files mentioned in the C<CUSTOMIZED> section, using
261 C<git checkout>. Make any new customizations if necessary. Also,
262 restore any files that are mentioned in C<@IGNORE>, but were checked
263 into the repository anyway.
267 For any new files in the distro, determine whether they are needed.
268 If not, delete them, and list them in either C<EXCLUDED> or C<@INGORE>.
269 Otherwise, add them to C<MANIFEST>, and run C<git add> to add the files
274 For any files that are gone, remove them from C<MANIFEST>, and use
275 C<git rm> to tell git the files will be gone.
279 If the C<MANIFEST> file was changed in any of the previous steps, run
280 C<perl Porting/manisort --output MANIFEST.sort; mv MANIFEST.sort MANIFEST>.
284 For any files that have an execute bit set, either remove the execute
285 bit, or edit F<Porting/exec-bit.txt>
289 Run C<make> (or C<nmake> on Windows), see if C<perl> compiles.
293 Run the tests for the package.
297 Run the tests in F<t/porting>.
301 Update the C<DISTRIBUTION> entry in F<Porting/Maintainers.pl>.
305 Run a full configure/build/test cycle.
309 If everything is ok, commit the changes.
313 For entries with a non-simple C<FILES> section, or with a C<MAP>, you
314 may have to take more steps than listed above.
316 F<Porting/sync-with-cpan> is a script that automates most of the steps
317 above; but see the comments at the beginning of the file. In particular,
318 it has not yet been exercised on Windows, but will certainly require a set
319 of Unix tools such as Cygwin, and steps that run C<make> will need to run
322 =head3 dual-life CPAN module stability
324 Ensure dual-life CPAN modules are stable, which comes down to:
326 for each module that fails its regression tests on $current
327 did it fail identically on $previous?
328 if yes, "SEP" (Somebody Else's Problem)
329 else work out why it failed (a bisect is useful for this)
331 attempt to group failure causes
333 for each failure cause
334 is that a regression?
335 if yes, figure out how to fix it
336 (more code? revert the code that broke it)
338 (presumably) it's relying on something un-or-under-documented
339 should the existing behaviour stay?
340 yes - goto "regression"
341 no - note it in perldelta as a significant bugfix
342 (also, try to inform the module's author)
344 =head3 monitor smoke tests for failures
346 Similarly, monitor the smoking of core tests, and try to fix. See
347 L<http://doc.procura.nl/smoke/index.html> and L<http://perl5.test-smoke.org/>
348 for a summary. See also
349 L<http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.daily-build.reports/> which has
352 Similarly, monitor the smoking of perl for compiler warnings, and try to
355 =head3 update perldelta
357 Get perldelta in a mostly finished state.
359 Read F<Porting/how_to_write_a_perldelta.pod>, and try to make sure that
360 every section it lists is, if necessary, populated and complete. Copy
361 edit the whole document.
363 You won't be able to automatically fill in the "Updated Modules" section until
364 after Module::CoreList is updated (as described below in
365 L<"update Module::CoreList">).
367 =head3 Bump the version number
369 Do not do this yet for a BLEAD-POINT release! You will do this at the end of
372 Increase the version number (e.g. from 5.12.0 to 5.12.1).
374 For a release candidate for a stable perl, this should happen a week or two
375 before the first release candidate to allow sufficient time for testing and
376 smoking with the target version built into the perl executable. For
377 subsequent release candidates and the final release, it is not necessary to
378 bump the version further.
380 There is a tool to semi-automate this process:
382 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/bump-perl-version -i 5.10.0 5.10.1
384 Remember that this tool is largely just grepping for '5.10.0' or whatever,
385 so it will generate false positives. Be careful not change text like
386 "this was fixed in 5.10.0"!
388 Use git status and git diff to select changes you want to keep.
390 Be particularly careful with F<INSTALL>, which contains a mixture of
391 C<5.10.0>-type strings, some of which need bumping on every release, and
392 some of which need to be left unchanged.
393 The line in F<INSTALL> about "is binary incompatible with" requires a
394 correct choice of earlier version to declare incompatibility with.
396 When doing a BLEAD-POINT or BLEAD-FINAL release, also make sure the
397 C<PERL_API_*> constants in F<patchlevel.h> are in sync with the version
398 you're releasing, unless you're absolutely sure the release you're about to
399 make is 100% binary compatible to an earlier release. When releasing a MAINT
400 perl version, the C<PERL_API_*> constants C<MUST NOT> be changed as we aim
401 to guarantee binary compatibility in maint branches.
403 After editing, regenerate uconfig.h (this must be run on a system with a
406 $ perl regen/uconfig_h.pl
408 This might not cause any new changes.
412 $ git clean -xdf # careful if you don't have local files to keep!
413 $ ./Configure -des -Dusedevel
421 B<review the delta carefully>
423 $ git commit -a -m 'Bump the perl version in various places for 5.x.y'
425 At this point you may want to compare the commit with a previous bump to
426 see if they look similar. See commit f7cf42bb69 for an example of a
427 previous version bump.
429 When the version number is bumped, you should also update Module::CoreList
430 (as described below in L<"update Module::CoreList">) to reflect the new
433 =head3 update INSTALL
435 Review and update INSTALL to account for the change in version number;
436 in particular, the "Coexistence with earlier versions of perl 5" section.
438 Be particularly careful with the section "Upgrading from 5.X.Y or earlier".
439 The "X.Y" needs to be changed to the most recent version that we are
440 I<not> binary compatible with.
442 For MAINT and BLEAD-FINAL releases, this needs to refer to the last
443 release in the previous development cycle (so for example, for a 5.14.x
444 release, this would be 5.13.11).
446 For BLEAD-POINT releases, it needs to refer to the previous BLEAD-POINT
447 release (so for 5.15.3 this would be 5.15.2).
449 =head3 Check copyright years
451 Check that the copyright years are up to date by running:
453 $ ./perl t/porting/copyright.t --now
455 Remedy any test failures by editing README or perl.c accordingly (search for
456 the "Copyright"). If updating perl.c, check if the file's own copyright date in
457 the C comment at the top needs updating, as well as the one printed by C<-v>.
459 =head3 Check more build configurations
461 Try running the full test suite against multiple Perl configurations. Here are
462 some sets of Configure flags you can try:
468 C<-Duseshrplib -Dusesitecustomize>
472 C<-Duserelocatableinc>
480 If you have multiple compilers on your machine, you might also consider
481 compiling with C<-Dcc=$other_compiler>.
483 =head3 update perlport
485 L<perlport> has a section currently named I<Supported Platforms> that
486 indicates which platforms are known to build in the current release.
487 If necessary update the list and the indicated version number.
489 =head3 check a readonly build
491 Even before other prep work, follow the steps in L<build the tarball> and test
492 it locally. Because a perl source tarballs sets many files read-only, it could
493 test differently than tests run from the repository. After you're sure
494 permissions aren't a problem, delete the generated directory and tarballs.
496 =head2 Building a release - on the day
498 This section describes the actions required to make a release
499 that are performed near to, or on the actual release day.
501 =head3 re-check earlier actions
503 Review all the actions in the previous section,
504 L<"Building a release - advance actions"> to ensure they are all done and
507 =head3 create a release branch
509 For BLEAD-POINT releases, making a release from a release branch avoids the
510 need to freeze blead during the release. This is less important for
511 BLEAD-FINAL, MAINT, and RC releases, since blead will already be frozen in
512 those cases. Create the branch by running
514 git checkout -b release-5.xx.yy
516 =head3 build a clean perl
518 Make sure you have a gitwise-clean perl directory (no modified files,
519 unpushed commits etc):
524 then configure and build perl so that you have a Makefile and porting tools:
526 $ ./Configure -Dusedevel -des && make
528 =head3 update Module::CoreList
530 Update C<Module::CoreList> with module version data for the new release.
532 Note that if this is a MAINT release, you should run the following actions
533 from the maint branch, but commit the C<CoreList.pm> changes in
534 I<blead> and subsequently cherry-pick any releases since the last
535 maint release and then your recent commit. XXX need a better example
537 [ Note that the procedure for handling Module::CoreList in maint branches
538 is a bit complex, and the RMG currently don't describe a full and
539 workable approach. The main issue is keeping Module::CoreList
540 and its version number synchronised across all maint branches, blead and
541 CPAN, while having to bump its version number for every RC release.
542 See this brief p5p thread:
544 Message-ID: <20130311174402.GZ2294@iabyn.com>
546 If you can devise a workable system, feel free to try it out, and to
547 update the RMG accordingly!
552 F<corelist.pl> uses ftp.funet.fi to verify information about dual-lived
553 modules on CPAN. It can use a full, local CPAN mirror and/or fall back
554 on HTTP::Tiny to fetch package metadata remotely.
556 (If you'd prefer to have a full CPAN mirror, see
557 http://www.cpan.org/misc/cpan-faq.html#How_mirror_CPAN)
559 Then change to your perl checkout, and if necessary,
563 Before updating Module::CoreList, first edit
564 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm> and delete any existing
565 entries for this version from the C<%released>, C<%delta> and
566 C<%deprecated> hashes: they will have a key like C<5.010001> for 5.10.1.
568 XXX the edit-in-place functionality of Porting/corelist.pl should
569 be fixed to handle this automatically.
571 Then, If you have a local CPAN mirror, run:
573 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/corelist.pl ~/my-cpan-mirror
577 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/corelist.pl cpan
579 This will chug for a while, possibly reporting various warnings about
580 badly-indexed CPAN modules unrelated to the modules actually in core.
581 Assuming all goes well, it will update
582 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm> and possibly
583 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pod>.
585 Check those files over carefully:
587 $ git diff dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm
588 $ git diff dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pod
590 =head4 Bump C<$Module::CoreList::VERSION>
592 If necessary, bump C<$Module::CoreList::VERSION> (there's no need to do this for
593 every RC; in RC1, bump the version to a new clean number that will
594 appear in the final release, and leave as-is for the later RCs and final).
595 It may also happen that C<Module::CoreList> has been modified in blead, and
596 hence has a new version number already. (But make sure it is not the same
597 number as a CPAN release.)
599 Edit the version number in the new C<< 'Module::CoreList' => 'X.YZ' >>
600 entry, as that is likely to reflect the previous version number.
602 =head4 Bump C<$Module::CoreList::TieHashDelta::VERSION>
604 C<$Module::CoreList::TieHashDelta::VERSION> should always be equal to
605 C<$Module::CoreList::VERSION>. Make sure the two versions match before
608 Edit the version number in the new
609 C<< 'Module::CoreList::TieHashDelta' => 'X.YZ' >> entry, as that is likely to
610 reflect the previous version number.
612 =head4 Bump C<$Module::CoreList::Utils::VERSION>
614 C<$Module::CoreList::Utils::VERSION> should always be equal to
615 C<$Module::CoreList::VERSION>. Make sure the two versions match before
618 Edit the version number in the new
619 C<< 'Module::CoreList::Utils' => 'X.YZ' >> entry, as that is likely to
620 reflect the previous version number.
622 =head4 Bump version in Module::CoreList F<Changes>
624 Also edit Module::CoreList's new version number in its F<Changes>
627 =head4 Add Module::CoreList version bump to perldelta
629 Add a perldelta entry for the new Module::CoreList version.
631 =for checklist skip RC
633 =head4 Update C<%Module::CoreList::released> and C<CAVEATS>
635 In addition, if this is a final release (rather than a release candidate):
641 Update this version's entry in the C<%released> hash with today's date.
645 Make sure that the script has correctly updated the C<CAVEATS> section
646 (Note, the C<CAVEATS> section is in
647 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pod>)
651 =head4 Commit Module::CoreList changes
653 Finally, commit the new version of Module::CoreList:
654 (unless this is for MAINT; in which case commit it to blead first, then
655 cherry-pick it back).
657 $ git commit -m 'Update Module::CoreList for 5.x.y' dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pod
659 =head4 Rebuild and test
661 Build and test to get the changes into the currently built lib directory and to ensure
662 all tests are passing.
664 =head3 finalize perldelta
666 Finalize the perldelta. In particular, fill in the Acknowledgements
667 section, which can be generated with something like:
669 $ perl Porting/acknowledgements.pl v5.15.0..HEAD
671 Fill in the "Updated Modules" section now that Module::CoreList is updated.
673 Re-read the perldelta to try to find any embarrassing typos and thinkos;
674 remove any C<TODO> or C<XXX> flags; update the "Known Problems" section
675 with any serious issues for which fixes are not going to happen now; and
676 run through pod and spell checkers, e.g.
678 $ podchecker -warnings -warnings pod/perldelta.pod
679 $ spell pod/perldelta.pod
681 Also, you may want to generate and view an HTML version of it to check
684 $ ./perl -Ilib ext/Pod-Html/bin/pod2html pod/perldelta.pod > /tmp/perldelta.html
686 Another good HTML preview option is http://search.cpan.org/pod2html
688 If you make changes, be sure to commit them.
690 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT MAINT RC
692 =head3 remove stale perldeltas
694 For the first RC release that is ONLY for a BLEAD-FINAL, the perldeltas
695 from the BLEAD-POINT releases since the previous BLEAD-FINAL should have
696 now been consolidated into the current perldelta, and hence are now just
697 useless clutter. They can be removed using:
699 $ git rm <file1> <file2> ...
701 For example, for RC0 of 5.16.0:
704 $ git rm perldelta515*.pod
706 =for checklist skip BLEAD-FINAL BLEAD-POINT
708 =head3 add recent perldeltas
710 For the first RC for a MAINT release, copy in any recent perldeltas from
711 blead that have been added since the last release on this branch. This
712 should include any recent maint releases on branches older than your one,
713 but not newer. For example if you're producing a 5.14.x release, copy any
714 perldeltas from recent 5.10.x, 5.12.x etc maint releases, but not from
715 5.16.x or higher. Remember to
717 $ git add <file1> <file2> ...
719 =head3 update and commit perldelta files
721 If you have added or removed any perldelta files via the previous two
722 steps, then edit F<pod/perl.pod> to add/remove them from its table of
723 contents, then run F<Porting/pod_rules.pl> to propagate your changes there
724 into all the other files that mention them (including F<MANIFEST>). You'll
725 need to C<git add> the files that it changes.
727 Then build a clean perl and do a full test
731 $ ./Configure -Dusedevel -des
735 Once all tests pass, commit your changes.
737 =head3 build a clean perl
739 If you skipped the previous step (adding/removing perldeltas),
740 again, make sure you have a gitwise-clean perl directory (no modified files,
741 unpushed commits etc):
746 then configure and build perl so that you have a Makefile and porting tools:
748 $ ./Configure -Dusedevel -des && make
750 =for checklist skip BLEAD-FINAL BLEAD-POINT
752 =head3 synchronise from blead's perlhist.pod
754 For the first RC for a MAINT release, copy in the latest
755 F<pod/perlhist.pod> from blead; this will include details of newer
756 releases in all branches. In theory, blead's version should be a strict
757 superset of the one in this branch, but it's probably safest to diff them
758 first to ensure that there's nothing in this branch that was forgotten
761 $ diff pod/perlhist.pod ..../blead/pod/perlhist.pod
762 $ cp ..../blead/pod/perlhist.pod pod/
763 $ git commit -m 'sync perlhist from blead' pod/perlhist.pod
765 =for checklist skip RC
767 =head3 update perlhist.pod
769 I<You MUST SKIP this step for a RC release>
771 Add an entry to F<pod/perlhist.pod> with the release date, e.g.:
773 David 5.10.1 2009-Aug-06
775 Make sure that the correct pumpking is listed in the left-hand column, and
776 if this is the first release under the stewardship of a new pumpking, make
777 sure that his or her name is listed in the section entitled
778 C<THE KEEPERS OF THE PUMPKIN>.
780 I<If you're making a BLEAD-FINAL release>, also update the "SELECTED
781 RELEASE SIZES" section with the output of
782 F<Porting/perlhist_calculate.pl>.
784 Be sure to commit your changes:
786 $ git commit -m 'add new release to perlhist' pod/perlhist.pod
788 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT
790 =head3 update patchlevel.h
792 I<You MUST SKIP this step for a BLEAD-POINT release>
794 Update F<patchlevel.h> to add a C<-RC1>-or-whatever string; or, if this is
795 a final release, remove it. For example:
797 static const char * const local_patches[] = {
800 PERL_GIT_UNPUSHED_COMMITS /* do not remove this line */
802 Be sure to commit your change:
804 $ git commit -m 'bump version to RCnnn' patchlevel.h
806 =head3 run makemeta to update META files
808 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/makemeta
810 Be sure to commit any changes (if applicable):
812 $ git status # any changes?
813 $ git commit -m 'Update META files' META.*
815 =head3 build, test and check a fresh perl
817 Build perl, then make sure it passes its own test suite, and installs:
820 $ ./Configure -des -Dprefix=/tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest
822 # or if it's an odd-numbered version:
823 $ ./Configure -des -Dusedevel -Dprefix=/tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest
827 Check that the output of C</tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest/bin/perl -v> and
828 C</tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest/bin/perl -V> are as expected,
829 especially as regards version numbers, patch and/or RC levels, and @INC
830 paths. Note that as they have been built from a git working
831 directory, they will still identify themselves using git tags and
832 commits. (Note that for an odd-numbered version, perl will install
833 itself as C<perl5.x.y>). C<perl -v> will identify itself as:
835 This is perl 5, version X, subversion Y (v5.X.Y (v5.X.Z-NNN-gdeadbeef))
837 where 5.X.Z is the latest tag, NNN the number of commits since this tag,
838 and C<< deadbeef >> commit of that tag.
840 Then delete the temporary installation.
842 =head3 create the release tag
844 Create the tag identifying this release (e.g.):
846 $ git tag v5.11.0 -m "First release of the v5.11 series!"
848 It is B<VERY> important that from this point forward, you not push
849 your git changes to the Perl master repository. If anything goes
850 wrong before you publish your newly-created tag, you can delete
851 and recreate it. Once you push your tag, we're stuck with it
852 and you'll need to use a new version number for your release.
854 =head3 build the tarball
856 Before you run the following, you might want to install 7-Zip (the
857 C<p7zip-full> package under Debian or the C<p7zip> port on MacPorts) or
858 the AdvanceCOMP suite (e.g. the C<advancecomp> package under Debian,
859 or the C<advancecomp> port on macports - 7-Zip on Windows is the
860 same code as AdvanceCOMP, so Windows users get the smallest files
861 first time). These compress about 5% smaller than gzip and bzip2.
862 Over the lifetime of your distribution this will save a lot of
863 people a small amount of download time and disk space, which adds
866 Create a tarball. Use the C<-s> option to specify a suitable suffix for
867 the tarball and directory name:
869 $ cd root/of/perl/tree
871 $ git clean -xdf # make sure perl and git agree on files
872 $ git status # and there's nothing lying around
874 $ perl Porting/makerel -b -s RC1 # for a release candidate
875 $ perl Porting/makerel -b # for a final release
877 This creates the directory F<../perl-x.y.z-RC1> or similar, copies all
878 the MANIFEST files into it, sets the correct permissions on them, then
879 tars it up as F<../perl-x.y.z-RC1.tar.gz>. With C<-b>, it also creates a
882 If you're getting your tarball suffixed with -uncommitted and you're sure
883 your changes were all committed, you can override the suffix with:
885 $ perl Porting/makerel -b -s ''
887 XXX if we go for extra tags and branches stuff, then add the extra details
890 Finally, clean up the temporary directory, e.g.
892 $ rm -rf ../perl-x.y.z-RC1
894 =head3 test the tarball
896 Once you have a tarball it's time to test the tarball (not the repository).
898 =head4 Copy the tarball to a web server
900 Copy the tarballs (.gz and possibly .bz2) to a web server somewhere you
903 =head4 Download the tarball to another machine
905 Download the tarball to some other machine. For a release candidate,
906 you really want to test your tarball on two or more different platforms
907 and architectures. The #p5p IRC channel on irc.perl.org is a good place
908 to find willing victims.
910 =head4 Check that F<Configure> works
912 Check that basic configuration and tests work on each test machine:
914 $ ./Configure -des && make all test
916 =head4 Run the test harness and install
918 Check that the test harness and install work on each test machine:
921 $ ./Configure -des -Dprefix=/install/path && make all test_harness install
924 =head4 Check C<perl -v> and C<perl -V>
926 Check that the output of C<perl -v> and C<perl -V> are as expected,
927 especially as regards version numbers, patch and/or RC levels, and @INC
930 Note that the results may be different without a F<.git/> directory,
931 which is why you should test from the tarball.
933 =head4 Run the Installation Verification Procedure utility
935 $ ./perl utils/perlivp
937 All tests successful.
940 =head4 Compare the installed paths to the last release
942 Compare the pathnames of all installed files with those of the previous
943 release (i.e. against the last installed tarball on this branch which you
944 have previously verified using this same procedure). In particular, look
945 for files in the wrong place, or files no longer included which should be.
946 For example, suppose the about-to-be-released version is 5.10.1 and the
949 cd installdir-5.10.0/
950 find . -type f | perl -pe's/5\.10\.0/5.10.1/g' | sort > /tmp/f1
951 cd installdir-5.10.1/
952 find . -type f | sort > /tmp/f2
955 =head4 Bootstrap the CPAN client
957 Bootstrap the CPAN client on the clean install:
961 =head4 Install the Inline module with CPAN and test it
963 Try installing a popular CPAN module that's reasonably complex and that
964 has dependencies; for example:
969 Check that your perl can run this:
971 $ bin/perl -lwe "use Inline C => q[int f() { return 42;}]; print f"
975 =head4 Make sure that perlbug works
977 Test L<perlbug> with the following:
981 Subject: test bug report
982 Local perl administrator [yourself]:
988 Action (Send/Display/Edit/Subject/Save to File): f
989 Name of file to save message in [perlbug.rep]:
990 Action (Send/Display/Edit/Subject/Save to File): q
992 and carefully examine the output (in F<perlbug.rep]>), especially
993 the "Locally applied patches" section. If everything appears okay, then
994 delete the file, and try it again, this time actually submitting the bug
995 report. Check that it shows up, then remember to close it!
997 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT
999 =head3 monitor smokes
1001 XXX This is probably irrelevant if working on a release branch, though
1002 MAINT or RC might want to push a smoke branch and wait.
1004 Wait for the smoke tests to catch up with the commit which this release is
1005 based on (or at least the last commit of any consequence).
1007 Then check that the smoke tests pass (particularly on Win32). If not, go
1008 back and fix things.
1010 Note that for I<BLEAD-POINT> releases this may not be practical. It takes a
1011 long time for the smokers to catch up, especially the Win32
1012 smokers. This is why we have a RC cycle for I<MAINT> and I<BLEAD-FINAL>
1013 releases, but for I<BLEAD-POINT> releases sometimes the best you can do is
1014 to plead with people on IRC to test stuff on their platforms, fire away,
1015 and then hope for the best.
1017 =head3 upload to PAUSE
1019 Once smoking is okay, upload it to PAUSE. This is the point of no return.
1020 If anything goes wrong after this point, you will need to re-prepare
1021 a new release with a new minor version or RC number.
1023 https://pause.perl.org/
1025 (Login, then select 'Upload a file to CPAN')
1027 If your workstation is not connected to a high-bandwidth,
1028 high-reliability connection to the Internet, you should probably use the
1029 "GET URL" feature (rather than "HTTP UPLOAD") to have PAUSE retrieve the
1030 new release from wherever you put it for testers to find it. This will
1031 eliminate anxious gnashing of teeth while you wait to see if your
1032 15 megabyte HTTP upload successfully completes across your slow, twitchy
1033 cable modem. You can make use of your home directory on dromedary for
1034 this purpose: F<http://users.perl5.git.perl.org/~USERNAME> maps to
1035 F</home/USERNAME/public_html>, where F<USERNAME> is your login account
1036 on dromedary. I<Remember>: if your upload is partially successful, you
1037 may need to contact a PAUSE administrator or even bump the version of perl.
1039 Upload both the .gz and .bz2 versions of the tarball.
1041 Do not proceed any further until you are sure that your tarballs are on CPAN.
1042 Check your authors directory www.cpan.org (the globally balanced "fast"
1043 mirror) to confirm that your uploads have been successful.
1045 =for checklist skip RC BLEAD-POINT
1047 =head3 wait for indexing
1049 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC and BLEAD-POINT>
1051 Wait until you receive notification emails from the PAUSE indexer
1052 confirming that your uploads have been received. IMPORTANT -- you will
1053 probably get an email that indexing has failed, due to module permissions.
1054 This is considered normal.
1056 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT
1058 =head3 disarm patchlevel.h
1060 I<You MUST SKIP this step for BLEAD-POINT release>
1062 Disarm the F<patchlevel.h> change; for example,
1064 static const char * const local_patches[] = {
1067 PERL_GIT_UNPUSHED_COMMITS /* do not remove this line */
1069 Be sure to commit your change:
1071 $ git commit -m 'disarm RCnnn bump' patchlevel.h
1073 =head3 announce to p5p
1075 Mail p5p to announce your new release, with a quote you prepared earlier.
1077 Use the template at Porting/release_announcement_template.txt
1079 Send a carbon copy to C<noc@metacpan.org>
1081 =head3 merge release branch back to blead
1083 Merge the (local) release branch back into master now, and delete it.
1087 git merge release-5.xx.yy
1089 git branch -d release-5.xx.yy
1091 =head3 publish the release tag
1093 Now that you've shipped the new perl release to PAUSE and pushed your changes
1094 to the Perl master repository, it's time to publish the tag you created
1097 $ git push origin tag v5.11.0
1099 =head3 update epigraphs.pod
1101 Add your quote to F<Porting/epigraphs.pod> and commit it.
1102 Your release announcement will probably not have reached the web-visible
1103 archives yet, so you won't be able to include the customary link to the
1104 release announcement yet.
1106 =head3 blog about your epigraph
1108 If you have a blog, please consider writing an entry in your blog explaining
1109 why you chose that particular quote for your epigraph.
1111 =for checklist skip RC
1113 =head3 Module::CoreList nagging
1115 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC>
1117 Remind the current maintainer of C<Module::CoreList> to push a new release
1120 =for checklist skip RC
1122 =head3 new perldelta
1124 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC>
1126 Create a new perldelta.
1132 Confirm that you have a clean checkout with no local changes.
1136 Run F<Porting/new-perldelta.pl>
1140 Run the C<git add> commands it outputs to add new and modified files.
1144 Verify that the build still works, by running C<./Configure> and
1145 C<make test_porting>. (On Win32 use the appropriate make utility).
1149 If F<t/porting/podcheck.t> spots errors in the new F<pod/perldelta.pod>,
1150 run C<./perl -MTestInit t/porting/podcheck.t | less> for more detail.
1151 Skip to the end of its test output to see the options it offers you.
1155 When C<make test_porting> passes, commit the new perldelta.
1159 At this point you may want to compare the commit with a previous bump to
1160 see if they look similar. See commit ba03bc34a4 for an example of a
1161 previous version bump.
1163 =for checklist skip MAINT RC
1167 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC and MAINT>
1169 If this was a BLEAD-FINAL release (i.e. the first release of a new maint
1170 series, 5.x.0 where x is even), then bump the version in the blead branch
1171 in git, e.g. 5.12.0 to 5.13.0.
1173 First, add a new feature bundle to F<regen/feature.pl>, initially by just
1174 copying the exiting entry, and bump the file's $VERSION (after the __END__
1177 "5.14" => [qw(switch say state unicode_strings)],
1178 + "5.15" => [qw(switch say state unicode_strings)],
1180 Run F<regen/feature.pl> to propagate the changes to F<lib/feature.pm>.
1182 Then follow the section L<"Bump the version number"> to bump the version
1183 in the remaining files and test and commit.
1185 If this was a BLEAD-POINT release, then just follow the section
1186 L<"Bump the version number">.
1188 After bumping the version, follow the section L<"update INSTALL"> to
1189 ensure all version number references are correct.
1191 =head3 clean build and test
1193 Run a clean build and test to make sure nothing obvious is broken.
1195 In particular, F<Porting/perldelta_template.pod> is intentionally exempted
1196 from podchecker tests, to avoid false positives about placeholder text.
1197 However, once it's copied to F<pod/perldelta.pod> the contents can now
1198 cause test failures. Problems should resolved by doing one of the
1205 Replace placeholder text with correct text.
1209 If the problem is from a broken placeholder link, you can add it to the
1210 array C<@perldelta_ignore_links> in F<t/porting/podcheck.t>. Lines
1211 containing such links should be marked with C<XXX> so that they get
1212 cleaned up before the next release.
1216 Following the instructions output by F<t/porting/podcheck.t> on how to
1217 update its exceptions database.
1223 Finally, push any commits done above.
1225 $ git push origin ....
1227 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT MAINT RC
1229 =head3 create maint branch
1231 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC, BLEAD-POINT, MAINT>
1233 If this was a BLEAD-FINAL release (i.e. the first release of a new maint
1234 series, 5.x.0 where x is even), then create a new maint branch based on
1235 the commit tagged as the current release.
1237 Assuming you're using git 1.7.x or newer:
1239 $ git checkout -b maint-5.12 v5.12.0
1240 $ git push origin -u maint-5.12
1243 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT MAINT RC
1245 =head3 make the maint branch available in the APC
1247 Clone the new branch into /srv/gitcommon/branches on camel so the APC will
1248 receive its changes.
1250 $ git clone --branch maint-5.14 /gitroot/perl.git \
1251 ? /srv/gitcommon/branches/perl-5.14.x
1252 $ chmod -R g=u /srv/gitcommon/branches/perl-5.14.x
1254 And nag the sysadmins to make this directory available via rsync.
1256 XXX Who are the sysadmins? Contact info?
1258 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT RC
1260 =head3 copy perldelta.pod to blead
1262 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC, BLEAD-POINT>
1264 Copy the perldelta.pod for this release into blead; for example:
1267 $ cp -i ../5.10.x/pod/perldelta.pod pod/perl5101delta.pod # for example
1268 $ git add pod/perl5101delta.pod
1270 Edit F<pod/perl.pod> to add an entry for the file, e.g.:
1272 perl5101delta Perl changes in version 5.10.1
1274 Then rebuild various files:
1276 $ perl Porting/pod_rules.pl
1278 Finally, commit and push:
1280 $ git commit -a -m 'add perlXXXdelta'
1281 $ git push origin ....
1283 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT
1285 =head3 copy perlhist.pod entries to blead
1287 Make sure any recent F<pod/perlhist.pod> entries are copied to
1288 F<perlhist.pod> on blead. e.g.
1292 =head3 bump RT version number
1294 Log into http://rt.perl.org/ and check whether the new version is in the RT
1295 fields C<Perl Version> and C<Fixed In>. The easiest way to determine this is to
1296 open up any ticket for modification and check the drop downs next to the
1297 C<Perl Version> and C<Fixed In> labels.
1299 Here, try this link: L<https://rt.perl.org/rt3/Ticket/Modify.html?id=10000>
1301 If the new version is not listed there, send an email to C<perlbug-admin at
1302 perl.org> requesting this.
1306 I<You MUST RETIRE to your preferred PUB, CAFE or SEASIDE VILLA for some
1307 much-needed rest and relaxation>.
1309 Thanks for releasing perl!
1311 =head2 Building a release - the day after
1313 =head3 link announcement in epigraphs.pod
1315 Add, to your quote to F<Porting/epigraphs.pod>, a link to the release
1316 announcement in the web-visible mailing list archive. Commit it.
1318 =for checklist skip BLEAD-FINAL, MAINT, RC
1320 =head3 update Module::CoreList
1322 I<After a BLEAD-POINT release only>
1324 After Module::CoreList has shipped to CPAN by the maintainer, update
1325 Module::CoreList in the source so that it reflects the new blead
1332 Update F<Porting/Maintainers.pl> to list the new DISTRIBUTION on CPAN,
1333 which should be identical to what is currently in blead.
1337 Bump the $VERSION in F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm>,
1338 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList/TieHashDelta.pm> and
1339 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList/Utils.pm>.
1343 If you have a local CPAN mirror, run:
1345 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/corelist.pl ~/my-cpan-mirror
1349 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/corelist.pl cpan
1351 This will update F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm> and
1352 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pod> as it did before, but
1353 this time adding new sections for the next BLEAD-POINT release.
1357 Manually edit F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList/Utils.pm> to
1358 add a similar entry for that up-coming version to C<%delta>.
1360 XXX Porting/corelist.pl should have done that itself.
1364 Add the new $Module::CoreList::VERSION to
1365 F<dist/Module-CoreList/Changes>.
1369 Update F<pod/perldelta.pod> to mention the upgrade to Module::CoreList.
1373 Remake perl to get your changed .pm files propagated into F<lib/> and
1374 then run at least the F<dist/Module-CoreList/t/*.t> tests and the
1375 test_porting makefile target to check that they're ok.
1381 $ ./perl -Ilib -MModule::CoreList -le 'print Module::CoreList->find_version($]) ? "ok" : "not ok"'
1383 and check that it outputs "ok" to prove that Module::CoreList now knows
1384 about blead's current version.
1388 Commit and push your changes.
1392 =head3 check tarball availability
1394 Check various website entries to make sure the that tarball has appeared
1395 and is properly indexed:
1401 Check your author directory under L<http://www.cpan.org/authors/id/>
1402 to ensure that the tarballs are available on the website.
1406 Check C</src> on CPAN (on a fast mirror) to ensure that links to
1407 the new tarballs have appeared: There should be links in C</src/5.0>
1408 (which is accumulating all new versions), and (for BLEAD-FINAL and
1409 MAINT only) an appropriate mention in C</src/README.html> (which describes
1410 the latest versions in each stable branch, with links).
1412 The C</src/5.0> links should appear automatically, some hours after upload.
1413 If they don't, or the C</src> description is inadequate,
1414 ask Ask <ask@perl.org>.
1418 Check L<http://www.cpan.org/src/> to ensure that the C</src> updates
1419 have been correctly mirrored to the website.
1420 If they haven't, ask Ask <ask@perl.org>.
1424 Check L<http://search.cpan.org> to see if it has indexed the distribution.
1425 It should be visible at a URL like C<http://search.cpan.org/dist/perl-5.10.1/>.
1429 =for checklist skip RC
1431 =head3 update dev.perl.org
1433 I<You MUST SKIP this step for a RC release>
1435 In your C<perlweb> repository, link to the new release. For a new
1436 latest-maint release, edit F<docs/shared/tpl/stats.html>. Otherwise,
1437 edit F<docs/dev/perl5/index.html>.
1439 Then make a pull request to Leo Lapworth. If this fails for some reason
1440 and you cannot cajole anybody else into submitting that change, you can
1441 mail Leo as last resort.
1443 This repository can be found on L<github|https://github.com/perlorg/perlweb>.
1445 =head3 update release manager's guide
1447 Go over your notes from the release (you did take some, right?) and update
1448 F<Porting/release_managers_guide.pod> with any fixes or information that
1449 will make life easier for the next release manager.
1456 http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2009-05/msg00608.html,
1457 plus a whole bunch of other sources, including private correspondence.