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 --version [5.x.y-RC#] > /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 --version [5.x.y-RC#] > /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 New releases of perl are made each month on the 20th by a release engineer
34 appointed by the Steering Council. The release engineer roster and schedule
35 can be found in Porting/release_schedule.pod.
37 This document both helps as a check-list for the release engineer
38 and is a base for ideas on how the various tasks could be automated
41 The checklist of a typical release cycle is as follows:
43 (5.10.1 is released, and post-release actions have been done)
47 a few weeks before the release, a number of steps are performed,
48 including bumping the version to 5.10.2
50 ...a few weeks pass...
52 perl-5.10.2-RC1 is released
54 perl-5.10.2 is released
56 post-release actions are performed, including creating new
59 ... the cycle continues ...
63 Some of the tasks described below apply to all four types of
64 release of Perl. (blead, RC, final release of maint, final
65 release of blead). Some of these tasks apply only to a subset
66 of these release types. If a step does not apply to a given
67 type of release, you will see a notation to that effect at
68 the beginning of the step.
74 =item Release Candidate (RC)
76 A release candidate is an attempt to produce a tarball that is a close as
77 possible to the final release. Indeed, unless critical faults are found
78 during the RC testing, the final release will be identical to the RC
79 barring a few minor fixups (updating the release date in F<perlhist.pod>,
80 removing the RC status from F<patchlevel.h>, etc). If faults are found,
81 then the fixes should be put into a new release candidate, never directly
85 =item Stable/Maint release (MAINT).
87 A release with an even version number, and subversion number > 0, such as
90 At this point you should have a working release candidate with few or no
93 It's essentially the same procedure as for making a release candidate, but
94 with a whole bunch of extra post-release steps.
96 Note that for a maint release there are two versions of this guide to
97 consider: the one in the maint branch, and the one in blead. Which one to
98 use is a fine judgement. The blead one will be most up-to-date, while
99 it might describe some steps or new tools that aren't applicable to older
100 maint branches. It is probably best to review both versions of this
101 document, but to most closely follow the steps in the maint version.
103 =item A blead point release (BLEAD-POINT)
105 A release with an odd version number, such as 5.15.0 or 5.15.1.
107 This isn't for production, so it has less stability requirements than for
108 other release types, and isn't preceded by RC releases. Other than that,
109 it is similar to a MAINT release.
111 =item Blead final release (BLEAD-FINAL)
113 A release with an even version number, and subversion number == 0, such as
114 5.14.0. That is to say, it's the big new release once per year.
116 It's essentially the same procedure as for making a release candidate, but
117 with a whole bunch of extra post-release steps, even more than for MAINT.
125 Before you can make an official release of perl, there are a few
126 hoops you need to jump through:
128 =head3 PAUSE account with pumpkin status
130 Make sure you have a PAUSE account suitable for uploading a perl release.
131 If you don't have a PAUSE account, then request one:
133 https://pause.perl.org/pause/query?ACTION=request_id
135 Check that your account is allowed to upload perl distros: go to
136 L<https://pause.perl.org/pause/authenquery?ACTION=who_pumpkin> and check that
137 your PAUSE ID is listed there. If not, ask Andreas KE<0xf6>nig to add your ID
138 to the list of people allowed to upload something called perl. You can find
139 Andreas' email address at:
141 https://pause.perl.org/pause/query?ACTION=pause_04imprint
145 You will need a working C<git> installation, checkout of the perl
146 git repository and perl commit bit. For information about working
147 with perl and git, see F<pod/perlgit.pod>.
149 If you are not yet a perl committer, you won't be able to make a
150 release. You will need to have a GitHub account (if you don't have one)
151 and contact the Steering Council with your username to get membership in the
152 L<< Perl-Releasers|https://github.com/orgs/Perl/teams/perl-releasers >> team.
154 =head3 web-based file share
156 You will need to be able to share tarballs with #p5p members for
157 pre-release testing, and you may wish to upload to PAUSE via URL.
158 Make sure you have a way of sharing files, such as a web server or
159 file-sharing service.
161 If you use Dropbox, you can append "raw=1" as a parameter to their usual
162 sharing link to allow direct download (albeit with redirects).
164 =head3 Quotation for release announcement epigraph
166 You will need a quotation to use as an epigraph to your release announcement.
167 It will live forever (along with Perl), so make it a good one.
169 =head3 Install the previous version of perl
171 During the testing phase of the release you have created, you will be
172 asked to compare the installed files with a previous install. Save yourself
173 some time on release day, and have a (clean) install of the previous
176 =head3 Email account subscribed to perl5-porters
178 In order for your release announcement email to be delivered to the
179 perl5-porters distribution list, the email address that you intend to
180 send from must be subscribed to the list.
182 Instructions for subscribing can be found here:
183 L<List: perl5-porters|https://lists.perl.org/list/perl5-porters.html>
185 =head2 Building a release - advance actions
187 The work of building a release candidate for an even numbered release
188 (BLEAD-FINAL) of perl generally starts several weeks before the first
189 release candidate. Some of the following steps should be done regularly,
190 but all I<must> be done in the run up to a release.
192 =head3 dual-life CPAN module synchronisation
194 To see which core distro versions differ from the current CPAN versions:
196 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/core-cpan-diff -x -a
198 However, this only checks whether the version recorded in
199 F<Porting/Maintainers.pl> differs from the latest on CPAN. It doesn't tell you
200 if the code itself has diverged from CPAN.
202 You can also run an actual diff of the contents of the modules, comparing core
203 to CPAN, to ensure that there were no erroneous/extraneous changes that need to
204 be dealt with. You do this by not passing the C<-x> option:
206 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/core-cpan-diff -a -o ~/corediffs
208 Passing C<-u cpan> will probably be helpful, since it limits the search to
209 distributions with 'cpan' upstream source. (It's OK for blead upstream to
210 differ from CPAN because those dual-life releases usually come I<after> perl
213 See also the C<-d> and C<-v> options for more detail (and the C<-u> option as
214 mentioned above). You'll probably want to use the C<-c cachedir> option to
215 avoid repeated CPAN downloads and may want to use C<-m file:///mirror/path> if
216 you made a local CPAN mirror. Note that a minicpan mirror won't actually work,
217 but can provide a good first pass to quickly get a list of modules which
218 definitely haven't changed, to avoid having to download absolutely everything.
220 For a BLEAD-POINT or BLEAD-FINAL release with 'cpan' upstream, if a CPAN
221 release appears to be ahead of blead, then consider updating it (or asking the
222 relevant porter to do so). (However, if this is a BLEAD-FINAL release or one of
223 the last BLEAD-POINT releases before it and hence blead is in some kind of
224 "code freeze" state (e.g. the sequence might be "contentious changes freeze",
225 then "user-visible changes freeze" and finally "full code freeze") then any
226 CPAN module updates must be subject to the same restrictions, so it may not be
227 possible to update all modules until after the BLEAD-FINAL release.) If blead
228 contains edits to a 'cpan' upstream module, this is naughty but sometimes
229 unavoidable to keep blead tests passing. Make sure the affected file has a
230 CUSTOMIZED entry in F<Porting/Maintainers.pl>.
232 If you are making a MAINT release, run C<core-cpan-diff> on both blead and
233 maint, then diff the two outputs. Compare this with what you expect, and if
234 necessary, fix things up. For example, you might think that both blead
235 and maint are synchronised with a particular CPAN module, but one might
236 have some extra changes.
238 In any case, any cpan-first distribution that is listed as having files
239 "Customized for blead" in the output of cpan-core-diff should have requests
240 submitted to the maintainer(s) to make a cpan release to catch up with blead.
242 Additionally, all files listed as "modified" but not "customized for blead"
243 should have entries added under the C<CUSTOMIZED> key in
244 F<Porting/Maintainers.pl>, as well as checksums updated via:
246 cd t; ../perl -I../lib porting/customized.t --regen
248 =head4 Sync CPAN modules with the corresponding cpanE<sol> distro
250 In most cases, once a new version of a distribution shipped with core has been
251 uploaded to CPAN, the core version thereof can be synchronized automatically
252 with the program F<Porting/sync-with-cpan>. (But see the comments at the
253 beginning of that program. In particular, it has not yet been exercised on
254 Windows as much as it has on Unix-like platforms.)
256 If, however, F<Porting/sync-with-cpan> does not provide good results, follow
263 Fetch the most recent version from CPAN.
267 Unpack the retrieved tarball. Rename the old directory; rename the new
268 directory to the original name.
272 Restore any F<.gitignore> file. This can be done by issuing
273 C<git checkout .gitignore> in the F<cpan/Distro> directory.
277 Remove files we do not need. That is, remove any files that match the
278 entries in C<@IGNORABLE> in F<Porting/Maintainers.pl>, and anything that
279 matches the C<EXCLUDED> section of the distro's entry in the C<%Modules>
284 Restore any files mentioned in the C<CUSTOMIZED> section, using
285 C<git checkout>. Make any new customizations if necessary. Also,
286 restore any files that are mentioned in C<@IGNORE>, but were checked
287 into the repository anyway.
291 For any new files in the distro, determine whether they are needed.
292 If not, delete them, and list them in either C<EXCLUDED> or C<@IGNORABLE>.
293 Otherwise, add them to C<MANIFEST>, and run C<git add> to add the files
298 For any files that are gone, remove them from C<MANIFEST>, and use
299 C<git rm> to tell git the files will be gone.
303 If the C<MANIFEST> file was changed in any of the previous steps, run
304 C<perl Porting/manisort --output MANIFEST.sort; mv MANIFEST.sort MANIFEST>.
308 For any files that have an execute bit set, either remove the execute
309 bit, or edit F<Porting/exec-bit.txt>
313 Run C<make> (or C<nmake> on Windows), see if C<perl> compiles.
317 Run the tests for the package.
321 Run the tests in F<t/porting> (C<make test_porting>).
325 Update the C<DISTRIBUTION> entry in F<Porting/Maintainers.pl>.
329 Run a full configure/build/test cycle.
333 If everything is ok, commit the changes.
337 For entries with a non-simple C<FILES> section, or with a C<MAP>, you
338 may have to take more steps than listed above.
340 =head3 Ensure dual-life CPAN module stability
344 for each module that fails its regression tests on $current
345 did it fail identically on $previous?
346 if yes, "SEP" (Somebody Else's Problem, but try to make sure a
348 else work out why it failed (a bisect is useful for this)
350 attempt to group failure causes
352 for each failure cause
353 is that a regression?
354 if yes, figure out how to fix it
355 (more code? revert the code that broke it)
357 (presumably) it's relying on something un-or-under-documented
358 should the existing behaviour stay?
359 yes - goto "regression"
360 no - note it in perldelta as a significant bugfix
361 (also, try to inform the module's author)
363 =head3 monitor smoke tests for failures
365 Similarly, monitor the smoking of core tests, and try to fix. See
366 L<https://tux.nl/perl5/smoke/index.html>, L<https://perl5.test-smoke.org/>
367 and L<http://perl.develop-help.com> for a summary. See also
368 L<https://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.daily-build.reports/> which has
371 Similarly, monitor the smoking of perl for compiler warnings, and try to
374 Additionally both L<Travis CI|https://travis-ci.org/Perl/perl5> and
375 L<GitHub Actions|https://github.com/Perl/perl5/actions> smokers run
378 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT
380 =head3 monitor CPAN testers for failures
382 For any release except a BLEAD-POINT: Examine the relevant analysis report(s)
383 at L<http://analysis.cpantesters.org/beforemaintrelease> to see how the
384 impending release is performing compared to previous releases with
385 regard to building and testing CPAN modules.
387 That page accepts a query parameter, C<pair> that takes a pair of
388 colon-delimited versions to use for comparison. For example:
390 L<http://analysis.cpantesters.org/beforemaintrelease?pair=5.20.2:5.22.0%20RC1>
392 =head3 update perldelta
394 Get perldelta in a mostly finished state.
396 Read F<Porting/how_to_write_a_perldelta.pod>, and try to make sure that
397 every section it lists is, if necessary, populated and complete. Copy
398 edit the whole document.
400 You won't be able to automatically fill in the "Updated Modules" section until
401 after Module::CoreList is updated (as described below in
402 L<"update Module::CoreList">).
404 =head3 Bump the version number
406 Do not do this yet for a BLEAD-POINT release! You will do this at the end of
407 the release process (after building the final tarball, tagging etc).
409 Increase the version number (e.g. from 5.12.0 to 5.12.1).
411 For a release candidate for a stable perl, this should happen a week or two
412 before the first release candidate to allow sufficient time for testing and
413 smoking with the target version built into the perl executable. For
414 subsequent release candidates and the final release, it is not necessary to
415 bump the version further.
417 There is a tool to semi-automate this process:
419 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/bump-perl-version -i 5.10.0 5.10.1
421 Remember that this tool is largely just grepping for '5.10.0' or whatever,
422 so it will generate false positives. Be careful not change text like
423 "this was fixed in 5.10.0"!
425 Use git status and git diff to select changes you want to keep.
427 Be particularly careful with F<INSTALL>, which contains a mixture of
428 C<5.10.0>-type strings, some of which need bumping on every release, and
429 some of which need to be left unchanged.
430 See below in L<"update INSTALL"> for more details.
432 For the first RC release leading up to a BLEAD-FINAL release, update the
433 description of which releases are now "officially" supported in
434 F<pod/perlpolicy.pod>.
436 When doing a BLEAD-POINT or BLEAD-FINAL release, also make sure the
437 C<PERL_API_*> constants in F<patchlevel.h> are in sync with the version
438 you're releasing, unless you're absolutely sure the release you're about to
439 make is 100% binary compatible to an earlier release. Note: for BLEAD-POINT
440 releases the bump should have already occurred at the end of the previous
441 release and this is something you would have to do at the very end.
442 When releasing a MAINT perl version, the C<PERL_API_*> constants C<MUST NOT>
443 be changed as we aim to guarantee binary compatibility in maint branches.
445 After editing, regenerate uconfig.h (this must be run on a system with a
448 $ perl regen/uconfig_h.pl
450 This might not cause any new changes.
452 You may also need to regen opcodes:
454 $ ./perl -Ilib regen/opcode.pl
458 $ git clean -xdf # careful if you don't have local files to keep!
459 $ ./Configure -des -Dusedevel
463 Do note that at this stage, porting tests will fail. They will continue
464 to fail until you've updated Module::CoreList, as described below.
470 B<review the delta carefully>
472 $ git commit -a -m 'Bump the perl version in various places for 5.x.y'
474 At this point you may want to compare the commit with a previous bump to
475 see if they look similar. See commit f7cf42bb69 for an example of a
476 previous version bump.
478 When the version number is bumped, you should also update Module::CoreList
479 (as described below in L<"update Module::CoreList">) to reflect the new
482 =head3 update INSTALL
484 Review and update INSTALL to account for the change in version number.
485 INSTALL for a BLEAD-POINT release should already contain the expected version.
486 The lines in F<INSTALL> about "is not binary compatible with" may require a
487 correct choice of earlier version to declare incompatibility with. These are
488 in the "Changes and Incompatibilities" and "Coexistence with earlier versions
491 Be particularly careful with the section "Upgrading from 5.X.Y or earlier".
492 The "X.Y" needs to be changed to the most recent version that we are
493 I<not> binary compatible with.
495 For MAINT and BLEAD-FINAL releases, this needs to refer to the last
496 release in the previous development cycle (so for example, for a 5.14.x
497 release, this would be 5.13.11).
499 For BLEAD-POINT releases, it needs to refer to the previous BLEAD-POINT
500 release (so for 5.15.3 this would be 5.15.2). If the last release manager
501 followed instructions, this should have already been done after the last
502 blead release, so you may find nothing to do here.
504 =head3 update AUTHORS
506 The AUTHORS file can be updated by running F<Porting/updateAUTHORS.pl>.
508 (The old method was C<Porting/checkAUTHORS.pl --update --from=5.X.Y> and
509 it's still used under the hood, but you should use the
510 F<Porting/updateAUTHORS.pl> update.)
512 In the old method, for MAINT and BLEAD-FINAL releases, C<v5.X.Y> needs to
513 refer to the last release in the previous development cycle (so for
514 example, for a 5.14.x release, this would be 5.13.11).
516 In the old method, for BLEAD-POINT releases, it needs to refer to the
517 previous BLEAD-POINT release (so for 5.15.3 this would be 5.15.2).
519 Note: It should not be harmful to use a wider range.
521 Note: If you have uncommitted changes this could cause some warnings,
522 and you might like to use the additional argument C<--to=upstream/blead>
523 to use the last known git commit by GitHub.
525 Review the changes to the AUTHORS file, be sure you are not adding duplicate
526 entries or removing any entries, then commit your changes.
528 $ git commit -a AUTHORS -m 'Update AUTHORS list for 5.x.y'
530 =head3 Check copyright years
532 Check that the copyright years are up to date by running:
534 $ pushd t; ../perl -I../lib porting/copyright.t --now
536 Remedy any test failures by editing README or perl.c accordingly (search for
537 the "Copyright"). If updating perl.c, check if the file's own copyright date in
538 the C comment at the top needs updating, as well as the one printed by C<-v>.
540 =head3 Check more build configurations
542 Try running the full test suite against multiple Perl configurations. Here are
543 some sets of Configure flags you can try:
549 C<-Duseshrplib -Dusesitecustomize>
553 C<-Duserelocatableinc>
561 If you have multiple compilers on your machine, you might also consider
562 compiling with C<-Dcc=$other_compiler>.
564 You can also consider pushing the repo to GitHub where Travis CI is enabled
565 which would smoke different flavors of Perl for you.
567 =head3 update perlport
569 L<perlport> has a section currently named I<Supported Platforms> that
570 indicates which platforms are known to build in the current release.
571 If necessary update the list and the indicated version number.
573 =head3 check a readonly build
575 Even before other prep work, follow the steps in L</build the tarball> and test
576 it locally. Because a perl source tarballs sets many files read-only, it could
577 test differently than tests run from the repository. After you're sure
578 permissions aren't a problem, delete the generated directory and tarballs.
581 =head2 Building a release - on the day
583 This section describes the actions required to make a release
584 that are performed near to, or on the actual release day.
586 =head3 re-check earlier actions
588 Review all the actions in the previous section,
589 L<"Building a release - advance actions"> to ensure they are all done and
592 =head3 create a release branch
594 For BLEAD-POINT releases, making a release from a release branch avoids the
595 need to freeze blead during the release. This is less important for
596 BLEAD-FINAL, MAINT, and RC releases, since blead will already be frozen in
597 those cases. Create the branch by running
599 git checkout -b release-5.xx.yy
601 =head3 build a clean perl
603 Make sure you have a gitwise-clean perl directory (no modified files,
604 unpushed commits etc):
609 then configure and build perl so that you have a Makefile and porting tools:
611 $ ./Configure -Dusedevel -des && make
613 =head3 Check module versions
615 For each Perl release since the previous release of the current branch, check
616 for modules that have identical version numbers but different contents by
619 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/cmpVERSION.pl --tag=v5.X.YY
621 (This is done automatically by F<t/porting/cmp_version.t> for the previous
622 release of the current branch, but not for any releases from other branches.)
624 Any modules that fail will need a version bump, plus a nudge to the upstream
625 maintainer for 'cpan' upstream modules.
627 =head3 update Module::CoreList
629 =head4 Bump Module::CoreList* $VERSIONs
631 If necessary, bump C<$VERSION> (there's no need to do this
632 for every RC; in RC1, bump the version to a new clean number that will
633 appear in the final release, and leave as-is for the later RCs and final).
634 It may also happen that C<Module::CoreList> has been modified in blead, and
635 hence has a new version number already. (But make sure it is not the same
636 number as a CPAN release.)
638 C<$Module::CoreList::Utils::VERSION> should always be equal to
639 C<$Module::CoreList::VERSION>. If necessary, bump those two versions to match
642 Once again, the files to modify are:
648 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm>
652 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList/Utils.pm>
656 =head4 Update C<Module::CoreList> with module version data for the new release.
658 Note that if this is a MAINT release, you should run the following actions
659 from the maint branch, but commit the C<CoreList.pm> changes in
660 I<blead> and subsequently cherry-pick any releases since the last
661 maint release and then your recent commit. XXX need a better example
663 [ Note that the procedure for handling Module::CoreList in maint branches
664 is a bit complex, and the RMG currently don't describe a full and
665 workable approach. The main issue is keeping Module::CoreList
666 and its version number synchronised across all maint branches, blead and
667 CPAN, while having to bump its version number for every RC release.
668 See this brief p5p thread:
670 Message-ID: <20130311174402.GZ2294@iabyn.com>
672 If you can devise a workable system, feel free to try it out, and to
673 update the RMG accordingly!
677 F<corelist.pl> uses www.cpan.org to verify information about dual-lived
678 modules on CPAN. It can use a full, local CPAN mirror and/or fall back
679 on HTTP::Tiny to fetch package metadata remotely.
681 (If you'd prefer to have a full CPAN mirror, see
682 L<https://www.cpan.org/misc/cpan-faq.html#How_mirror_CPAN>)
684 Change to your perl checkout, and if necessary,
688 Then, If you have a local CPAN mirror, run:
690 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/corelist.pl ~/my-cpan-mirror
694 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/corelist.pl cpan
696 This will chug for a while, possibly reporting various warnings about
697 badly-indexed CPAN modules unrelated to the modules actually in core.
698 Assuming all goes well, it will update
699 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm> and possibly
700 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList/Utils.pm>.
702 Check those files over carefully:
704 $ git diff dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm
705 $ git diff dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList/Utils.pm
707 =head4 Bump version in Module::CoreList F<Changes>
709 Also edit Module::CoreList's new version number in its F<Changes> file.
710 This file is F<dist/Module-CoreList/Changes>.
711 (BLEAD-POINT releases should have had this done already as a post-release
712 action from the last commit.)
714 =head4 Add Module::CoreList version bump to perldelta
716 Add a perldelta entry for the new Module::CoreList version. You only
717 need to do this if you want to add notes about the changes included
718 with this version of Module::CoreList. Otherwise, its version bump
719 will be automatically filled in below in L</finalize perldelta>.
721 =for checklist skip RC
723 =head4 Update C<%Module::CoreList::released>
725 For any release except an RC: Update this version's entry in the C<%released>
726 hash with today's date.
728 =head4 Commit Module::CoreList changes
730 Finally, commit the new version of Module::CoreList:
731 (unless this is for MAINT; in which case commit it to blead first, then
732 cherry-pick it back).
734 $ git commit -m 'Update Module::CoreList for 5.x.y' \
735 dist/Module-CoreList/Changes \
736 dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm \
737 dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList/Utils.pm
739 =head4 Rebuild and test
741 Build and test to get the changes into the currently built lib directory and to
742 ensure all tests are passing.
744 =head3 finalize perldelta
746 Finalize the perldelta. In particular, fill in the Acknowledgements
747 section, which can be generated with something like:
749 $ perl Porting/acknowledgements.pl v5.15.0..HEAD
751 Fill in the "New/Updated Modules" sections now that Module::CoreList is
754 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/corelist-perldelta.pl \
755 --mode=update pod/perldelta.pod
757 For a MAINT release use something like this instead:
759 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/corelist-perldelta.pl 5.020001 5.020002 \
760 --mode=update pod/perldelta.pod
762 Ideally, also fill in a summary of the major changes to each module for which
763 an entry has been added by F<corelist-perldelta.pl>.
765 Re-read the perldelta to try to find any embarrassing typos and thinkos;
766 remove any C<TODO> or C<XXX> flags; update the "Known Problems" section
767 with any serious issues for which fixes are not going to happen now; and
768 run through pod and spell checkers, e.g.
770 $ podchecker -warnings -warnings pod/perldelta.pod
771 $ spell pod/perldelta.pod
772 $ aspell list < pod/perldelta.pod | sort -u
774 Also, you may want to generate and view an HTML version of it to check
777 $ ./perl -Ilib ext/Pod-Html/bin/pod2html pod/perldelta.pod > \
780 You should add pod links for GitHub issue references thusly:
782 $ perl -p -i -e'BEGIN{undef $/}; s{(GH\s+#)(\d+)}{L<$1$2|https://github.com/Perl/perl5/issues/$2>}mg' pod/perldelta.pod
784 If you make changes, be sure to commit them.
786 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT MAINT RC
788 =head3 remove stale perldeltas
790 For the first RC release that is ONLY for a BLEAD-FINAL, the perldeltas
791 from the BLEAD-POINT releases since the previous BLEAD-FINAL should have
792 now been consolidated into the current perldelta, and hence are now just
793 useless clutter. They can be removed using:
795 $ git rm <file1> <file2> ...
797 For example, for RC0 of 5.16.0:
800 $ git rm perldelta515*.pod
802 =for checklist skip BLEAD-FINAL BLEAD-POINT
804 =head3 add recent perldeltas
806 For the first RC for a MAINT release, copy in any recent perldeltas from
807 blead that have been added since the last release on this branch. This
808 should include any recent maint releases on branches older than your one,
809 but not newer. For example if you're producing a 5.14.x release, copy any
810 perldeltas from recent 5.10.x, 5.12.x etc maint releases, but not from
811 5.16.x or higher. Remember to
813 $ git add <file1> <file2> ...
815 =head3 update and commit perldelta files
817 If you have added or removed any perldelta files via the previous two
818 steps, then edit F<pod/perl.pod> to add/remove them from its table of
819 contents, then run F<Porting/pod_rules.pl> to propagate your changes there
820 into all the other files that mention them (including F<MANIFEST>). You'll
821 need to C<git add> the files that it changes.
823 Then build a clean perl and do a full test
827 $ ./Configure -Dusedevel -des
831 Once all tests pass, commit your changes.
833 =head3 final check of perldelta placeholders
835 Check for any 'XXX' leftover section in the perldelta.
836 Either fill them or remove these sections appropriately.
838 $ git grep XX pod/perldelta.pod
840 =head3 build a clean perl
842 If you skipped the previous step (adding/removing perldeltas),
843 again, make sure you have a gitwise-clean perl directory (no modified files,
844 unpushed commits etc):
849 then configure and build perl so that you have a Makefile and porting tools:
851 $ ./Configure -Dusedevel -des && make
853 =for checklist skip BLEAD-FINAL BLEAD-POINT
855 =head3 synchronise from blead's perlhist.pod
857 For the first RC for a MAINT release, copy in the latest
858 F<pod/perlhist.pod> from blead; this will include details of newer
859 releases in all branches. In theory, blead's version should be a strict
860 superset of the one in this branch, but it's probably safest to examine the
861 changes first, to ensure that there's nothing in this branch that was
862 forgotten from blead. An easy way to do that is with C<< git checkout -p >>,
863 to selectively apply any changes from the blead version to your current
867 $ git checkout -p origin/blead pod/perlhist.pod
868 $ git commit -m 'Sync perlhist from blead' pod/perlhist.pod
870 =head3 update perlhist.pod
872 Add an entry to F<pod/perlhist.pod> with the release date, e.g.:
874 David 5.10.1 2009-Aug-06
876 List yourself in the left-hand column, and if this is the first release
877 that you've ever done, make sure that your name is listed in the section
878 entitled C<THE KEEPERS OF THE PUMPKIN>.
880 I<If you're making a BLEAD-FINAL release>, also update the "SELECTED
881 RELEASE SIZES" section with the output of
882 F<Porting/perlhist_calculate.pl>.
884 Be sure to commit your changes:
886 $ git commit -m 'Add new release to perlhist' pod/perlhist.pod
888 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT
890 =head3 update patchlevel.h
892 I<You MUST SKIP this step for a BLEAD-POINT release>
894 Update F<patchlevel.h> to add a C<-RC1>-or-whatever string; or, if this is
895 a final release, remove it. For example:
897 static const char * const local_patches[] = {
900 #ifdef PERL_GIT_UNCOMMITTED_CHANGES
901 ,"uncommitted-changes"
904 Be sure to commit your change:
906 $ git commit -m 'Bump version to RCnnn' patchlevel.h
908 =head3 run makemeta to update META files
910 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/makemeta
912 Be sure to commit any changes (if applicable):
914 $ git status # any changes?
915 $ git commit -m 'Update META files' META.*
917 =head3 build, test and check a fresh perl
919 Build perl, then make sure it passes its own test suite, and installs:
922 $ ./Configure -des -Dprefix=/tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest
924 # or if it's an odd-numbered version:
925 $ ./Configure -des -Dusedevel -Dprefix=/tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest
929 Check that the output of C</tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest/bin/perl -v> and
930 C</tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest/bin/perl -V> are as expected,
931 especially as regards version numbers, patch and/or RC levels, and @INC
932 paths. Note that as they have been built from a git working
933 directory, they will still identify themselves using git tags and
934 commits. (Note that for an odd-numbered version, perl will install
935 itself as C<perl5.x.y>). C<perl -v> will identify itself as:
937 This is perl 5, version X, subversion Y (v5.X.Y (v5.X.Z-NNN-gdeadbeef))
939 where 5.X.Z is the latest tag, NNN the number of commits since this tag,
940 and C<< deadbeef >> commit of that tag.
942 Then delete the temporary installation.
944 =head3 create the release tag
946 Create the tag identifying this release (e.g.):
948 $ git tag v5.11.0 -m 'First release of the v5.11 series!'
950 It is B<VERY> important that from this point forward, you not push
951 your git changes to the Perl master repository. If anything goes
952 wrong before you publish your newly-created tag, you can delete
953 and recreate it. Once you push your tag, we're stuck with it
954 and you'll need to use a new version number for your release.
956 =head3 build the tarball
958 Before you run the following, you might want to install 7-Zip (the
959 C<p7zip-full> package under Debian or the C<p7zip> port on MacPorts) or
960 the AdvanceCOMP suite (e.g. the C<advancecomp> package under Debian,
961 or the C<advancecomp> port on macports - 7-Zip on Windows is the
962 same code as AdvanceCOMP, so Windows users get the smallest files
963 first time). These compress about 5% smaller than gzip and bzip2.
964 Over the lifetime of your distribution this will save a lot of
965 people a small amount of download time and disk space, which adds
968 In order to produce the C<xz> tarball, XZ Utils are required. The C<xz>
969 utility is included with most modern UNIX-type operating systems and
970 is available for Cygwin. A Windows port is available from
971 L<https://tukaani.org/xz/>.
973 B<IMPORTANT>: if you are on OS X, you must export C<COPYFILE_DISABLE=1>
974 to prevent OS X resource files from being included in your tarball. After
975 creating the tarball following the instructions below, inspect it to ensure
976 you don't have files like F<._foobar>.
978 Create a tarball. Use the C<-s> option to specify a suitable suffix for
979 the tarball and directory name:
981 $ cd root/of/perl/tree
982 $ make distclean # make sure distclean works
983 $ git clean -xdf # make sure perl and git agree on files
984 # git clean should not output anything!
985 $ git status --ignored # and there's nothing lying around
987 $ perl Porting/makerel -x -s RC1 # for a release candidate
988 $ perl Porting/makerel -x # for the release itself
990 This creates the directory F<../perl-x.y.z-RC1> or similar, copies all
991 the MANIFEST files into it, sets the correct permissions on them, then
992 tars it up as F<../perl-x.y.z-RC1.tar.gz>. The C<-x> also produces a
995 If you're getting your tarball suffixed with -uncommitted and you're sure
996 your changes were all committed, you can override the suffix with:
998 $ perl Porting/makerel -x -s ''
1000 XXX if we go for extra tags and branches stuff, then add the extra details
1003 Finally, clean up the temporary directory, e.g.
1005 $ rm -rf ../perl-x.y.z-RC1
1007 =head3 test the tarball
1009 Once you have a tarball it's time to test the tarball (not the repository).
1011 =head4 Copy the tarball to a web server
1013 Copy the tarballs (.gz and .xz) to a web server somewhere you have access to.
1015 =head4 Download the tarball to another machine and unpack it
1017 Download the tarball to some other machine. For a release candidate,
1018 you really want to test your tarball on two or more different platforms
1021 =head4 Ask #p5p to test the tarball on different platforms
1023 Once you've verified the tarball can be downloaded and unpacked,
1024 ask the #p5p IRC channel on irc.perl.org for volunteers to test the
1025 tarballs on whatever platforms they can.
1027 If you're not confident in the tarball, you can defer this step until after
1028 your own tarball testing, below.
1030 =head4 Check that F<Configure> works
1032 Check that basic configuration and tests work on each test machine:
1034 $ ./Configure -des && make all minitest test
1036 # Or for a development release:
1037 $ ./Configure -Dusedevel -des && make all minitest test
1039 =head4 Run the test harness and install
1041 Check that the test harness and install work on each test machine:
1044 $ ./Configure -des -Dprefix=/install/path && \
1045 make all test_harness install
1048 (Remember C<-Dusedevel> above, for a development release.)
1050 =head4 Check C<perl -v> and C<perl -V>
1052 Check that the output of C<perl -v> and C<perl -V> are as expected,
1053 especially as regards version numbers, patch and/or RC levels, and @INC
1056 Note that the results may be different without a F<.git/> directory,
1057 which is why you should test from the tarball.
1059 =head4 Run the Installation Verification Procedure utility
1061 $ ./perl -Ilib ./utils/perlivp
1063 $ ./perl5.x.y ./utils/perlivp5.x.y
1065 All tests successful.
1068 =head4 Compare the installed paths to the last release
1070 Compare the pathnames of all installed files with those of the previous
1071 release (i.e. against the last installed tarball on this branch which you
1072 have previously verified using this same procedure). In particular, look
1073 for files in the wrong place, or files no longer included which should be.
1074 For example, suppose the about-to-be-released version is 5.10.1 and the
1077 cd installdir-5.10.0/
1078 find . -type f | perl -pe's/5\.10\.0/5.10.1/g' | sort > /tmp/f1
1079 cd installdir-5.10.1/
1080 find . -type f | sort > /tmp/f2
1083 =head4 Disable C<local::lib> if it's turned on
1085 If you're using C<local::lib>, you should reset your environment before
1086 performing these actions:
1088 $ unset PERL5LIB PERL_MB_OPT PERL_LOCAL_LIB_ROOT PERL_MM_OPT
1090 =head4 Bootstrap the CPAN client
1092 Bootstrap the CPAN client on the clean install:
1099 =head4 Install the Inline module with CPAN and test it
1101 Try installing a popular CPAN module that's reasonably complex and that
1102 has dependencies; for example:
1104 CPAN> install Inline::C
1107 Check that your perl can run this:
1109 $ bin/perl -Ilib -lwe "use Inline C => q[int f() { return 42;}]; print f"
1113 =head4 Make sure that perlbug works
1115 Test L<perlbug> with the following:
1119 Subject: test bug report
1120 Local perl administrator [yourself]:
1126 Action (Send/Display/Edit/Subject/Save to File): f
1127 Name of file to save message in [perlbug.rep]:
1129 and carefully examine the output (in F<perlbug.rep]>), especially
1130 the "Locally applied patches" section.
1132 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT
1134 =head3 monitor smokes
1136 XXX This is probably irrelevant if working on a release branch, though
1137 MAINT or RC might want to push a smoke branch and wait.
1139 Wait for the smoke tests to catch up with the commit which this release is
1140 based on (or at least the last commit of any consequence).
1142 Then check that the smoke tests pass (particularly on Win32). If not, go
1143 back and fix things.
1145 Note that for I<BLEAD-POINT> releases this may not be practical. It takes a
1146 long time for the smokers to catch up, especially the Win32
1147 smokers. This is why we have a RC cycle for I<MAINT> and I<BLEAD-FINAL>
1148 releases, but for I<BLEAD-POINT> releases sometimes the best you can do is
1149 to plead with people on IRC to test stuff on their platforms, fire away,
1150 and then hope for the best.
1152 =head3 upload to PAUSE
1154 Once smoking is okay, upload it to PAUSE. This is the point of no return.
1155 If anything goes wrong after this point, you will need to re-prepare
1156 a new release with a new minor version or RC number.
1158 https://pause.perl.org/
1160 (Log in, then select 'Upload a file to CPAN')
1162 If your workstation is not connected to a high-bandwidth,
1163 high-reliability connection to the Internet, you should probably use the
1164 "GET URL" feature (rather than "HTTP UPLOAD") to have PAUSE retrieve the
1165 new release from wherever you put it for testers to find it. This will
1166 eliminate anxious gnashing of teeth while you wait to see if your
1167 15 megabyte HTTP upload successfully completes across your slow, twitchy
1170 I<Remember>: if your upload is partially successful, you
1171 may need to contact a PAUSE administrator or even bump the version of perl.
1173 Upload the .gz and .xz versions of the tarball.
1175 Note: You can also use the command-line utility to upload your tarballs, if
1176 you have it configured:
1178 cpan-upload perl-5.X.Y.tar.gz
1179 cpan-upload perl-5.X.Y.tar.xz
1181 Do not proceed any further until you are sure that your tarballs are on CPAN.
1182 Check your authors directory metacpan.org to confirm that your uploads have
1185 https://metacpan.org/author/YOUR_PAUSE_ID
1187 =for checklist skip RC BLEAD-POINT
1189 =head3 wait for indexing
1191 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC and BLEAD-POINT>
1193 Wait until you receive notification emails from the PAUSE indexer
1194 confirming that your uploads have been received. IMPORTANT -- you will
1195 probably get an email that indexing has failed, due to module permissions.
1196 This is considered normal.
1198 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT
1200 =head3 disarm patchlevel.h
1202 I<You MUST SKIP this step for BLEAD-POINT release>
1204 Disarm the F<patchlevel.h> change; for example,
1206 static const char * const local_patches[] = {
1209 #ifdef PERL_GIT_UNCOMMITTED_CHANGES
1210 ,"uncommitted-changes"
1213 Be sure to commit your change:
1215 $ git commit -m 'Disarm RCnnn bump' patchlevel.h
1217 =head3 announce to p5p
1219 Mail perl5-porters@perl.org to announce your new release, with a quote you prepared earlier.
1220 Get the SHA256 digests from the PAUSE email responses.
1222 Use the template at Porting/release_announcement_template.txt
1224 Send a carbon copy to C<noc@metacpan.org>
1226 If your email does not appear on the list, but does not obviously bounce
1227 either, check that the email you are sending from is subscribed to the list.
1229 =head3 merge release branch back to blead
1231 Merge the (local) release branch back into master now, and delete it.
1235 git merge release-5.xx.yy
1237 git branch -d release-5.xx.yy
1239 Note: The merge will create a merge commit if other changes have been pushed
1240 to blead while you've been working on your release branch. Do NOT rebase your
1241 branch to avoid the merge commit (as you might normally do when merging a
1242 small branch into blead) since doing so will invalidate the tag that you
1245 =head3 publish the release tag
1247 Now that you've shipped the new perl release to PAUSE and pushed your changes
1248 to the Perl master repository, it's time to publish the tag you created
1251 $ git push origin tag v5.11.0
1253 =head3 update epigraphs.pod
1255 Add your quote to F<Porting/epigraphs.pod> and commit it.
1256 You can include the customary link to the release announcement even before your
1257 message reaches the web-visible archives by looking for the X-List-Archive
1258 header in your message after receiving it back via perl5-porters.
1260 =head3 blog about your epigraph
1262 If you have a blog, please consider writing an entry in your blog explaining
1263 why you chose that particular quote for your epigraph.
1265 =head3 update the link to the latest perl on perlweb
1267 Submit a pull request to L<https://github.com/perlorg/perlweb> to update the
1268 link in F<docs/dev/perl5/index.html> to point to your release.
1270 =for checklist skip RC
1272 =head3 Release schedule
1274 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC>
1276 Tick the entry for your release in F<Porting/release_schedule.pod>.
1278 =for checklist skip RC
1280 =head3 Module::CoreList nagging
1282 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC>
1284 Remind the current maintainer of C<Module::CoreList> to push a new release
1287 =for checklist skip RC
1289 =head3 new perldelta
1291 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC>
1293 Create a new perldelta.
1299 Confirm that you have a clean checkout with no local changes.
1304 perl Porting/new-perldelta.pl
1308 Run the C<git add> commands it outputs to add new and modified files.
1312 Verify that the build still works, by running C<./Configure> and
1313 C<make test_porting>. (On Win32 use the appropriate make utility).
1317 If F<t/porting/podcheck.t> spots errors in the new F<pod/perldelta.pod>,
1318 run C<./perl -MTestInit t/porting/podcheck.t | less> for more detail.
1319 Skip to the end of its test output to see the options it offers you.
1323 When C<make test_porting> passes, commit the new perldelta.
1325 git commit -m'New perldelta for 5.X.Y'
1329 At this point you may want to compare the commit with a previous bump to
1330 see if they look similar. See commit ba03bc34a4 for an example of a
1331 previous version bump.
1333 =for checklist skip MAINT RC
1337 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC and MAINT>
1339 If this was a BLEAD-FINAL release (i.e. the first release of a new maint
1340 series, 5.x.0 where x is even), then bump the version in the blead branch
1341 in git, e.g. 5.12.0 to 5.13.0.
1343 First, add a new feature bundle to F<regen/feature.pl>, initially by just
1344 copying the exiting entry, and bump the file's $VERSION (after the __END__
1347 "5.14" => [qw(switch say state unicode_strings)],
1348 + "5.15" => [qw(switch say state unicode_strings)],
1350 Run F<regen/feature.pl> to propagate the changes to F<lib/feature.pm>.
1352 Then follow the section L<"Bump the version number"> to bump the version
1353 in the remaining files and test and commit.
1355 If this was a BLEAD-POINT release, then just follow the section
1356 L<"Bump the version number">.
1358 After bumping the version, follow the section L<"update INSTALL"> to
1359 ensure all version number references are correct.
1361 (Note: The version is NOT bumped immediately after a MAINT release in order
1362 to avoid confusion and wasted time arising from bug reports relating to
1363 "intermediate versions" such as 5.20.1-and-a-bit: If the report is caused
1364 by a bug that gets fixed in 5.20.2 and this intermediate version already
1365 calls itself 5.20.2 then much time can be wasted in figuring out why there
1366 is a failure from something that "should have been fixed". If the bump is
1367 late then there is a much smaller window of time for such confusing bug
1368 reports to arise. (The opposite problem -- trying to figure out why there
1369 *is* a bug in something calling itself 5.20.1 when in fact the bug was
1370 introduced later -- shouldn't arise for MAINT releases since they should,
1371 in theory, only contain bug fixes but never regressions.))
1373 =head3 clean build and test
1375 Run a clean build and test to make sure nothing obvious is broken. This is
1376 very important, as commands run after this point must be run using the perl
1377 executable built with the bumped version number.
1380 $ ./Configure -des -Dusedevel
1384 In particular, F<Porting/perldelta_template.pod> is intentionally exempted
1385 from podchecker tests, to avoid false positives about placeholder text.
1386 However, once it's copied to F<pod/perldelta.pod> the contents can now
1387 cause test failures. Problems should be resolved by doing one of the
1394 Replace placeholder text with correct text.
1398 If the problem is from a broken placeholder link, you can add it to the
1399 array C<@perldelta_ignore_links> in F<t/porting/podcheck.t>. Lines
1400 containing such links should be marked with C<XXX> so that they get
1401 cleaned up before the next release.
1405 Following the instructions output by F<t/porting/podcheck.t> on how to
1406 update its exceptions database.
1412 Finally, push any commits done above.
1414 $ git push origin ....
1416 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT MAINT RC
1418 =head3 create maint branch
1420 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC, BLEAD-POINT, MAINT>
1422 If this was a BLEAD-FINAL release (i.e. the first release of a new maint
1423 series, 5.x.0 where x is even), then create a new maint branch based on
1424 the commit tagged as the current release.
1426 Assuming you're using git 1.7.x or newer:
1428 $ git checkout -b maint-5.12 v5.12.0
1429 $ git push origin -u maint-5.12
1432 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT MAINT RC
1434 =head3 make the maint branch available in the APC
1436 Clone the new branch into /srv/gitcommon/branches on camel so the APC will
1437 receive its changes.
1439 $ git clone --branch maint-5.14 /gitroot/perl.git \
1440 ? /srv/gitcommon/branches/perl-5.14.x
1441 $ chmod -R g=u /srv/gitcommon/branches/perl-5.14.x
1443 And nag the sysadmins to make this directory available via rsync.
1445 XXX Who are the sysadmins? Contact info?
1447 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT RC
1449 =head3 copy perldelta.pod to blead
1451 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC, BLEAD-POINT>
1453 Copy the perldelta.pod for this release into blead; for example:
1456 $ cp -i ../5.10.x/pod/perldelta.pod pod/perl5101delta.pod #for example
1457 $ git add pod/perl5101delta.pod
1459 Don't forget to set the NAME correctly in the new file (e.g. perl5101delta
1460 rather than perldelta).
1462 Edit F<pod/perl.pod> to add an entry for the file, e.g.:
1464 perl5101delta Perl changes in version 5.10.1
1466 Then rebuild various files:
1468 $ perl Porting/pod_rules.pl
1470 Finally, commit and push:
1472 $ git commit -a -m 'Add perlXXXdelta'
1473 $ git push origin ....
1475 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT
1477 =head3 copy perlhist.pod entries to blead
1479 Make sure any recent F<pod/perlhist.pod> entries are copied to
1480 F<perlhist.pod> on blead. e.g.
1486 I<You MUST RETIRE to your preferred PUB, CAFE or SEASIDE VILLA for some
1487 much-needed rest and relaxation>.
1489 Thanks for releasing perl!
1491 =head2 Building a release - the day after
1493 =for checklist skip BLEAD-FINAL MAINT RC
1495 =head3 update Module::CoreList
1497 I<After a BLEAD-POINT release only>
1499 After Module::CoreList has shipped to CPAN by the maintainer, update
1500 Module::CoreList in the source so that it reflects the new blead
1507 Update F<Porting/Maintainers.pl> to list the new DISTRIBUTION on CPAN,
1508 which should be identical to what is currently in blead.
1512 Bump the $VERSION in F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm>
1513 and F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList/Utils.pm>.
1517 If you have a local CPAN mirror, run:
1519 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/corelist.pl ~/my-cpan-mirror
1523 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/corelist.pl cpan
1525 This will update F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm> and
1526 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList/Utils.pm> as it did before,
1527 but this time adding new sections for the next BLEAD-POINT release.
1531 Add the new $Module::CoreList::VERSION to
1532 F<dist/Module-CoreList/Changes>.
1536 Remake perl to get your changed .pm files propagated into F<lib/> and
1537 then run at least the F<dist/Module-CoreList/t/*.t> tests and the
1538 test_porting makefile target to check that they're ok.
1540 $ cd t; ./TEST ../dist/Module-CoreList/t/*.t
1547 $ ./perl -Ilib -MModule::CoreList \
1548 -le 'print Module::CoreList->find_version($]) ? "ok" : "not ok"'
1550 and check that it outputs "ok" to prove that Module::CoreList now knows
1551 about blead's current version.
1555 Commit and push your changes.
1558 $ git commit -m "Prepare Module::Corelist for 5.XX.Y"
1563 =head3 check tarball availability
1565 Check various website entries to make sure the that tarball has appeared
1566 and is properly indexed:
1572 Check your author directory under L<https://www.cpan.org/authors/id/>
1573 to ensure that the tarballs are available on the website.
1577 Check F</src> on CPAN (on a fast mirror) to ensure that links to
1578 the new tarballs have appeared: There should be links in F</src/5.0>
1579 (which is accumulating all new versions), and (for BLEAD-FINAL and
1580 MAINT only) an appropriate mention in F</src/README.html> (which describes
1581 the latest versions in each stable branch, with links).
1583 The F</src/5.0> links should appear automatically, some hours after upload.
1584 If they don't, or the F</src> description is inadequate,
1585 ask Ask <ask@perl.org>.
1589 Check L<https://www.cpan.org/src/> to ensure that the F</src> updates
1590 have been correctly mirrored to the website.
1591 If they haven't, ask Ask <ask@perl.org>.
1595 Check L<https://metacpan.org> to see if it has indexed the distribution.
1596 It should be visible at a URL like C<https://metacpan.org/release/DAPM/perl-5.10.1>.
1600 =head3 update release manager's guide
1602 Go over your notes from the release (you did take some, right?) and update
1603 F<Porting/release_managers_guide.pod> with any fixes or information that
1604 will make life easier for the next release manager.
1611 L<http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2009-05/msg00608.html>,
1612 plus a whole bunch of other sources, including private correspondence.