5 release_managers_guide - Releasing a new version of perl 5.x
7 As of August 2009, this file is mostly complete, although it is missing
8 some detail on doing a major release (e.g. 5.10.0 -> 5.12.0). Note that
9 things change at each release, so there may be new things not covered
10 here, or tools may need updating.
14 This document describes the series of tasks required - some automatic, some
15 manual - to produce a perl release of some description, be that a snaphot,
16 release candidate, or final, numbered release of maint or blead.
18 The release process has traditionally been executed by the current
19 pumpking. Blead releases from 5.11.0 forward are made each month on the
20 20th by a non-pumpking release engineer. The release engineer roster
21 and schedule can be found in Porting/release_schedule.pod.
23 This document both helps as a check-list for the release engineer
24 and is a base for ideas on how the various tasks could be automated
27 The outline of a typical release cycle is as follows:
29 (5.10.1 is released, and post-release actions have been done)
33 an occasional snapshot is released, that still identifies itself as
38 a few weeks before the release, a number of steps are performed,
39 including bumping the version to 5.10.2
41 ...a few weeks passes...
43 perl-5.10.2-RC1 is released
45 perl-5.10.2 is released
47 post-release actions are performed, including creating new
50 ... the cycle continues ...
54 Some of the tasks described below apply to all four types of
55 release of Perl. (snapshot, RC, final release of maint, final
56 release of blead). Some of these tasks apply only to a subset
57 of these release types. If a step does not apply to a given
58 type of release, you will see a notation to that effect at
59 the beginning of the step.
67 A snapshot is intended to encourage in-depth testing from time-to-time,
68 for example after a key point in the stabilisation of a branch. It
69 requires fewer steps than a full release, and the version number of perl in
70 the tarball will usually be the same as that of the previous release.
72 =item Release Candidate (RC)
74 A release candidate is an attempt to produce a tarball that is a close as
75 possible to the final release. Indeed, unless critical faults are found
76 during the RC testing, the final release will be identical to the RC
77 barring a few minor fixups (updating the release date in F<perlhist.pod>,
78 removing the RC status from F<patchlevel.h>, etc). If faults are found,
79 then the fixes should be put into a new release candidate, never directly
82 =item Stable/Maint release
84 At this point you should have a working release candidate with few or no
87 It's essentially the same procedure as for making a release candidate, but
88 with a whole bunch of extra post-release steps.
92 It's essentially the same procedure as for making a release candidate, but
93 with a whole bunch of extra post-release steps.
99 Before you can make an official release of perl, there are a few
100 hoops you need to jump through:
106 I<SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
108 Make sure you have a PAUSE account suitable for uploading a perl release.
109 If you don't have a PAUSE account, then request one:
111 https://pause.perl.org/pause/query?ACTION=request_id
113 Check that your account is allowed to upload perl distros: goto
114 L<https://pause.perl.org/>, login, then select 'upload file to CPAN'; there
115 should be a "For pumpkings only: Send a CC" tickbox. If not, ask Andreas
116 König to add your ID to the list of people allowed to upload something
117 called perl. You can find Andreas' email address at:
119 https://pause.perl.org/pause/query?ACTION=pause_04imprint
121 =item search.cpan.org
123 Make sure that search.cpan.org knows that you're allowed to upload
124 perl distros. Contact Graham Barr to make sure that you're on the right
129 Some release engineering steps require a full mirror of the CPAN.
130 Work to fall back to using a remote mirror via HTTP is incomplete
131 but ongoing. (No, a minicpan mirror is not sufficient)
133 =item git checkout and commit bit
135 You will need a working C<git> installation, checkout of the perl
136 git repository and perl commit bit. For information about working
137 with perl and git, see F<pod/perlrepository.pod>.
139 If you are not yet a perl committer, you won't be able to make a
140 release. Have a chat with whichever evil perl porter tried to talk
141 you into the idea in the first place to figure out the best way to
145 =item Quotation for release announcement epigraph
147 I<SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT and RC>
149 For a numbered blead or maint release of perl, you will need a quotation
150 to use as an epigraph to your release announcement. (There's no harm
151 in having one for a snapshot, but it's not required).
157 =head2 Building a release - advance actions
159 The work of building a release candidate for a numbered release of
160 perl generally starts several weeks before the first release candidate.
161 Some of the following steps should be done regularly, but all I<must> be
162 done in the run up to a release.
168 I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
170 Ensure that dual-life CPAN modules are synchronised with CPAN. Basically,
173 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/core-cpan-diff -a -o /tmp/corediffs
175 to see any inconsistencies between the core and CPAN versions of distros,
176 then fix the core, or cajole CPAN authors as appropriate. See also the
177 C<-d> and C<-v> options for more detail. You'll probably want to use the
178 C<-c cachedir> option to avoid repeated CPAN downloads and may want to
179 use C<-m file:///mirror/path> if you made a local CPAN mirror.
181 To see which core distro versions differ from the current CPAN versions:
183 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/core-cpan-diff -x -a
185 If you are making a maint release, run C<core-cpan-diff> on both blead and
186 maint, then diff the two outputs. Compare this with what you expect, and if
187 necessary, fix things up. For example, you might think that both blead
188 and maint are synchronised with a particular CPAN module, but one might
189 have some extra changes.
193 I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
195 Ensure dual-life CPAN modules are stable, which comes down to:
197 for each module that fails its regression tests on $current
198 did it fail identically on $previous?
199 if yes, "SEP" (Somebody Else's Problem)
200 else work out why it failed (a bisect is useful for this)
202 attempt to group failure causes
204 for each failure cause
205 is that a regression?
206 if yes, figure out how to fix it
207 (more code? revert the code that broke it)
209 (presumably) it's relying on something un-or-under-documented
210 should the existing behaviour stay?
211 yes - goto "regression"
212 no - note it in perldelta as a significant bugfix
213 (also, try to inform the module's author)
217 I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
219 Similarly, monitor the smoking of core tests, and try to fix.
220 See L<http://doc.procura.nl/smoke/index.html> for a summary.
224 I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
226 Similarly, monitor the smoking of perl for compiler warnings, and try to
231 I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
233 Run F<Porting/cmpVERSION.pl> to compare the current source tree with the
234 previous version to check for for modules that have identical version
235 numbers but different contents, e.g.:
237 $ cd ~/some-perl-root
238 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/cmpVERSION.pl -xd . v5.10.0
240 then bump the version numbers of any non-dual-life modules that have
241 changed since the previous release, but which still have the old version
242 number. If there is more than one maintenance branch (e.g. 5.8.x, 5.10.x),
243 then compare against both.
245 Be sure to bump the version numbers in separate commits for each module
246 (or group of related modules) so that changes can be cherry-picked later
249 Note that some of the files listed may be generated (e.g. copied from ext/
250 to lib/, or a script like lib/lib_pm.PL is run to produce lib/lib.pm);
251 make sure you edit the correct file!
253 Once all version numbers have been bumped, re-run the checks.
255 Then run again without the -x option, to check that dual-life modules are
258 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/cmpVERSION.pl -d . v5.10.0
262 I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
264 Get perldelta in a mostly finished state.
266 Read F<Porting/how_to_write_a_perldelta.pod>, and try to make sure that
267 every section it lists is, if necessary, populated and complete. Copy
268 edit the whole document.
272 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
274 Bump the version number (e.g. from 5.12.0 to 5.12.1).
276 For a blead release, this can happen on the day of the release. For a
277 release candidate for a stable perl, this should happen a week or two
278 before the first release candidate to allow sufficient time for testing and
279 smoking with the target version built into the perl executable. For
280 subsequent release candidates and the final release, it it not necessary to
281 bump the version further.
283 There is a tool to semi-automate this process. It works in two stages.
284 First, it generates a list of suggested changes, which you review and
285 edit; then you feed this list back and it applies the edits. So, first
286 scan the source directory looking for likely candidates. The command line
287 arguments are the old and new version numbers, and -s means scan:
289 $ Porting/bump-perl-version -s 5.10.0 5.10.1 > /tmp/scan
291 This produces a file containing a list of suggested edits, e.g.:
295 89: -MODULE_DESC = "Perl 5.10.0 for NetWare"
296 +MODULE_DESC = "Perl 5.10.1 for NetWare"
298 i.e. in the file F<NetWare/Makefile>, line 89 would be changed as shown.
299 Review the file carefully, and delete any -/+ line pairs that you don't
300 want changing. You can also edit just the C<+> line to change the
301 suggested replacement text. Remember that this tool is largely just
302 grepping for '5.10.0' or whatever, so it will generate false positives. Be
303 careful not change text like "this was fixed in 5.10.0"! Then run:
305 $ Porting/bump-perl-version -u < /tmp/scan
307 which will update all the files shown.
309 Be particularly careful with F<INSTALL>, which contains a mixture of
310 C<5.10.0>-type strings, some of which need bumping on every release, and
311 some of which need to be left unchanged. Also note that this tool
312 currently only detects a single substitution per line: so in particular,
313 this line in README.vms needs special handling:
315 rename perl-5^.10^.1.dir perl-5_10_1.dir
317 When doing a blead release, also make sure the C<PERL_API_*> constants in
318 F<patchlevel.h> are in sync with the version you're releasing, unless you're
319 absolutely sure the release you're about to make is 100% binary compatible
320 to an earlier release. When releasing a stable perl version, the C<PERL_API_*>
321 constants C<MUST NOT> be changed as we aim to guarantee binary compatibility
328 B<review the delta carefully>
330 $ git commit -a -m 'Bump the perl version in various places for 5.x.y'
332 When the version number is bumped, you should also update Module::CoreList (as
333 described below in L<"Building a release - on the day">) to reflect the new
338 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
340 Review and update INSTALL to account for the change in version number;
341 in particular, the "Coexistence with earlier versions of perl 5" section.
343 Be particularly careful with the section "Upgrading from 5.X.Y or earlier". For
344 stable releases, this needs to refer to the last release in the previous
345 development cycle. For blead releases, it needs to refer to the previous blead
350 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
352 Update the F<Changes> file to contain the git log command which would show
353 all the changes in this release. You will need assume the existence of a
354 not-yet created tag for the forthcoming release; e.g.
356 git log ... perl-5.10.0..perl-5.12.0
358 Due to warts in the perforce-to-git migration, some branches require extra
359 exclusions to avoid other branches being pulled in. Make sure you have the
360 correct incantation: replace the not-yet-created tag with C<HEAD> and see
361 if C<git log> produces roughly the right number of commits across roughly the
362 right time period (you may find C<git log --pretty=oneline | wc> useful).
366 Check some more build configurations. The check that setuid builds and
367 installs is for < 5.11.0 only.
369 $ sh Configure -Dprefix=/tmp/perl-5.x.y -Uinstallusrbinperl \
370 -Duseshrplib -Dd_dosuid
372 $ LD_LIBRARY_PATH=`pwd` make test # or similar for useshrplib
375 $ su -c 'make install'
376 $ ls -l .../bin/sperl
377 -rws--x--x 1 root root 69974 2009-08-22 21:55 .../bin/sperl
379 (Then delete the installation directory.)
381 XXX think of other configurations that need testing.
385 I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
387 L<perlport> has a section currently named I<Supported Platforms> that
388 indicates which platforms are known to build in the current release.
389 If necessary update the list and the indicated version number.
393 =head2 Building a release - on the day
395 This section describes the actions required to make a release (or snapshot
396 etc) that are performed on the actual day.
402 Review all the items in the previous section,
403 L<"Building a release - advance actions"> to ensure they are all done and
408 For a blead release, if you did not bump the perl version number as part
409 of I<advance actions>, do that now.
413 I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
415 Finalize the perldelta. In particular, fill in the Acknowledgements
416 section. You can generate a list of contributors with checkAUTHORS.pl.
419 $ git log --pretty=fuller v5.13.2..HEAD | \
420 perl Porting/checkAUTHORS.pl --who -
422 Re-read the perldelta to try to find any embarrassing typos and thinkos;
423 remove any C<TODO> or C<XXX> flags; update the "Known Problems" section
424 with any serious issues for which fixes are not going to happen now; and
425 run through pod and spell checkers, e.g.
427 $ podchecker -warnings -warnings pod/perldelta.pod
428 $ spell pod/perldelta.pod
430 Also, you may want to generate and view an HTML version of it to check
433 $ perl pod/pod2html pod/perldelta.pod > /tmp/perldelta.html
435 Another good HTML preview option is http://search.cpan.org/pod2html
437 If you make changes, be sure to commit them.
441 Make sure you have a gitwise-clean perl directory (no modified files,
442 unpushed commits etc):
449 If not already built, Configure and build perl so that you have a Makefile
452 $ ./Configure -Dusedevel -des && make
456 Check that files managed by F<regen.pl> and friends are up to date. From
457 within your working directory:
464 If any of the files managed by F<regen.pl> have changed, then you should
465 re-make perl to check that it's okay, then commit the updated versions:
467 $ git commit -a -m 'make regen; make regen_perly'
469 (XXX regen might be a problem depending on the bison version available.
470 We need to get a wizard to give better instructions on what to do or not do.)
474 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
476 Update C<Module::CoreList> with module version data for the new release.
478 Note that if this is a maint release, you should run the following actions
479 from the maint branch, but commit the C<CoreList.pm> changes in
480 I<blead> and subsequently cherry-pick it. XXX need a better example
482 F<corelist.pl> uses ftp.funet.fi to verify information about dual-lived
483 modules on CPAN. It can use a full, local CPAN mirror or fall back
484 to C<wget> or C<curl> to fetch only package metadata remotely. (If you're
485 on Win32, then installing Cygwin is one way to have commands like C<wget>
486 and C<curl> available.)
488 (If you'd prefer to have a full CPAN mirror, see
489 http://www.cpan.org/misc/cpan-faq.html#How_mirror_CPAN)
491 Then change to your perl checkout, and if necessary,
495 If this not the first update for this version (e.g. if it was updated
496 when the version number was originally bumped), first edit
497 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm> to delete the existing
498 entries for this version from the C<%released> and C<%version> hashes:
499 they will have a key like C<5.010001> for 5.10.1.
501 XXX the edit-in-place functionality of Porting/corelist.pl should
502 be fixed to handle this automatically.
504 Then, If you have a local CPAN mirror, run:
506 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/corelist.pl ~/my-cpan-mirror
510 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/corelist.pl cpan
512 This will chug for a while, possibly reporting various warnings about
513 badly-indexed CPAN modules unrelated to the modules actually in core.
514 Assuming all goes well, it will update
515 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm>.
517 Check that file over carefully:
519 $ git diff dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm
521 If necessary, bump C<$VERSION> (there's no need to do this for
522 every RC; in RC1, bump the version to a new clean number that will
523 appear in the final release, and leave as-is for the later RCs and final).
525 Edit the version number in the new C<< 'Module::CoreList' => 'X.YZ' >>
526 entry, as that is likely to reflect the previous version number.
528 Also edit Module::CoreList's new version number in its F<Changes> file and
529 in its F<META.yml> file.
531 In addition, if this is a final release (rather than a release candidate):
537 Update this version's entry in the C<%released> hash with today's date.
541 Make sure that the script has correctly updated the C<CAVEATS> section
545 Finally, commit the new version of Module::CoreList:
546 (unless this is for maint; in which case commit it blead first, then
547 cherry-pick it back).
549 $ git commit -m 'Update Module::CoreList for 5.x.y' dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm
553 Check that the manifest is sorted and correct:
557 $ git clean -xdf # This shouldn't be necessary if distclean is correct
558 $ perl Porting/manicheck
561 XXX manifest _sorting_ is now checked with make test_porting
563 Commit MANIFEST if it has changed:
565 $ git commit -m 'Update MANIFEST' MANIFEST
569 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
571 Add an entry to F<pod/perlhist.pod> with the current date, e.g.:
573 David 5.10.1-RC1 2009-Aug-06
575 Make sure that the correct pumpking is listed in the left-hand column, and
576 if this is the first release under the stewardship of a new pumpking, make
577 sure that his or her name is listed in the section entitled
578 C<THE KEEPERS OF THE PUMPKIN>.
580 Be sure to commit your changes:
582 $ git commit -m 'add new release to perlhist' pod/perlhist.pod
586 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT or BLEAD release>
588 Update F<patchlevel.h> to add a C<-RC1>-or-whatever string; or, if this is
589 a final release, remove it. For example:
591 static const char * const local_patches[] = {
594 PERL_GIT_UNPUSHED_COMMITS /* do not remove this line */
596 Be sure to commit your change:
598 $ git commit -m 'bump version to RCnnn' patchlevel.h
602 Build perl, then make sure it passes its own test suite, and installs:
605 $ ./Configure -des -Dprefix=/tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest
607 # or if it's an odd-numbered version:
608 $ ./Configure -des -Dusedevel -Dprefix=/tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest
614 Check that the output of C</tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest/bin/perl -v> and
615 C</tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest/bin/perl -V> are as expected,
616 especially as regards version numbers, patch and/or RC levels, and @INC
617 paths. Note that as they have been been built from a git working
618 directory, they will still identify themselves using git tags and
621 Then delete the temporary installation.
625 Push all your recent commits:
627 $ git push origin ....
632 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
634 Tag the release (e.g.):
636 $ git tag v5.11.0 -m'First release of the v5.11 series!'
638 (Adjust the syntax appropriately if you're working on Win32, i.e. use
639 C<-m "..."> rather than C<-m'...'>.)
641 It is VERY important that from this point forward, you not push
642 your git changes to the Perl master repository. If anything goes
643 wrong before you publish your newly-created tag, you can delete
644 and recreate it. Once you push your tag, we're stuck with it
645 and you'll need to use a new version number for your release.
649 Create a tarball. Use the C<-s> option to specify a suitable suffix for
650 the tarball and directory name:
652 $ cd root/of/perl/tree
654 $ git clean -xdf # make sure perl and git agree on files
655 $ git status # and there's nothing lying around
657 $ perl Porting/makerel -b -s `git describe` # for a snapshot
658 $ perl Porting/makerel -b -s RC1 # for a release candidate
659 $ perl Porting/makerel -b # for a final release
661 This creates the directory F<../perl-x.y.z-RC1> or similar, copies all
662 the MANIFEST files into it, sets the correct permissions on them,
663 adds DOS line endings to some, then tars it up as
664 F<../perl-x.y.z-RC1.tar.gz>. With C<-b>, it also creates a C<tar.bz2> file.
666 If you're getting your tarball suffixed with -uncommitted and you're sure
667 your changes were all committed, you can override the suffix with:
669 $ perl Porting/makerel -b -s ''
671 XXX if we go for extra tags and branches stuff, then add the extra details
676 Clean up the temporary directory, e.g.
678 $ rm -rf ../perl-x.y.z-RC1
682 Copy the tarballs (.gz and possibly .bz2) to a web server somewhere you
687 Download the tarball to some other machine. For a release candidate,
688 you really want to test your tarball on two or more different platforms
689 and architectures. The #p5p IRC channel on irc.perl.org is a good place
690 to find willing victims.
694 Check that basic configuration and tests work on each test machine:
696 $ ./Configure -des && make all test
700 Check that the test harness and install work on each test machine:
703 $ ./Configure -des -Dprefix=/install/path && make all test_harness install
708 Check that the output of C<perl -v> and C<perl -V> are as expected,
709 especially as regards version numbers, patch and/or RC levels, and @INC
712 Note that the results may be different without a F<.git/> directory,
713 which is why you should test from the tarball.
717 Run the Installation Verification Procedure utility:
721 All tests successful.
726 Compare the pathnames of all installed files with those of the previous
727 release (i.e. against the last installed tarball on this branch which you
728 have previously verified using this same procedure). In particular, look
729 for files in the wrong place, or files no longer included which should be.
730 For example, suppose the about-to-be-released version is 5.10.1 and the
733 cd installdir-5.10.0/
734 find . -type f | perl -pe's/5\.10\.0/5.10.1/g' | sort > /tmp/f1
735 cd installdir-5.10.1/
736 find . -type f | sort > /tmp/f2
741 Bootstrap the CPAN client on the clean install:
743 $ bin/perl -MCPAN -e'shell'
745 (Use C<... -e "shell"> instead on Win32. You probably also need a set of
746 Unix command-line tools available for CPAN to function correctly without
747 Perl alternatives like LWP installed. Cygwin is an obvious choice.)
751 Try installing a popular CPAN module that's reasonably complex and that
752 has dependencies; for example:
757 Check that your perl can run this:
759 $ bin/perl -lwe 'use Inline C => "int f() { return 42;} "; print f'
763 (Use C<... -lwe "use ..."> instead on Win32.)
767 Bootstrap the CPANPLUS client on the clean install:
771 (Again, on Win32 you'll need something like Cygwin installed, but make sure
772 that you don't end up with its various F<bin/cpan*> programs being found on
773 the PATH before those of the Perl that you're trying to test.)
777 Install an XS module, for example:
781 $ bin/perl -MDBI -e 1
786 I<If you're building a SNAPSHOT, you should STOP HERE>
790 Check that the L<perlbug> utility works. Try the following:
794 Subject: test bug report
795 Local perl administrator [yourself]:
801 Action (Send/Display/Edit/Subject/Save to File): f
802 Name of file to save message in [perlbug.rep]:
803 Action (Send/Display/Edit/Subject/Save to File): q
805 and carefully examine the output (in F<perlbug.rep]>), especially
806 the "Locally applied patches" section. If everything appears okay, then
807 delete the file, and try it again, this time actually submitting the bug
808 report. Check that it shows up, then remember to close it!
812 Wait for the smoke tests to catch up with the commit which this release is
813 based on (or at least the last commit of any consequence).
815 Then check that the smoke tests pass (particularly on Win32). If not, go
821 Once smoking is okay, upload it to PAUSE. This is the point of no return.
822 If anything goes wrong after this point, you will need to re-prepare
823 a new release with a new minor version or RC number.
825 https://pause.perl.org/
827 (Login, then select 'Upload a file to CPAN')
829 If your workstation is not connected to a high-bandwidth,
830 high-reliability connection to the Internet, you should probably use the
831 "GET URL" feature (rather than "HTTP UPLOAD") to have PAUSE retrieve the
832 new release from wherever you put it for testers to find it. This will
833 eliminate anxious gnashing of teeth while you wait to see if your
834 15 megabyte HTTP upload successfully completes across your slow, twitchy
835 cable modem. You can make use of your home directory on dromedary for
836 this purpose: F<http://users.perl5.git.perl.org/~USERNAME> maps to
837 F</home/USERNAME/public_html>, where F<USERNAME> is your login account
838 on dromedary. I<Remember>: if your upload is partially successful, you
839 may need to contact a PAUSE administrator or even bump the version of perl.
841 Upload both the .gz and .bz2 versions of the tarball.
843 Wait until you receive notification emails from the PAUSE indexer
844 confirming that your uploads have been received. IMPORTANT -- you will
845 probably get an email that indexing has failed (due to dual-life modules,
846 apparently). This is considered normal.
848 Do not proceed any further until you are sure that your tarballs are on
849 CPAN. Check your authors directory on one of the "fast" CPAN mirrors
850 (e.g. cpan.shadowcatprojects.net, cpan.dagolden.com, cpan.hexten.net
851 or cpan.cpantesters.org) to confirm that your uploads have been successful.
855 Now that you've shipped the new perl release to PAUSE, it's
856 time to publish the tag you created earlier to the public git repo (e.g.):
858 $ git push origin tag v5.11.0
862 Disarm the F<patchlevel.h> change; for example,
864 static const char * const local_patches[] = {
867 PERL_GIT_UNPUSHED_COMMITS /* do not remove this line */
869 Be sure to commit your change:
871 $ git commit -m 'disarm RCnnn bump' patchlevel.h
872 $ git push origin ....
877 Mail p5p to announce your new release, with a quote you prepared earlier.
881 Add your quote to F<Porting/epigraphs.pod> and commit it.
885 Wait 24 hours or so, then post the announcement to use.perl.org.
886 (if you don't have access rights to post news, ask someone like Rafael to
891 Check http://www.cpan.org/src/ to see if the new tarballs have appeared.
892 They should appear automatically, but if they don't then ask Jarkko to look
893 into it, since his scripts must have broken.
897 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC, BLEAD>
899 Ask Jarkko to update the descriptions of which tarballs are current in
900 http://www.cpan.org/src/README.html, and Rafael to update
901 http://dev.perl.org/perl5/
905 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC>
907 Remind the current maintainer of C<Module::CoreList> to push a new release
912 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC>
914 Create a new perldelta.
916 First, update the F<.gitignore> file in the F<pod/> folder to ignore the next
917 release's generated F<pod/perlNNNdelta.pod> file rather than this releases's
918 one which we are about to set in stone (where NNN is the perl version number
919 without the dots. i.e. 5135 for 5.13.5).
921 Then, move the existing F<pod/perldelta.pod> to F<pod/perlNNNdelta.pod>.
923 Now edit the moved delta file to change the C<NAME> from C<perldelta> to
926 Then create a new empty perldelta.pod file for the new release; see
927 F<Porting/how_to_write_a_perldelta.pod>.
929 You should be able to do this by just copying in a skeleton template and
930 then doing a quick fix up of the version numbers.
932 Then commit the move and the new file.
934 For example, assuming you just released 5.10.1:
936 $ git mv pod/perldelta.pod pod/perl5101delta.pod
937 $ (edit pod/perl5101delta.pod to retitle)
938 $ git add pod/perl5101delta.pod
940 $ cp -i Porting/perldelta_template.pod pod/perldelta.pod
941 $ (edit pod/perldelta.pod)
942 $ git add pod/perldelta.pod
943 $ git commit -m 'create perldelta for 5.10.2'
945 Now you need to update various tables of contents, most of which can be
946 generated automatically.
948 Edit F<pod.lst>: add the new entry, flagged as 'd', and unflag the previous
949 entry from being 'd'; for example:
951 -d perl5101delta Perl changes in version 5.10.1
952 +d perl5102delta Perl changes in version 5.10.2
953 + perl5101delta Perl changes in version 5.10.1
955 Run C<perl pod/buildtoc --build-all> to update the F<perldelta> version in
962 vms/descrip_mms.template
967 Then manually edit (F<vms/descrip_mms.template> to bump the version
968 in the following entry:
970 [.pod]perl5101delta.pod : [.pod]perldelta.pod
972 XXX this previous step needs to fixed to automate it in pod/buildtoc.
976 $ git commit -a -m 'update TOC for perlNNNdelta'
978 At this point you may want to compare the commit with a previous bump to
979 see if they look similar. See commit 2b6e134265 for an example of a
980 previous version bump.
984 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC, BLEAD>
986 If this was the first release of a new maint series, (5.x.0 where x is
987 even), then create a new maint branch based on the commit tagged as
988 the current release and bump the version in the blead branch in git,
989 e.g. 5.12.0 to 5.13.0.
991 [ XXX probably lots more stuff to do, including perldelta,
994 Assuming you're using git 1.7.x or newer:
996 $ git checkout -b maint-5.12
997 $ git push origin -u maint-5.12
1001 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC, BLEAD>
1003 Copy the perldelta.pod for this release into the other branches; for
1006 $ cp -i ../5.10.x/pod/perldelta.pod pod/perl5101delta.pod # for example
1007 $ git add pod/perl5101delta.pod
1009 Edit F<pod.lst> to add an entry for the file, e.g.:
1011 perl5101delta Perl changes in version 5.10.1
1013 Then rebuild various files:
1015 $ perl pod/buildtoc --build-all
1019 $ git commit -a -m 'add perlXXXdelta'
1023 Make sure any recent F<pod/perlhist.pod> entries are copied to
1024 F<perlhist.pod> on other branches; typically the RC* and final entries,
1027 5.8.9-RC1 2008-Nov-10
1028 5.8.9-RC2 2008-Dec-06
1033 If necessary, send an email to C<perlbug-admin at perl.org> requesting
1034 that new version numbers be added to the RT fields C<Perl Version> and
1039 I<You MUST RETIRE to your preferred PUB, CAFE or SEASIDE VILLA for some
1040 much-needed rest and relaxation>.
1042 Thanks for releasing perl!
1049 http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2009-05/msg00608.html,
1050 plus a whole bunch of other sources, including private correspondence.