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 KE<0xf6>nig 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.
312 The line in F<INSTALL> about "is binary incompatible with" requires a
313 correct choice of earlier version to declare incompatibility with.
315 Also note that this tool
316 currently only detects a single substitution per line: so in particular,
317 this line in README.vms needs special handling:
319 rename perl-5^.10^.1.dir perl-5_10_1.dir
321 When doing a blead release, also make sure the C<PERL_API_*> constants in
322 F<patchlevel.h> are in sync with the version you're releasing, unless you're
323 absolutely sure the release you're about to make is 100% binary compatible
324 to an earlier release. When releasing a stable perl version, the C<PERL_API_*>
325 constants C<MUST NOT> be changed as we aim to guarantee binary compatibility
332 B<review the delta carefully>
334 $ git commit -a -m 'Bump the perl version in various places for 5.x.y'
336 When the version number is bumped, you should also update Module::CoreList (as
337 described below in L<"Building a release - on the day">) to reflect the new
342 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
344 Review and update INSTALL to account for the change in version number;
345 in particular, the "Coexistence with earlier versions of perl 5" section.
347 Be particularly careful with the section "Upgrading from 5.X.Y or earlier". For
348 stable releases, this needs to refer to the last release in the previous
349 development cycle. For blead releases, it needs to refer to the previous blead
354 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
356 Update the F<Changes> file to contain the git log command which would show
357 all the changes in this release. You will need assume the existence of a
358 not-yet created tag for the forthcoming release; e.g.
360 git log ... perl-5.10.0..perl-5.12.0
362 Due to warts in the perforce-to-git migration, some branches require extra
363 exclusions to avoid other branches being pulled in. Make sure you have the
364 correct incantation: replace the not-yet-created tag with C<HEAD> and see
365 if C<git log> produces roughly the right number of commits across roughly the
366 right time period (you may find C<git log --pretty=oneline | wc> useful).
370 Check some more build configurations. The check that setuid builds and
371 installs is for < 5.11.0 only.
373 $ sh Configure -Dprefix=/tmp/perl-5.x.y -Uinstallusrbinperl \
374 -Duseshrplib -Dd_dosuid
376 $ LD_LIBRARY_PATH=`pwd` make test # or similar for useshrplib
379 $ su -c 'make install'
380 $ ls -l .../bin/sperl
381 -rws--x--x 1 root root 69974 2009-08-22 21:55 .../bin/sperl
383 (Then delete the installation directory.)
385 XXX think of other configurations that need testing.
389 I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
391 L<perlport> has a section currently named I<Supported Platforms> that
392 indicates which platforms are known to build in the current release.
393 If necessary update the list and the indicated version number.
397 =head2 Building a release - on the day
399 This section describes the actions required to make a release (or snapshot
400 etc) that are performed on the actual day.
406 Review all the items in the previous section,
407 L<"Building a release - advance actions"> to ensure they are all done and
412 For a blead release, if you did not bump the perl version number as part
413 of I<advance actions>, do that now.
417 I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
419 Finalize the perldelta. In particular, fill in the Acknowledgements
420 section. You can generate a list of contributors with checkAUTHORS.pl.
423 $ git log --pretty=fuller v5.13.2..HEAD | \
424 perl Porting/checkAUTHORS.pl --who -
426 Re-read the perldelta to try to find any embarrassing typos and thinkos;
427 remove any C<TODO> or C<XXX> flags; update the "Known Problems" section
428 with any serious issues for which fixes are not going to happen now; and
429 run through pod and spell checkers, e.g.
431 $ podchecker -warnings -warnings pod/perldelta.pod
432 $ spell pod/perldelta.pod
434 Also, you may want to generate and view an HTML version of it to check
437 $ perl pod/pod2html pod/perldelta.pod > /tmp/perldelta.html
439 Another good HTML preview option is http://search.cpan.org/pod2html
441 If you make changes, be sure to commit them.
445 Make sure you have a gitwise-clean perl directory (no modified files,
446 unpushed commits etc):
453 If not already built, Configure and build perl so that you have a Makefile
456 $ ./Configure -Dusedevel -des && make
460 Check that files managed by F<regen.pl> and friends are up to date. From
461 within your working directory:
468 If any of the files managed by F<regen.pl> have changed, then you should
469 re-make perl to check that it's okay, then commit the updated versions:
471 $ git commit -a -m 'make regen; make regen_perly'
473 (XXX regen might be a problem depending on the bison version available.
474 We need to get a wizard to give better instructions on what to do or not do.)
478 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
480 Update C<Module::CoreList> with module version data for the new release.
482 Note that if this is a maint release, you should run the following actions
483 from the maint branch, but commit the C<CoreList.pm> changes in
484 I<blead> and subsequently cherry-pick it. XXX need a better example
486 F<corelist.pl> uses ftp.funet.fi to verify information about dual-lived
487 modules on CPAN. It can use a full, local CPAN mirror or fall back
488 to C<wget> or C<curl> to fetch only package metadata remotely. (If you're
489 on Win32, then installing Cygwin is one way to have commands like C<wget>
490 and C<curl> available.)
492 (If you'd prefer to have a full CPAN mirror, see
493 http://www.cpan.org/misc/cpan-faq.html#How_mirror_CPAN)
495 Then change to your perl checkout, and if necessary,
499 If this not the first update for this version (e.g. if it was updated
500 when the version number was originally bumped), first edit
501 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm> to delete the existing
502 entries for this version from the C<%released> and C<%version> hashes:
503 they will have a key like C<5.010001> for 5.10.1.
505 XXX the edit-in-place functionality of Porting/corelist.pl should
506 be fixed to handle this automatically.
508 Then, If you have a local CPAN mirror, run:
510 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/corelist.pl ~/my-cpan-mirror
514 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/corelist.pl cpan
516 This will chug for a while, possibly reporting various warnings about
517 badly-indexed CPAN modules unrelated to the modules actually in core.
518 Assuming all goes well, it will update
519 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm>.
521 Check that file over carefully:
523 $ git diff dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm
525 If necessary, bump C<$VERSION> (there's no need to do this for
526 every RC; in RC1, bump the version to a new clean number that will
527 appear in the final release, and leave as-is for the later RCs and final).
529 Edit the version number in the new C<< 'Module::CoreList' => 'X.YZ' >>
530 entry, as that is likely to reflect the previous version number.
532 Also edit Module::CoreList's new version number in its F<Changes> file and
533 in its F<META.yml> file.
535 In addition, if this is a final release (rather than a release candidate):
541 Update this version's entry in the C<%released> hash with today's date.
545 Make sure that the script has correctly updated the C<CAVEATS> section
549 Finally, commit the new version of Module::CoreList:
550 (unless this is for maint; in which case commit it blead first, then
551 cherry-pick it back).
553 $ git commit -m 'Update Module::CoreList for 5.x.y' dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm
557 Check that the manifest is sorted and correct:
561 $ git clean -xdf # This shouldn't be necessary if distclean is correct
562 $ perl Porting/manicheck
565 XXX manifest _sorting_ is now checked with make test_porting
567 Commit MANIFEST if it has changed:
569 $ git commit -m 'Update MANIFEST' MANIFEST
573 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
575 Add an entry to F<pod/perlhist.pod> with the current date, e.g.:
577 David 5.10.1-RC1 2009-Aug-06
579 Make sure that the correct pumpking is listed in the left-hand column, and
580 if this is the first release under the stewardship of a new pumpking, make
581 sure that his or her name is listed in the section entitled
582 C<THE KEEPERS OF THE PUMPKIN>.
584 Be sure to commit your changes:
586 $ git commit -m 'add new release to perlhist' pod/perlhist.pod
590 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT or BLEAD release>
592 Update F<patchlevel.h> to add a C<-RC1>-or-whatever string; or, if this is
593 a final release, remove it. For example:
595 static const char * const local_patches[] = {
598 PERL_GIT_UNPUSHED_COMMITS /* do not remove this line */
600 Be sure to commit your change:
602 $ git commit -m 'bump version to RCnnn' patchlevel.h
606 Build perl, then make sure it passes its own test suite, and installs:
609 $ ./Configure -des -Dprefix=/tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest
611 # or if it's an odd-numbered version:
612 $ ./Configure -des -Dusedevel -Dprefix=/tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest
618 Check that the output of C</tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest/bin/perl -v> and
619 C</tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest/bin/perl -V> are as expected,
620 especially as regards version numbers, patch and/or RC levels, and @INC
621 paths. Note that as they have been been built from a git working
622 directory, they will still identify themselves using git tags and
625 Then delete the temporary installation.
629 Push all your recent commits:
631 $ git push origin ....
636 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
638 Tag the release (e.g.):
640 $ git tag v5.11.0 -m'First release of the v5.11 series!'
642 (Adjust the syntax appropriately if you're working on Win32, i.e. use
643 C<-m "..."> rather than C<-m'...'>.)
645 It is VERY important that from this point forward, you not push
646 your git changes to the Perl master repository. If anything goes
647 wrong before you publish your newly-created tag, you can delete
648 and recreate it. Once you push your tag, we're stuck with it
649 and you'll need to use a new version number for your release.
653 Create a tarball. Use the C<-s> option to specify a suitable suffix for
654 the tarball and directory name:
656 $ cd root/of/perl/tree
658 $ git clean -xdf # make sure perl and git agree on files
659 $ git status # and there's nothing lying around
661 $ perl Porting/makerel -b -s `git describe` # for a snapshot
662 $ perl Porting/makerel -b -s RC1 # for a release candidate
663 $ perl Porting/makerel -b # for a final release
665 This creates the directory F<../perl-x.y.z-RC1> or similar, copies all
666 the MANIFEST files into it, sets the correct permissions on them,
667 adds DOS line endings to some, then tars it up as
668 F<../perl-x.y.z-RC1.tar.gz>. With C<-b>, it also creates a C<tar.bz2> file.
670 If you're getting your tarball suffixed with -uncommitted and you're sure
671 your changes were all committed, you can override the suffix with:
673 $ perl Porting/makerel -b -s ''
675 XXX if we go for extra tags and branches stuff, then add the extra details
680 Clean up the temporary directory, e.g.
682 $ rm -rf ../perl-x.y.z-RC1
686 Copy the tarballs (.gz and possibly .bz2) to a web server somewhere you
691 Download the tarball to some other machine. For a release candidate,
692 you really want to test your tarball on two or more different platforms
693 and architectures. The #p5p IRC channel on irc.perl.org is a good place
694 to find willing victims.
698 Check that basic configuration and tests work on each test machine:
700 $ ./Configure -des && make all test
704 Check that the test harness and install work on each test machine:
707 $ ./Configure -des -Dprefix=/install/path && make all test_harness install
712 Check that the output of C<perl -v> and C<perl -V> are as expected,
713 especially as regards version numbers, patch and/or RC levels, and @INC
716 Note that the results may be different without a F<.git/> directory,
717 which is why you should test from the tarball.
721 Run the Installation Verification Procedure utility:
725 All tests successful.
730 Compare the pathnames of all installed files with those of the previous
731 release (i.e. against the last installed tarball on this branch which you
732 have previously verified using this same procedure). In particular, look
733 for files in the wrong place, or files no longer included which should be.
734 For example, suppose the about-to-be-released version is 5.10.1 and the
737 cd installdir-5.10.0/
738 find . -type f | perl -pe's/5\.10\.0/5.10.1/g' | sort > /tmp/f1
739 cd installdir-5.10.1/
740 find . -type f | sort > /tmp/f2
745 Bootstrap the CPAN client on the clean install:
747 $ bin/perl -MCPAN -e'shell'
749 (Use C<... -e "shell"> instead on Win32. You probably also need a set of
750 Unix command-line tools available for CPAN to function correctly without
751 Perl alternatives like LWP installed. Cygwin is an obvious choice.)
755 Try installing a popular CPAN module that's reasonably complex and that
756 has dependencies; for example:
761 Check that your perl can run this:
763 $ bin/perl -lwe 'use Inline C => "int f() { return 42;} "; print f'
767 (Use C<... -lwe "use ..."> instead on Win32.)
771 Bootstrap the CPANPLUS client on the clean install:
775 (Again, on Win32 you'll need something like Cygwin installed, but make sure
776 that you don't end up with its various F<bin/cpan*> programs being found on
777 the PATH before those of the Perl that you're trying to test.)
781 Install an XS module, for example:
785 $ bin/perl -MDBI -e 1
790 I<If you're building a SNAPSHOT, you should STOP HERE>
794 Check that the L<perlbug> utility works. Try the following:
798 Subject: test bug report
799 Local perl administrator [yourself]:
805 Action (Send/Display/Edit/Subject/Save to File): f
806 Name of file to save message in [perlbug.rep]:
807 Action (Send/Display/Edit/Subject/Save to File): q
809 and carefully examine the output (in F<perlbug.rep]>), especially
810 the "Locally applied patches" section. If everything appears okay, then
811 delete the file, and try it again, this time actually submitting the bug
812 report. Check that it shows up, then remember to close it!
816 Wait for the smoke tests to catch up with the commit which this release is
817 based on (or at least the last commit of any consequence).
819 Then check that the smoke tests pass (particularly on Win32). If not, go
825 Once smoking is okay, upload it to PAUSE. This is the point of no return.
826 If anything goes wrong after this point, you will need to re-prepare
827 a new release with a new minor version or RC number.
829 https://pause.perl.org/
831 (Login, then select 'Upload a file to CPAN')
833 If your workstation is not connected to a high-bandwidth,
834 high-reliability connection to the Internet, you should probably use the
835 "GET URL" feature (rather than "HTTP UPLOAD") to have PAUSE retrieve the
836 new release from wherever you put it for testers to find it. This will
837 eliminate anxious gnashing of teeth while you wait to see if your
838 15 megabyte HTTP upload successfully completes across your slow, twitchy
839 cable modem. You can make use of your home directory on dromedary for
840 this purpose: F<http://users.perl5.git.perl.org/~USERNAME> maps to
841 F</home/USERNAME/public_html>, where F<USERNAME> is your login account
842 on dromedary. I<Remember>: if your upload is partially successful, you
843 may need to contact a PAUSE administrator or even bump the version of perl.
845 Upload both the .gz and .bz2 versions of the tarball.
847 Wait until you receive notification emails from the PAUSE indexer
848 confirming that your uploads have been received. IMPORTANT -- you will
849 probably get an email that indexing has failed, due to module permissions.
850 This is considered normal.
852 Do not proceed any further until you are sure that your tarballs are on
853 CPAN. Check your authors directory on one of the "fast" CPAN mirrors
854 (e.g., cpan.hexten.net
855 or cpan.cpantesters.org) to confirm that your uploads have been successful.
859 Now that you've shipped the new perl release to PAUSE, it's
860 time to publish the tag you created earlier to the public git repo (e.g.):
862 $ git push origin tag v5.11.0
866 Disarm the F<patchlevel.h> change; for example,
868 static const char * const local_patches[] = {
871 PERL_GIT_UNPUSHED_COMMITS /* do not remove this line */
873 Be sure to commit your change:
875 $ git commit -m 'disarm RCnnn bump' patchlevel.h
876 $ git push origin ....
881 Mail p5p to announce your new release, with a quote you prepared earlier.
885 Add your quote to F<Porting/epigraphs.pod> and commit it.
889 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC>
891 Remind the current maintainer of C<Module::CoreList> to push a new release
896 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC>
898 Create a new perldelta.
900 First, update the F<.gitignore> file in the F<pod/> folder to ignore the next
901 release's generated F<pod/perlNNNdelta.pod> file rather than this releases's
902 one which we are about to set in stone (where NNN is the perl version number
903 without the dots. i.e. 5135 for 5.13.5).
905 Then, move the existing F<pod/perldelta.pod> to F<pod/perlNNNdelta.pod>.
907 Now edit the moved delta file to change the C<NAME> from C<perldelta> to
910 Then create a new empty perldelta.pod file for the new release; see
911 F<Porting/how_to_write_a_perldelta.pod>.
913 You should be able to do this by just copying in a skeleton template and
914 then doing a quick fix up of the version numbers.
916 Then commit the move and the new file.
918 For example, assuming you just released 5.10.1:
920 $ git mv pod/perldelta.pod pod/perl5101delta.pod
921 $ (edit pod/perl5101delta.pod to retitle)
922 $ git add pod/perl5101delta.pod
924 $ cp -i Porting/perldelta_template.pod pod/perldelta.pod
925 $ (edit pod/perldelta.pod)
926 $ git add pod/perldelta.pod
927 $ git commit -m 'create perldelta for 5.10.2'
929 Now you need to update various tables of contents, most of which can be
930 generated automatically.
932 Edit F<pod.lst>: add the new entry, flagged as 'd', and unflag the previous
933 entry from being 'd'; for example:
935 -d perl5101delta Perl changes in version 5.10.1
936 +d perl5102delta Perl changes in version 5.10.2
937 + perl5101delta Perl changes in version 5.10.1
939 Run C<perl pod/buildtoc --build-all> to update the F<perldelta> version in
946 vms/descrip_mms.template
951 Then manually edit (F<vms/descrip_mms.template> to bump the version
952 in the following entry:
954 [.pod]perl5101delta.pod : [.pod]perldelta.pod
956 XXX this previous step needs to fixed to automate it in pod/buildtoc.
960 $ git commit -a -m 'update TOC for perlNNNdelta'
962 At this point you may want to compare the commit with a previous bump to
963 see if they look similar. See commit 2b6e134265 for an example of a
964 previous version bump.
968 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC, BLEAD>
970 If this was the first release of a new maint series, (5.x.0 where x is
971 even), then create a new maint branch based on the commit tagged as
972 the current release and bump the version in the blead branch in git,
973 e.g. 5.12.0 to 5.13.0.
975 [ XXX probably lots more stuff to do, including perldelta,
978 Assuming you're using git 1.7.x or newer:
980 $ git checkout -b maint-5.12
981 $ git push origin -u maint-5.12
985 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC, BLEAD>
987 Copy the perldelta.pod for this release into the other branches; for
990 $ cp -i ../5.10.x/pod/perldelta.pod pod/perl5101delta.pod # for example
991 $ git add pod/perl5101delta.pod
993 Edit F<pod.lst> to add an entry for the file, e.g.:
995 perl5101delta Perl changes in version 5.10.1
997 Then rebuild various files:
999 $ perl pod/buildtoc --build-all
1003 $ git commit -a -m 'add perlXXXdelta'
1007 Make sure any recent F<pod/perlhist.pod> entries are copied to
1008 F<perlhist.pod> on other branches; typically the RC* and final entries,
1011 5.8.9-RC1 2008-Nov-10
1012 5.8.9-RC2 2008-Dec-06
1017 If necessary, send an email to C<perlbug-admin at perl.org> requesting
1018 that new version numbers be added to the RT fields C<Perl Version> and
1023 I<You MUST RETIRE to your preferred PUB, CAFE or SEASIDE VILLA for some
1024 much-needed rest and relaxation>.
1026 Thanks for releasing perl!
1030 =head2 Building a release - the day after
1036 Check your author directory under L<http://www.cpan.org/authors/id/>
1037 to ensure that the tarballs are available on the website.
1041 Check C</src> on CPAN (on a fast mirror) to ensure that links to
1042 the new tarballs have appeared. There should be links in C</src/5.0>
1043 (which is accumulating all new versions), links in C</src> (which shows
1044 only the latest version on each branch), and an appropriate mention in
1045 C</src/README.html> (which describes the latest versions).
1047 These links should appear automatically, some hours after upload.
1048 If they don't, or the C<README.html> description is inadequate,
1049 ask Ask <ask@perl.org>.
1053 Check L<http://www.cpan.org/src/> to ensure that the C</src> updates
1054 have been correctly mirrored to the website.
1055 If they haven't, ask Ask <ask@perl.org>.
1059 Check L<http://search.cpan.org> to see if it has indexed the distribution.
1060 It should be visible at a URL like C<http://search.cpan.org/dist/perl-5.10.1/>.
1064 I<This step ONLY for STABLE>
1066 Ask Rafael to update L<http://dev.perl.org/perl5/>.
1073 http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2009-05/msg00608.html,
1074 plus a whole bunch of other sources, including private correspondence.