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 ...
65 Some of the tasks described below apply to all four types of
66 release of Perl. (blead, RC, final release of maint, final
67 release of blead). Some of these tasks apply only to a subset
68 of these release types. If a step does not apply to a given
69 type of release, you will see a notation to that effect at
70 the beginning of the step.
77 =item Release Candidate (RC)
79 A release candidate is an attempt to produce a tarball that is a close as
80 possible to the final release. Indeed, unless critical faults are found
81 during the RC testing, the final release will be identical to the RC
82 barring a few minor fixups (updating the release date in F<perlhist.pod>,
83 removing the RC status from F<patchlevel.h>, etc). If faults are found,
84 then the fixes should be put into a new release candidate, never directly
88 =item Stable/Maint release (MAINT).
90 A release with an even version number, and subversion number > 0, such as
93 At this point you should have a working release candidate with few or no
96 It's essentially the same procedure as for making a release candidate, but
97 with a whole bunch of extra post-release steps.
99 =item A blead point release (BLEAD-POINT)
101 A release with an odd version number, such as 5.15.0 or 5.15.1.
103 This isn't for production, so it has less stability requirements than for
104 other release types, and isn't preceded by RC releases. Other than that,
105 it is similar to a MAINT release.
107 =item Blead final release (BLEAD-FINAL)
109 A release with an even version number, and subversion number == 0, such as
110 5.14.0. That is to say, it's the big new release once per year.
112 It's essentially the same procedure as for making a release candidate, but
113 with a whole bunch of extra post-release steps, even more than for MAINT.
121 Before you can make an official release of perl, there are a few
122 hoops you need to jump through:
124 =head3 PAUSE account with pumpkin status
126 Make sure you have a PAUSE account suitable for uploading a perl release.
127 If you don't have a PAUSE account, then request one:
129 https://pause.perl.org/pause/query?ACTION=request_id
131 Check that your account is allowed to upload perl distros: go to
132 L<https://pause.perl.org/pause/authenquery?ACTION=who_pumpkin> and check that
133 your PAUSE ID is listed there. If not, ask Andreas KE<0xf6>nig to add your ID
134 to the list of people allowed to upload something called perl. You can find
135 Andreas' email address at:
137 https://pause.perl.org/pause/query?ACTION=pause_04imprint
139 =head3 search.cpan.org pumpkin status
141 Make sure that search.cpan.org knows that you're allowed to upload
142 perl distros. Contact Graham Barr to make sure that you're on the right
145 =head3 rt.perl.org update access
147 Make sure you have permission to close tickets on L<http://rt.perl.org/>
148 so you can respond to bug report as necessary during your stint. If you
149 don't, make an account (if you don't have one) and contact the pumpking
150 with your username to get ticket-closing permission.
152 =head3 git checkout and commit bit
154 You will need a working C<git> installation, checkout of the perl
155 git repository and perl commit bit. For information about working
156 with perl and git, see F<pod/perlgit.pod>.
158 If you are not yet a perl committer, you won't be able to make a
159 release. Have a chat with whichever evil perl porter tried to talk
160 you into the idea in the first place to figure out the best way to
163 =head3 git clone of https://github.com/perlorg/perlweb
165 For updating the L<http://dev.perl.org> web pages, either a Github account or
166 sweet-talking somebody with a Github account into obedience is needed. This
167 is only needed on the day of the release or shortly afterwards.
169 =for checklist skip RC
171 =head3 Quotation for release announcement epigraph
173 I<SKIP this step for RC>
175 For all except an RC release of perl, you will need a quotation
176 to use as an epigraph to your release announcement.
178 =head2 Building a release - advance actions
180 The work of building a release candidate for an even numbered release
181 (BLEAD-FINAL) of perl generally starts several weeks before the first
182 release candidate. Some of the following steps should be done regularly,
183 but all I<must> be done in the run up to a release.
185 =head3 dual-life CPAN module synchronisation
187 Ensure that dual-life CPAN modules are synchronised with CPAN. Basically,
190 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/core-cpan-diff -a -o /tmp/corediffs
192 to see any inconsistencies between the core and CPAN versions of distros,
193 then fix the core, or cajole CPAN authors as appropriate. See also the
194 C<-d> and C<-v> options for more detail. You'll probably want to use the
195 C<-c cachedir> option to avoid repeated CPAN downloads and may want to
196 use C<-m file:///mirror/path> if you made a local CPAN mirror.
198 To see which core distro versions differ from the current CPAN versions:
200 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/core-cpan-diff -x -a
202 If you are making a MAINT release, run C<core-cpan-diff> on both blead and
203 maint, then diff the two outputs. Compare this with what you expect, and if
204 necessary, fix things up. For example, you might think that both blead
205 and maint are synchronised with a particular CPAN module, but one might
206 have some extra changes.
208 =head3 How to sync a CPAN module with a cpan/ distro
214 Fetch the most recent version from CPAN.
218 Unpack the retrieved tarball. Rename the old directory; rename the new
219 directory to the original name.
223 Restore any F<.gitignore> file. This can be done by issueing
224 C<git checkout .gitignore> in the F<cpan/Distro> directory.
228 Remove files we do not need. That is, remove any files that match the
229 entries in C<@IGNORE> in F<Porting/Maintainer.pl>, and anything that
230 matches the C<EXCLUDED> section of the distro's entry in the C<%Modules>
235 Restore any files mentioned in the C<CUSTOMIZED> section, using
236 C<git checkout>. Make any new customizations if necessary. Also,
237 restore any files that are mentioned in C<@IGNORE>, but were checked
238 in in the repository anyway.
242 For any new files in the distro, determine whether they are needed.
243 If not, delete them, and list them in either C<EXCLUDED> or C<@INGORE>.
244 Otherwise, add them to C<MANIFEST>, and run C<git add> to add the files
249 For any files that are gone, remove them from C<MANIFEST>, and use
250 C<git rm> to tell git the files will be gone.
254 If the C<MANIFEST> file was changed in any of the previous steps, run
255 C<perl Porting/manisort --output MANIFEST.sort; mv MANIFEST.sort MANIFEST>.
259 For any files that have an execute bit set, either remove the execute
260 bit, or edit F<Porting/exec-bit.txt>
264 Run C<make>, see if C<perl> compiles.
268 Run the tests for the package.
272 Run the tests in F<t/porting>.
276 Update the C<DISTRIBUTION> entry in F<Porting/Maintainers.pl>.
280 Run a full configure/build/test cycle.
284 If everything is ok, commit the changes.
288 For entries with a non-simple C<FILES> section, or with a C<MAP>, you
289 may have to take more steps than listed above.
291 F<Porting/sync-with-cpan> is a script that automates most of the steps
292 above; but see the comments at the beginning of the file.
295 =head3 dual-life CPAN module stability
297 Ensure dual-life CPAN modules are stable, which comes down to:
299 for each module that fails its regression tests on $current
300 did it fail identically on $previous?
301 if yes, "SEP" (Somebody Else's Problem)
302 else work out why it failed (a bisect is useful for this)
304 attempt to group failure causes
306 for each failure cause
307 is that a regression?
308 if yes, figure out how to fix it
309 (more code? revert the code that broke it)
311 (presumably) it's relying on something un-or-under-documented
312 should the existing behaviour stay?
313 yes - goto "regression"
314 no - note it in perldelta as a significant bugfix
315 (also, try to inform the module's author)
318 =head3 monitor smoke tests for failures
320 Similarly, monitor the smoking of core tests, and try to fix. See
321 L<http://doc.procura.nl/smoke/index.html> for a summary. See also
322 L<http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.daily-build.reports/> which has
325 Similarly, monitor the smoking of perl for compiler warnings, and try to
329 =head3 update perldelta
331 Get perldelta in a mostly finished state.
333 Read F<Porting/how_to_write_a_perldelta.pod>, and try to make sure that
334 every section it lists is, if necessary, populated and complete. Copy
335 edit the whole document.
338 =head3 Bump the version number
340 Increase the version number (e.g. from 5.12.0 to 5.12.1).
342 For a BLEAD-POINT release, this can happen on the day of the release. For a
343 release candidate for a stable perl, this should happen a week or two
344 before the first release candidate to allow sufficient time for testing and
345 smoking with the target version built into the perl executable. For
346 subsequent release candidates and the final release, it it not necessary to
347 bump the version further.
349 There is a tool to semi-automate this process:
351 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/bump-perl-version -i 5.10.0 5.10.1
353 Remember that this tool is largely just grepping for '5.10.0' or whatever,
354 so it will generate false positives. Be careful not change text like
355 "this was fixed in 5.10.0"!
357 Use git status and git diff to select changes you want to keep.
359 Be particularly careful with F<INSTALL>, which contains a mixture of
360 C<5.10.0>-type strings, some of which need bumping on every release, and
361 some of which need to be left unchanged.
362 The line in F<INSTALL> about "is binary incompatible with" requires a
363 correct choice of earlier version to declare incompatibility with.
365 When doing a BLEAD-POINT or BLEAD-FINAL release, also make sure the
366 C<PERL_API_*> constants in F<patchlevel.h> are in sync with the version
367 you're releasing, unless you're
368 absolutely sure the release you're about to make is 100% binary compatible
369 to an earlier release. When releasing a MAINT perl version, the C<PERL_API_*>
370 constants C<MUST NOT> be changed as we aim to guarantee binary compatibility
373 After editing, regenerate uconfig.h (this must be run on a system with a
376 $ perl regen/uconfig_h.pl
380 $ git clean -xdf # careful if you don't have local files to keep!
381 $ ./Configure -des -Dusedevel
389 B<review the delta carefully>
391 $ git commit -a -m 'Bump the perl version in various places for 5.x.y'
393 At this point you may want to compare the commit with a previous bump to
394 see if they look similar. See commit 8891dd8d for an example of a
395 previous version bump.
397 When the version number is bumped, you should also update Module::CoreList
398 (as described below in L<"update Module::CoreList">) to reflect the new
402 =head3 update INSTALL
404 Review and update INSTALL to account for the change in version number;
405 in particular, the "Coexistence with earlier versions of perl 5" section.
407 Be particularly careful with the section "Upgrading from 5.X.Y or earlier".
408 The "X.Y" needs to be changed to the most recent version that we are
409 I<not> binary compatible with.
411 For MAINT and BLEAD-FINAL releases, this needs to refer to the last
412 release in the previous development cycle (so for example, for a 5.14.x
413 release, this would be 5.13.11).
415 For BLEAD-POINT releases, it needs to refer to the previous BLEAD-POINT
416 release (so for 5.15.3 this would be 5.15.2).
418 =head3 Check more build configurations
420 Check some more build configurations.
422 $ sh Configure -Dprefix=/tmp/perl-5.x.y -Uinstallusrbinperl \
423 -Duseshrplib -Dusesitecustomize
427 XXX think of other configurations that need testing.
430 =head3 update perlport
432 L<perlport> has a section currently named I<Supported Platforms> that
433 indicates which platforms are known to build in the current release.
434 If necessary update the list and the indicated version number.
438 =head2 Building a release - on the day
440 This section describes the actions required to make a release
441 that are performed on the actual day.
444 =head3 re-check earlier actions
446 Review all the actions in the previous section,
447 L<"Building a release - advance actions"> to ensure they are all done and
451 =head3 bump version number
453 For a BLEAD-POINT release, if you did not bump the perl version number as
454 part of I<advance actions>, do that now.
457 =head3 finalize perldelta
459 Finalize the perldelta. In particular, fill in the Acknowledgements
460 section, which can be generated with something like:
462 $ perl Porting/acknowledgements.pl v5.15.0..HEAD
464 Re-read the perldelta to try to find any embarrassing typos and thinkos;
465 remove any C<TODO> or C<XXX> flags; update the "Known Problems" section
466 with any serious issues for which fixes are not going to happen now; and
467 run through pod and spell checkers, e.g.
469 $ podchecker -warnings -warnings pod/perldelta.pod
470 $ spell pod/perldelta.pod
472 Also, you may want to generate and view an HTML version of it to check
475 $ ./perl -Ilib ext/Pod-Html/bin/pod2html pod/perldelta.pod > /tmp/perldelta.html
477 Another good HTML preview option is http://search.cpan.org/pod2html
479 If you make changes, be sure to commit them.
481 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT MAINT RC
483 =head3 remove stale perldeltas
485 For the first RC release that is ONLY for a BLEAD-FINAL, the perldeltas
486 from the BLEAD-POINT releases since the previous BLEAD_FINAL should have
487 now been consolidated into the current perldelta, and hence are now just
488 useless clutter. They can be removed using:
490 $ git rm <file1> <file2> ...
492 For example, for RC0 of 5.16.0:
495 $ git rm perldelta515*.pod
497 All mention to them should also be removed. Edit F<pod/perl.pod> to remove
498 them from its table of contents, then run F<Porting/pod_rules.pl> to
499 propagate your changes there into all the other files that mention them
500 (including F<MANIFEST>). You'll need to C<git add> the files that it changes.
502 Then build a clean perl and do a full test
506 $ ./Configure -Dusedevel -des
510 Once all tests pass, commit your changes.
512 =head3 build a clean perl
514 If you skipped the previous step (removing the stale perldeltas)
515 make sure you have a gitwise-clean perl directory (no modified files,
516 unpushed commits etc):
521 then configure and build perl so that you have a Makefile and porting tools:
523 $ ./Configure -Dusedevel -des && make
525 =head3 update Module::CoreList
527 Update C<Module::CoreList> with module version data for the new release.
529 Note that if this is a MAINT release, you should run the following actions
530 from the maint branch, but commit the C<CoreList.pm> changes in
531 I<blead> and subsequently cherry-pick any releases since the last
532 maint release and then your recent commit. XXX need a better example
534 F<corelist.pl> uses ftp.funet.fi to verify information about dual-lived
535 modules on CPAN. It can use a full, local CPAN mirror or fall back
536 to C<wget> or C<curl> to fetch only package metadata remotely. (If you're
537 on Win32, then installing Cygwin is one way to have commands like C<wget>
538 and C<curl> available.)
540 (If you'd prefer to have a full CPAN mirror, see
541 http://www.cpan.org/misc/cpan-faq.html#How_mirror_CPAN)
543 Then change to your perl checkout, and if necessary,
547 If this is not the first update for this version (e.g. if it was updated
548 when the version number was originally bumped), first edit
549 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm> to delete the existing
550 entries for this version from the C<%released> and C<%version> hashes:
551 they will have a key like C<5.010001> for 5.10.1.
553 XXX the edit-in-place functionality of Porting/corelist.pl should
554 be fixed to handle this automatically.
556 Then, If you have a local CPAN mirror, run:
558 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/corelist.pl ~/my-cpan-mirror
562 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/corelist.pl cpan
564 This will chug for a while, possibly reporting various warnings about
565 badly-indexed CPAN modules unrelated to the modules actually in core.
566 Assuming all goes well, it will update
567 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm>.
569 Check that file over carefully:
571 $ git diff dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm
573 If this is a .0 Perl version, add the appropriate lines in F<Corelist.pm>
574 to alias "5.nnn000" to "5.nnn" in each hash. (If feeling energetic,
575 amend F<corelist.pl> to automate this.)
577 =head4 Bump C<$Module::CoreList::VERSION>
579 If necessary, bump C<$Module::CoreList::VERSION> (there's no need to do this for
580 every RC; in RC1, bump the version to a new clean number that will
581 appear in the final release, and leave as-is for the later RCs and final).
582 It may also happen that C<Module::CoreList> has been modified in blead, and
583 hence has a new version number already. (But make sure it is not the same
584 number as a CPAN release.)
586 Edit the version number in the new C<< 'Module::CoreList' => 'X.YZ' >>
587 entry, as that is likely to reflect the previous version number.
589 =head4 Bump version in Module::CoreList F<Changes>
591 Also edit Module::CoreList's new version number in its F<Changes>
594 =head4 Add Module::CoreList version bump to perldelta
596 Add a perldelta entry for the new Module::CoreList version.
598 =for checklist skip RC
600 =head4 Update C<%Module::CoreList::released> and C<CAVEATS>
602 In addition, if this is a final release (rather than a release candidate):
608 Update this version's entry in the C<%released> hash with today's date.
612 Make sure that the script has correctly updated the C<CAVEATS> section
613 (Note, the C<CAVEATS> section is in
614 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pod>)
618 =head4 Commit Module::CoreList changes
620 Finally, commit the new version of Module::CoreList:
621 (unless this is for MAINT; in which case commit it to blead first, then
622 cherry-pick it back).
624 $ git commit -m 'Update Module::CoreList for 5.x.y' dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pod
626 =for checklist skip RC
628 =head3 update perlhist.pod
630 I<You MUST SKIP this step for a RC release>
632 Add an entry to F<pod/perlhist.pod> with the release date, e.g.:
634 David 5.10.1 2009-Aug-06
636 Make sure that the correct pumpking is listed in the left-hand column, and
637 if this is the first release under the stewardship of a new pumpking, make
638 sure that his or her name is listed in the section entitled
639 C<THE KEEPERS OF THE PUMPKIN>.
641 Be sure to commit your changes:
643 $ git commit -m 'add new release to perlhist' pod/perlhist.pod
645 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT
647 =head3 update patchlevel.h
649 I<You MUST SKIP this step for a BLEAD-POINT release>
651 Update F<patchlevel.h> to add a C<-RC1>-or-whatever string; or, if this is
652 a final release, remove it. For example:
654 static const char * const local_patches[] = {
657 PERL_GIT_UNPUSHED_COMMITS /* do not remove this line */
659 Be sure to commit your change:
661 $ git commit -m 'bump version to RCnnn' patchlevel.h
664 =head3 build, test and check a fresh perl
666 Build perl, then make sure it passes its own test suite, and installs:
669 $ ./Configure -des -Dprefix=/tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest
671 # or if it's an odd-numbered version:
672 $ ./Configure -des -Dusedevel -Dprefix=/tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest
676 Check that the output of C</tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest/bin/perl -v> and
677 C</tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest/bin/perl -V> are as expected,
678 especially as regards version numbers, patch and/or RC levels, and @INC
679 paths. Note that as they have been been built from a git working
680 directory, they will still identify themselves using git tags and
681 commits. (Note that for an odd-numbered version, perl will install
682 itself as C<perl5.x.y>). C<perl -v> will identify itself as:
684 This is perl 5, version X, subversion Y (v5.X.Y (v5.X.Z-NNN-deadbeef))
686 where 5.X.Z is the latest tag, Z the number of commits since this tag,
687 and C<< deadbeef >> commit of that tag.
689 Then delete the temporary installation.
692 =head3 push the work so far
694 Push all your recent commits:
696 $ git push origin ....
699 =head3 tag the release
701 Tag the release (e.g.):
703 $ git tag v5.11.0 -m "First release of the v5.11 series!"
705 It is B<VERY> important that from this point forward, you not push
706 your git changes to the Perl master repository. If anything goes
707 wrong before you publish your newly-created tag, you can delete
708 and recreate it. Once you push your tag, we're stuck with it
709 and you'll need to use a new version number for your release.
712 =head3 build the tarball
714 Before you run the following, you might want to install 7-Zip (the
715 C<p7zip-full> package under Debian or the C<p7zip> port on MacPorts) or
716 the AdvanceCOMP suite (e.g. the C<advancecomp> package under Debian,
717 or the C<advancecomp> port on macports - 7-Zip on Windows is the
718 same code as AdvanceCOMP, so Windows users get the smallest files
719 first time). These compress about 5% smaller than gzip and bzip2.
720 Over the lifetime of your distribution this will save a lot of
721 people a small amount of download time and disk space, which adds
724 Create a tarball. Use the C<-s> option to specify a suitable suffix for
725 the tarball and directory name:
727 $ cd root/of/perl/tree
729 $ git clean -xdf # make sure perl and git agree on files
730 $ git status # and there's nothing lying around
732 $ perl Porting/makerel -b -s RC1 # for a release candidate
733 $ perl Porting/makerel -b # for a final release
735 This creates the directory F<../perl-x.y.z-RC1> or similar, copies all
736 the MANIFEST files into it, sets the correct permissions on them,
737 adds DOS line endings to some, then tars it up as
738 F<../perl-x.y.z-RC1.tar.gz>. With C<-b>, it also creates a C<tar.bz2> file.
740 If you're getting your tarball suffixed with -uncommitted and you're sure
741 your changes were all committed, you can override the suffix with:
743 $ perl Porting/makerel -b -s ''
745 XXX if we go for extra tags and branches stuff, then add the extra details
748 Finally, clean up the temporary directory, e.g.
750 $ rm -rf ../perl-x.y.z-RC1
753 =head3 test the tarball
755 Once you have a tarball it's time to test the tarball (not the repository).
757 =head4 Copy the tarball to a web server
759 Copy the tarballs (.gz and possibly .bz2) to a web server somewhere you
762 =head4 Download the tarball to another machine
764 Download the tarball to some other machine. For a release candidate,
765 you really want to test your tarball on two or more different platforms
766 and architectures. The #p5p IRC channel on irc.perl.org is a good place
767 to find willing victims.
769 =head4 Check that F<Configure> works
771 Check that basic configuration and tests work on each test machine:
773 $ ./Configure -des && make all test
775 =head4 Run the test harness and install
777 Check that the test harness and install work on each test machine:
780 $ ./Configure -des -Dprefix=/install/path && make all test_harness install
783 =head4 Check C<perl -v> and C<perl -V>
785 Check that the output of C<perl -v> and C<perl -V> are as expected,
786 especially as regards version numbers, patch and/or RC levels, and @INC
789 Note that the results may be different without a F<.git/> directory,
790 which is why you should test from the tarball.
792 =head4 Run the Installation Verification Procedure utility
794 $ ./perl utils/perlivp
796 All tests successful.
799 =head4 Compare the installed paths to the last release
801 Compare the pathnames of all installed files with those of the previous
802 release (i.e. against the last installed tarball on this branch which you
803 have previously verified using this same procedure). In particular, look
804 for files in the wrong place, or files no longer included which should be.
805 For example, suppose the about-to-be-released version is 5.10.1 and the
808 cd installdir-5.10.0/
809 find . -type f | perl -pe's/5\.10\.0/5.10.1/g' | sort > /tmp/f1
810 cd installdir-5.10.1/
811 find . -type f | sort > /tmp/f2
814 =head4 Test the CPAN client
816 Bootstrap the CPAN client on the clean install:
818 $ bin/perl -MCPAN -e "shell"
820 If you're running this on Win32 you probably also need a set of Unix
821 command-line tools available for CPAN to function correctly without
822 Perl alternatives like LWP installed. Cygwin is an obvious choice.)
824 =head4 Install the Inline module and test it
826 Try installing a popular CPAN module that's reasonably complex and that
827 has dependencies; for example:
832 Check that your perl can run this:
834 $ bin/perl -lwe "use Inline C => q[int f() { return 42;}]; print f"
838 =head4 Bootstrap the CPANPLUS client
840 Bootstrap the CPANPLUS client on the clean install:
844 (Again, on Win32 you'll need something like Cygwin installed, but make sure
845 that you don't end up with its various F<bin/cpan*> programs being found on
846 the PATH before those of the Perl that you're trying to test.)
848 =head4 Install the DBI module with CPANPLUS
852 $ bin/perl -MDBI -e 1
855 =head4 Make sure that perlbug works
857 Test L<perlbug> with the following:
861 Subject: test bug report
862 Local perl administrator [yourself]:
868 Action (Send/Display/Edit/Subject/Save to File): f
869 Name of file to save message in [perlbug.rep]:
870 Action (Send/Display/Edit/Subject/Save to File): q
872 and carefully examine the output (in F<perlbug.rep]>), especially
873 the "Locally applied patches" section. If everything appears okay, then
874 delete the file, and try it again, this time actually submitting the bug
875 report. Check that it shows up, then remember to close it!
877 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT
879 =head3 monitor smokes
881 Wait for the smoke tests to catch up with the commit which this release is
882 based on (or at least the last commit of any consequence).
884 Then check that the smoke tests pass (particularly on Win32). If not, go
887 Note that for I<BLEAD-POINT> releases this may not be practical. It takes a
888 long time for the smokers to catch up, especially the Win32
889 smokers. This is why we have a RC cycle for I<MAINT> and I<BLEAD-FINAL>
890 releases, but for I<BLEAD-POINT> releases sometimes the best you can do is
891 to plead with people on IRC to test stuff on their platforms, fire away,
892 and then hope for the best.
895 =head3 upload to PAUSE
897 Once smoking is okay, upload it to PAUSE. This is the point of no return.
898 If anything goes wrong after this point, you will need to re-prepare
899 a new release with a new minor version or RC number.
901 https://pause.perl.org/
903 (Login, then select 'Upload a file to CPAN')
905 If your workstation is not connected to a high-bandwidth,
906 high-reliability connection to the Internet, you should probably use the
907 "GET URL" feature (rather than "HTTP UPLOAD") to have PAUSE retrieve the
908 new release from wherever you put it for testers to find it. This will
909 eliminate anxious gnashing of teeth while you wait to see if your
910 15 megabyte HTTP upload successfully completes across your slow, twitchy
911 cable modem. You can make use of your home directory on dromedary for
912 this purpose: F<http://users.perl5.git.perl.org/~USERNAME> maps to
913 F</home/USERNAME/public_html>, where F<USERNAME> is your login account
914 on dromedary. I<Remember>: if your upload is partially successful, you
915 may need to contact a PAUSE administrator or even bump the version of perl.
917 Upload both the .gz and .bz2 versions of the tarball.
919 Do not proceed any further until you are sure that your tarballs are on
920 CPAN. Check your authors directory on one of the "fast" CPAN mirrors
921 (e.g., cpan.hexten.net
922 or cpan.cpantesters.org) to confirm that your uploads have been successful.
924 =for checklist skip RC
926 =head3 wait for indexing
928 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC>
930 Wait until you receive notification emails from the PAUSE indexer
931 confirming that your uploads have been received. IMPORTANT -- you will
932 probably get an email that indexing has failed, due to module permissions.
933 This is considered normal.
938 Now that you've shipped the new perl release to PAUSE, it's
939 time to publish the tag you created earlier to the public git repo (e.g.):
941 $ git push origin tag v5.11.0
943 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT
945 =head3 disarm patchlevel.h
947 I<You MUST SKIP this step for BLEAD-POINT release>
949 Disarm the F<patchlevel.h> change; for example,
951 static const char * const local_patches[] = {
954 PERL_GIT_UNPUSHED_COMMITS /* do not remove this line */
956 Be sure to commit your change:
958 $ git commit -m 'disarm RCnnn bump' patchlevel.h
959 $ git push origin ....
963 =head3 announce to p5p
965 Mail p5p to announce your new release, with a quote you prepared earlier.
967 Use the template at Porting/release_announcement_template.txt
969 =head3 update epigraphs.pod
971 Add your quote to F<Porting/epigraphs.pod> and commit it.
972 Your release announcement will probably not have reached the web-visible
973 archives yet, so you won't be able to include the customary link to the
974 release announcement yet.
976 =head3 blog about your epigraph
978 If you have a blog, please consider writing an entry in your blog explaining
979 why you chose that particular quote for your epigraph.
981 =for checklist skip RC
983 =head3 Module::CoreList nagging
985 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC>
987 Remind the current maintainer of C<Module::CoreList> to push a new release
990 =for checklist skip RC
994 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC>
996 Create a new perldelta.
1002 Confirm that you have a clean checkout with no local changes.
1006 Run F<Porting/new-perldelta.pl>
1010 Run the C<git add> commands it outputs to add new and modified files.
1014 Verify that the build still works, by running C<./Configure> and
1015 C<make test_porting>. (On Win32, run C<nmake> and
1016 C<nmake test TEST_FILES="porting\*.t ..\lib\diagnostics.t">.)
1020 If F<t/porting/podcheck.t> spots errors in the new F<pod/perldelta.pod>,
1021 run C<./perl -MTestInit t/porting/podcheck.t | less> for more detail.
1022 Skip to the end of its test output to see the options it offers you.
1026 When C<make test_porting> passes, commit the new perldelta.
1030 At this point you may want to compare the commit with a previous bump to
1031 see if they look similar. See commit e3c71926d3 for an example of a
1032 previous version bump.
1034 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT MAINT RC
1038 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC, BLEAD-POINT, MAINT>
1040 If this was a BLEAD-FINAL release (i.e. the first release of a new maint
1041 series, 5.x.0 where x is even), then bump the version in the blead branch
1042 in git, e.g. 5.12.0 to 5.13.0.
1044 First, add a new feature bundle to F<regen/feature.pl>, initially by just
1045 copying the exiting entry, and bump the file's $VERSION (after the __END__
1048 "5.14" => [qw(switch say state unicode_strings)],
1049 + "5.15" => [qw(switch say state unicode_strings)],
1051 Run F<regen/feature.pl> to propagate the changes to F<lib/feature.pm>.
1053 Then follow the section L<"Bump the version number"> to bump the version
1054 in the remaining files and test and commit.
1057 =head3 clean build and test
1059 Run a clean build and test to make sure nothing obvious is broken.
1061 In particular, F<Porting/perldelta_template.pod> is intentionally exempted
1062 from podchecker tests, to avoid false positives about placeholder text.
1063 However, once it's copied to F<pod/perldelta.pod> the contents can now
1064 cause test failures. Problems should resolved by doing one of the
1071 Replace placeholder text with correct text.
1075 If the problem is from a broken placeholder link, you can add it to the
1076 array C<@perldelta_ignore_links> in F<t/porting/podcheck.t>. Lines
1077 containing such links should be marked with C<XXX> so that they get
1078 cleaned up before the next release.
1082 Following the instructions output by F<t/porting/podcheck.t> on how to
1083 update its exceptions database.
1089 Finally, push any commits done above.
1091 $ git push origin ....
1093 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT MAINT RC
1095 =head3 create maint branch
1097 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC, BLEAD-POINT, MAINT>
1099 If this was a BLEAD-FINAL release (i.e. the first release of a new maint
1100 series, 5.x.0 where x is even), then create a new maint branch based on
1101 the commit tagged as the current release.
1103 Assuming you're using git 1.7.x or newer:
1105 $ git checkout -b maint-5.12 v5.12.0
1106 $ git push origin -u maint-5.12
1109 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT MAINT RC
1111 =head3 make the maint branch available in the APC
1113 Clone the new branch into /srv/gitcommon/branches on camel so the APC will
1114 receive its changes.
1116 $ git clone --branch maint-5.14 /gitroot/perl.git \
1117 ? /srv/gitcommon/branches/perl-5.14.x
1118 $ chmod -R g=u /srv/gitcommon/branches/perl-5.14.x
1120 And nag the sysadmins to make this directory available via rsync.
1122 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT RC
1124 =head3 copy perldelta.pod to other branches
1126 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC, BLEAD-POINT>
1128 Copy the perldelta.pod for this release into the other branches; for
1131 $ cp -i ../5.10.x/pod/perldelta.pod pod/perl5101delta.pod # for example
1132 $ git add pod/perl5101delta.pod
1134 Edit F<pod/perl.pod> to add an entry for the file, e.g.:
1136 perl5101delta Perl changes in version 5.10.1
1138 Then rebuild various files:
1140 $ perl pod/buildtoc --build-all
1144 $ git commit -a -m 'add perlXXXdelta'
1147 =head3 update perlhist.pod in other branches
1149 Make sure any recent F<pod/perlhist.pod> entries are copied to
1150 F<perlhist.pod> on other branches
1156 =head3 bump RT version number
1158 Log into http://rt.perl.org/ and check whether the new version is in the RT
1159 fields C<Perl Version> and C<Fixed In>. The easiest way to determine this is
1160 to go to L<https://rt.perl.org/rt3/Search/Build.html> and click on the drop
1161 downs next to the C<Perl Version> and C<Fixed In> labels.
1163 If the new version is not listed there, send an email to C<perlbug-admin at
1164 perl.org> requesting this.
1168 I<You MUST RETIRE to your preferred PUB, CAFE or SEASIDE VILLA for some
1169 much-needed rest and relaxation>.
1171 Thanks for releasing perl!
1174 =head2 Building a release - the day after
1176 =head3 link announcement in epigraphs.pod
1178 Add, to your quote to F<Porting/epigraphs.pod>, a link to the release
1179 announcement in the web-visible mailing list archive. Commit it.
1181 =head3 check tarball availability
1183 Check various website entries to make sure the that tarball has appeared
1184 and is properly indexed:
1190 Check your author directory under L<http://www.cpan.org/authors/id/>
1191 to ensure that the tarballs are available on the website.
1195 Check C</src> on CPAN (on a fast mirror) to ensure that links to
1196 the new tarballs have appeared. There should be links in C</src/5.0>
1197 (which is accumulating all new versions), links in C</src> (which shows
1198 only the latest version on each branch), and an appropriate mention in
1199 C</src/README.html> (which describes the latest versions).
1201 These links should appear automatically, some hours after upload.
1202 If they don't, or the C<README.html> description is inadequate,
1203 ask Ask <ask@perl.org>.
1207 Check L<http://www.cpan.org/src/> to ensure that the C</src> updates
1208 have been correctly mirrored to the website.
1209 If they haven't, ask Ask <ask@perl.org>.
1213 Check L<http://search.cpan.org> to see if it has indexed the distribution.
1214 It should be visible at a URL like C<http://search.cpan.org/dist/perl-5.10.1/>.
1218 =for checklist skip RC
1220 =head3 update dev.perl.org
1222 I<You MUST SKIP this step for a RC release>
1224 In your C<perlorg> repository, link to the new release. For a new
1225 latest-maint release, edit F<docs/shared/tpl/stats.html>. Otherwise,
1226 edit F<docs/dev/perl5/index.html>.
1228 Then make a pull request to Leo Lapworth. If this fails for some reason
1229 and you cannot cajole anybody else into submitting that change, you can
1230 mail Leo as last resort.
1232 This repository can be found on L<github|https://github.com/perlorg/perlweb>.
1239 http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2009-05/msg00608.html,
1240 plus a whole bunch of other sources, including private correspondence.