An update to the pod is in order for the PERL_VMS_POSIX_EXIT logical

[perl5.git] / Porting / release_managers_guide.pod

=head1 NAME

release_managers_guide - Releasing a new version of perl 5.x

XXX as of Jul 2009, this file is still a work-in-progress - DAPM

=head1 SYNOPSIS

This document describes the series of tasks required - some automatic, some
manual - to produce a perl release of some description, be that a snaphot,
release candidate, or final release.

The release process is primarily executed by the current pumpking.

This document both helps as a check-list for the pumpking and is
a base for ideas on how the various tasks could be automated or 
distributed.

The outline of a release cycle is as follows:

    (5.10.1 is released, and post-release action have been done)

    ...time passes...

    an occasional snapshot is released, that still identifies itself as
        5.10.1

    ...time passes...

    a few weeks before the release, a number of steps are performed,
        including bumping the version to 5.10.2
    
    perl-5.10.2-RC1 is released

    perl-5.10.2 is released

    post-release actions are performed, including creating new
        perl5103delta.pod

    ... the cycle continues ...

=head1 DETAILS


=head2 Building a snapshot

A snapshot is intended to encourage in-depth testing from time-to-time,
for example after a key point in the stabilisation of a branch. It
requires less steps than a full release, and the version number of perl in
the tarball will usually still be the old one.

=over 4

=item *

As there are no regular smokes [ XXX yet - please fix?] find out about the
state of VMS. If it's bad, think again.

=item *

Rebuild META.yml:

    $ rm META.yml
    $ make META.yml

and commit it if it's changed.

=item *

Check that the manifest is sorted and correct:

    $ make distclean 
    $ perl Porting/manisort
    $ perl Porting/manicheck

=item *

If this is a release candidate or final release, add an entry to
F<pod/perlhist.pod> with the current date, e.g.

          5.8.9-RC1     2008-Nov-10

Make sure the correct pumpking is listed, and if this your first time,
append your name to C<THE KEEPERS OF THE PUMPKIN>.

=item *

Build perl, then make sure it passes its own test suite, and installs.

=item *

Create a tarball. Use the C<-s> option to specify a suitable suffix for
the tarball and directory name:

    $ cd root/of/perl/tree
    $ git clean -xdf            #  make sure perl and git agree on files

    $ perl Porting/makerel -s `git describe` # for a snapshot
    $ perl Porting/makerel -s RC1            # for a release candidate
    $ perl Porting/makerel                   # for a final release

This creates the  directory F<../perl-x.y.z-RC1> or similar, copies all
the MANIFEST files into it, sets the correct permissions on them,
adds DOS line endings to some, then tars it up as
F<../perl-x.y.z-RC1.tar.gz>.

XXX if we go for extra tags and branches stuff, then add the extra details
here

=item *

Copy the tarball to a web server somewhere you have access to.

=item *

Download the tarball to some other machine (for a release candidate, to two or
more servers: IRC is good for this).

=item *

Check that C<./Configure -des && make all test> works in one place.

=item *

Check that C<./Configure ... && make all test_harness install> works.

=item *

Check that the output of C<perl -v> and C<perl -V> are as expected,
especially as regards version numbers, patch and/or RC levels, and @INC
paths. Note that the results may be different without a F<.git/> directory,
which is why you should test from the tarball.

=item *

Bootstrap the CPAN client on the clean install.

=item *

Install CPANPLUS.
XXX pick something new; this is now bundled

=item *

Bootstrap the CPANPLUS client.

=item *

Install an XS module.

=item *

If all is well, announce the snaphot to p5p. (For a release candidate,
instead follow the further steps described later.)

=back

=head2  Actions prior to the first release candidate

A week or two before the first release candidate, there are some additional
tasks you should perform (actually, some of these should be done regularly
anyway, but they definitely need doing now):

=over 4

=item *

Check F<Maintainers.pl> for consistency; both these commands should
produce no output:

    perl Porting/Maintainers --checkmani
    perl Porting/Maintainers --checkmani lib/ ext/

=item *

Ensure that dual-life CPAN modules are synchronised with CPAN.  Basically,
run the following:

    ./perl -Ilib Porting/core-cpan-diff -a -o /tmp/corediffs

to see any inconsistencies between the core and CPAN versions of distros,
then fix the core, or cajole CPAN authors as appropriate. See also the
C<-d> and C<-v> options for more detail.  You'll probably want to use the
C<-c cachedir> option to avoid repeated CPAN downloads.

To see which core distro versions differ from the current CPAN versions:

    ./perl -Ilib Porting/core-cpan-diff -x -a

=item *

Ensure dual-life CPAN modules are stable, which comes down to:

    for each module that fails its regression tests on $current
        did it fail identically on $previous?
        if yes, "SEP" (Somebody Else's Problem)
        else work out why it failed (a bisect is useful for this)

    attempt to group failure causes

    for each failure cause
        is that a regression?
        if yes, figure out how to fix it
            (more code? revert the code that broke it)
        else
            (presumably) it's relying on something un-or-under-documented
            should the existing behaviour stay?
                yes - goto "regression"
                no - note it in perldelta as a significant bugfix
                (also, try to inform the module's author)

=item *

Similarly, monitor the smoking of core tests, and try to fix.

=item *

Run F<Porting/cmpVERSION.pl> to compare the current source tree with the
previous version to check for for modules that have identical version
numbers but different contents, e.g.:

     $ cd ~/some-perl-root
     $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/cmpVERSION.pl -xd ~/my_perl-tarballs/perl-5.10.0 .

then bump the version numbers of any non-dual-life modules that have
changed since the previous release, but which still have the old version
number. If there is more than one maintenance branch (e.g. 5.8.x, 5.10.x),
then compare against both.

Note that some of the files listed may be generated (e.g. copied from ext/
to lib/, or a script like lib/lib_pm.PL is run to produce lib/lib.pm);
make sure you edit the correct file!

Once all version numbers have been bumped, re-run the checks.

Then run again without the -x option, to check that dual-life modules are
also sensible.


=item *

Get perldelta in a mostly finished state.
XXX expand

=item *

Bump the perl version number (e.g. from 5.10.0 to 5.10.1).

There is a tool to semi-automate this process. It works in two stages.
First, it generates a list of suggested changes, which you review and
edit; then you feed this list back and it applies the edits. So, first
scan the source dir looking for likely  candidates:

    $ Porting/bump-perl-version -s 5.10.0 5.10.1 > /tmp/scan

This produces a file containing a list of suggested edits, eg:

    NetWare/Makefile

       89: -MODULE_DESC     = "Perl 5.10.0 for NetWare"
           +MODULE_DESC     = "Perl 5.10.1 for NetWare"

i.e. in the file F<NetWare/Makefile>, line 89 would be changed as shown.
Review the file carefully, and delete any -/+ line pairs that you don't
want changing. Remember that this tool is largely just grepping for '5.10.0'
or whatever, so it will generate false positives. Be careful not change
text like "this was fixed in 5.10.0"! Then run:

    $ Porting/bump-perl-version -u < /tmp/scan

which will update all the files shown; then commit the changes.

Be particularly careful with F<INSTALL>, which contains a mixture of
C<5.10.0>-type strings, some of which need bumping on every release, and
some of which need to be left. Also note that this tool currently only
performs a single change per line, so in particular, this line in
README.vms needs special handling:

    rename perl-5^.10^.1.dir perl-5_10_1.dir

=item *

Update the F<Changes> file to contain the git log command which would show
all the changes in this release. You will need assume the existence of a
not-yet created tag for the forthcoming release; e.g.

    git log ... perl-5.10.0..perl5.12.0

Due to warts in the perforce-to-git migration, some branches require extra
exclusions to avoid other branches being pulled in. Make sure you have the
correct incantation: replace the not-yet-created tag with C<HEAD> and see
if git log produces roughly the right number of commits across roughly the
right time period.

=item *

Check some more build configurations, e.g.

     -Duseshrplib -Dd_dosuid
     make suidperl

Check that setuid installs works (for < 5.11.0 only).
XXX any other configs?

=item *

Make sure you have a PAUSE account suitable for uploading a perl release.
If you don't have a PAUSE account, then request one:

    https://pause.perl.org/pause/query?ACTION=request_id

Check that your account is allowed to upload perl distros: goto
https://pause.perl.org/, login, then select 'upload file to CPAN'; there
should be a "For pumpkings only: Send a CC" tickbox.  If not, ask Andreas
to add your ID to the list of people allowed to upload something called
perl.

=item *

Update F<AUTHORS>, using the C<Porting/checkAUTHORS.pl> script, and if
necessary, update the script to include new alias mappings.

XXX This script is currently broken (7/2009). It needs updating to work
with git and a lack of Changes files.

=back

=head2  Building a release candidate

(At this point you should already have performed the actions described in
L</"Actions prior to the first release candidate">.)

=over 4

=item *

Re-read the perldelta to try to find any embarrassing typos and thinkos;
remove any C<TODO> or C<XXX> flags; and run through pod and spell
checkers.   [XXX show how]

=item *

Update patchlevel.h to add a C<-RC1>-or-whatever string; or, if this is a
final release, remove it.  [ XXX how now?? see 34813 for old way ]

=item *

Update C<Module::Corelist>.
[XXX add how: presumably Porting/corelist.pl ]
but we need to fix that: 
it has been holding perforce revisions for releases, but we can't know
hashes in advance for git. We need to agree a plan to move to git tags]

=item *

Follow the instructions in the section L</"Building a snapshot">, then
carry on with the extra steps that follow here.

=item *

Wait for the smoke tests to catch up with the commit which this release is
based on (or at least the last commit of any consequence).

Then check that the smoke tests pass (particularly on Win32). If not, go
back and fix things.


=item *

Once smoking is okay, upload it to PAUSE. This is the point of no return.

XXX check whether need to upload .bz2,.meta, .readme too?


=item *

Mail p5p to announce it, with a quote you prepared earlier.

=item *

Wait 24 hours or so, then post the announcement to use.perl.org.

=back


=head2  Making a final release

At this point you should have a working release candidate with few or no
changes since.

It's essentially the same procedure as for making a release candidate, but
with a whole bunch of extra post-release steps.

=over 4

=item *

Follow the same steps as for making a release candidate, then

=item *

Ask Jarkko to update http://www.cpan.org/src/README.html and
Rafael to update http://dev.perl.org/perl5/


=item *

create a tag [XXX and branches and stuff?]
[ XXX expand this ]

=item *

[ XXX disarm any patchlevel.h stuff ??? ]

=item *

Create a new empty perlNNNdelta.pod file for the current release + 1;
see F<Porting/how_to_write_a_perldelta.pod>.
[ XXX Perhaps we should have an empty template file we can copy in. ]

In addition, add entries to the following files:

    MANIFEST
    pod.lst         (add new entry as 'D', and unmark previous entry as 'D')
    pod/perl.pod
    win32/pod.mak   (add entries for .pod, .man, .html, .tex)
    vms/descrip_mms.template (also bump the perldelta.pod: entry)

and change perlNNNdelta references to the new version in these files

    INSTALL
    win32/Makefile.mk
    win32/Makefile
    Makefile.SH
    README

Also, edit the previous delta file to change the C<NAME> from C<perldelta>
to C<perlNNNdelta>.

These two lists of files probably aren't exhaustive; do a recursive grep
on the previous filename to look for suitable candidates.

(see 16410843ea for an example).

=item *

If this was  major release, bump the version, e.g. 5.12.0 to 5.13.0
[ XXX probably more complex stuff to do, including perldelta,
C<lib/feature.pm> ]

=item *

Copy the perlNNNdelta.pod for this release into the other branches, and
remember to update these files on those branches too:

    MANIFEST
    pod.lst
    pod/perl.pod
    vms/descrip_mms.template
    win32/pod.mak

(see fc5be80860 for an example).

=item *

Make sure any recent F<pod/perlhist.pod> entries are copied to
F<perlhist.pod> on other branches; typically the RC* and final entries,
e.g.

          5.8.9-RC1     2008-Nov-10
          5.8.9-RC2     2008-Dec-06
          5.8.9         2008-Dec-14

=back

=head1 SOURCE

Based on
http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2009-05/msg00608.html,
plus a whole bunch of other sources, including private correspondence.

=cut