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/perlgit.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. See
220 L<http://doc.procura.nl/smoke/index.html> for a summary. See also
221 L<http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.daily-build.reports/> which has
226 I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
228 Similarly, monitor the smoking of perl for compiler warnings, and try to
233 I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
235 Get perldelta in a mostly finished state.
237 Read F<Porting/how_to_write_a_perldelta.pod>, and try to make sure that
238 every section it lists is, if necessary, populated and complete. Copy
239 edit the whole document.
243 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
245 Bump the version number (e.g. from 5.12.0 to 5.12.1).
247 For a blead release, this can happen on the day of the release. For a
248 release candidate for a stable perl, this should happen a week or two
249 before the first release candidate to allow sufficient time for testing and
250 smoking with the target version built into the perl executable. For
251 subsequent release candidates and the final release, it it not necessary to
252 bump the version further.
254 There is a tool to semi-automate this process. It works in two stages.
255 First, it generates a list of suggested changes, which you review and
256 edit; then you feed this list back and it applies the edits. So, first
257 scan the source directory looking for likely candidates. The command line
258 arguments are the old and new version numbers, and -s means scan:
260 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/bump-perl-version -s 5.10.0 5.10.1 > /tmp/scan
262 This produces a file containing a list of suggested edits, e.g.:
266 89: -MODULE_DESC = "Perl 5.10.0 for NetWare"
267 +MODULE_DESC = "Perl 5.10.1 for NetWare"
269 i.e. in the file F<NetWare/Makefile>, line 89 would be changed as shown.
270 Review the file carefully, and delete any -/+ line pairs that you don't
271 want changing. You can also edit just the C<+> line to change the
272 suggested replacement text. Remember that this tool is largely just
273 grepping for '5.10.0' or whatever, so it will generate false positives. Be
274 careful not change text like "this was fixed in 5.10.0"! Then run:
276 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/bump-perl-version -u < /tmp/scan
278 which will update all the files shown.
280 Be particularly careful with F<INSTALL>, which contains a mixture of
281 C<5.10.0>-type strings, some of which need bumping on every release, and
282 some of which need to be left unchanged.
283 The line in F<INSTALL> about "is binary incompatible with" requires a
284 correct choice of earlier version to declare incompatibility with.
286 Also note that this tool
287 currently only detects a single substitution per line: so in particular,
288 this line in README.vms needs special handling:
290 rename perl-5^.10^.1.dir perl-5_10_1.dir
292 When doing a blead release, also make sure the C<PERL_API_*> constants in
293 F<patchlevel.h> are in sync with the version you're releasing, unless you're
294 absolutely sure the release you're about to make is 100% binary compatible
295 to an earlier release. When releasing a stable perl version, the C<PERL_API_*>
296 constants C<MUST NOT> be changed as we aim to guarantee binary compatibility
303 B<review the delta carefully>
305 $ git commit -a -m 'Bump the perl version in various places for 5.x.y'
307 When the version number is bumped, you should also update Module::CoreList (as
308 described below in L<"Building a release - on the day">) to reflect the new
313 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
315 Review and update INSTALL to account for the change in version number;
316 in particular, the "Coexistence with earlier versions of perl 5" section.
318 Be particularly careful with the section "Upgrading from 5.X.Y or earlier". For
319 stable releases, this needs to refer to the last release in the previous
320 development cycle. For blead releases, it needs to refer to the previous blead
325 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
327 Update the F<Changes> file to contain the git log command which would show
328 all the changes in this release. You will need assume the existence of a
329 not-yet created tag for the forthcoming release; e.g.
331 git log ... perl-5.10.0..perl-5.12.0
333 Due to warts in the perforce-to-git migration, some branches require extra
334 exclusions to avoid other branches being pulled in. Make sure you have the
335 correct incantation: replace the not-yet-created tag with C<HEAD> and see
336 if C<git log> produces roughly the right number of commits across roughly the
337 right time period (you may find C<git log --pretty=oneline | wc> useful).
341 Check some more build configurations. The check that setuid builds and
342 installs is for < 5.11.0 only.
344 $ sh Configure -Dprefix=/tmp/perl-5.x.y -Uinstallusrbinperl \
345 -Duseshrplib -Dd_dosuid
347 $ LD_LIBRARY_PATH=`pwd` make test # or similar for useshrplib
350 $ su -c 'make install'
351 $ ls -l .../bin/sperl
352 -rws--x--x 1 root root 69974 2009-08-22 21:55 .../bin/sperl
354 (Then delete the installation directory.)
356 XXX think of other configurations that need testing.
360 I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
362 L<perlport> has a section currently named I<Supported Platforms> that
363 indicates which platforms are known to build in the current release.
364 If necessary update the list and the indicated version number.
368 =head2 Building a release - on the day
370 This section describes the actions required to make a release (or snapshot
371 etc) that are performed on the actual day.
377 Review all the items in the previous section,
378 L<"Building a release - advance actions"> to ensure they are all done and
383 For a blead release, if you did not bump the perl version number as part
384 of I<advance actions>, do that now.
388 I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
390 Finalize the perldelta. In particular, fill in the Acknowledgements
391 section. You can generate a list of contributors with checkAUTHORS.pl.
394 $ git log --pretty=fuller v5.13.2..HEAD | \
395 perl Porting/checkAUTHORS.pl --who -
397 Look at the previous L<perldelta> for how to write the opening
398 paragraph of the Acknowledgements section. To get the amount of
399 changed files and number of lines use this command:
401 $ git diff --shortstat v5.13.8..v5.13.9 | \
402 ./perl -Ilib -nE 'my ($files, $insert, $delete) = /(\d+)/ga; say "$files files and ", $insert + $delete, " lines changed"'
404 Making sure to round off the number of lines changed.
406 Re-read the perldelta to try to find any embarrassing typos and thinkos;
407 remove any C<TODO> or C<XXX> flags; update the "Known Problems" section
408 with any serious issues for which fixes are not going to happen now; and
409 run through pod and spell checkers, e.g.
411 $ podchecker -warnings -warnings pod/perldelta.pod
412 $ spell pod/perldelta.pod
414 Also, you may want to generate and view an HTML version of it to check
417 $ ./perl -Ilib ext/Pod-Html/pod2html pod/perldelta.pod > /tmp/perldelta.html
419 Another good HTML preview option is http://search.cpan.org/pod2html
421 If you make changes, be sure to commit them.
425 Make sure you have a gitwise-clean perl directory (no modified files,
426 unpushed commits etc):
433 If not already built, Configure and build perl so that you have a Makefile
436 $ ./Configure -Dusedevel -des && make
440 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
442 Update C<Module::CoreList> with module version data for the new release.
444 Note that if this is a maint release, you should run the following actions
445 from the maint branch, but commit the C<CoreList.pm> changes in
446 I<blead> and subsequently cherry-pick it. XXX need a better example
448 F<corelist.pl> uses ftp.funet.fi to verify information about dual-lived
449 modules on CPAN. It can use a full, local CPAN mirror or fall back
450 to C<wget> or C<curl> to fetch only package metadata remotely. (If you're
451 on Win32, then installing Cygwin is one way to have commands like C<wget>
452 and C<curl> available.)
454 (If you'd prefer to have a full CPAN mirror, see
455 http://www.cpan.org/misc/cpan-faq.html#How_mirror_CPAN)
457 Then change to your perl checkout, and if necessary,
461 If this not the first update for this version (e.g. if it was updated
462 when the version number was originally bumped), first edit
463 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm> to delete the existing
464 entries for this version from the C<%released> and C<%version> hashes:
465 they will have a key like C<5.010001> for 5.10.1.
467 XXX the edit-in-place functionality of Porting/corelist.pl should
468 be fixed to handle this automatically.
470 Then, If you have a local CPAN mirror, run:
472 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/corelist.pl ~/my-cpan-mirror
476 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/corelist.pl cpan
478 This will chug for a while, possibly reporting various warnings about
479 badly-indexed CPAN modules unrelated to the modules actually in core.
480 Assuming all goes well, it will update
481 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm>.
483 Check that file over carefully:
485 $ git diff dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm
487 If necessary, bump C<$VERSION> (there's no need to do this for
488 every RC; in RC1, bump the version to a new clean number that will
489 appear in the final release, and leave as-is for the later RCs and final).
491 Edit the version number in the new C<< 'Module::CoreList' => 'X.YZ' >>
492 entry, as that is likely to reflect the previous version number.
494 Also edit Module::CoreList's new version number in its F<Changes>
497 You should also add the version you're about to release to the
498 L<Module::CoreList/CAVEATS> section which enumerates the perl releases
499 that Module::CoreList covers.
501 In addition, if this is a final release (rather than a release candidate):
507 Update this version's entry in the C<%released> hash with today's date.
511 Make sure that the script has correctly updated the C<CAVEATS> section
515 Finally, commit the new version of Module::CoreList:
516 (unless this is for maint; in which case commit it blead first, then
517 cherry-pick it back).
519 $ git commit -m 'Update Module::CoreList for 5.x.y' dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm
523 Check that the manifest is sorted and correct:
526 $ git clean -xdf # This shouldn't be necessary if distclean is correct
527 $ perl Porting/manicheck
529 If manicheck turns up anything wrong, update MANIFEST and begin this step again.
531 $ ./configure -des -Dusedevel
533 $ git commit -m 'Update MANIFEST' MANIFEST
537 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
539 Add an entry to F<pod/perlhist.pod> with the current date, e.g.:
541 David 5.10.1-RC1 2009-Aug-06
543 Make sure that the correct pumpking is listed in the left-hand column, and
544 if this is the first release under the stewardship of a new pumpking, make
545 sure that his or her name is listed in the section entitled
546 C<THE KEEPERS OF THE PUMPKIN>.
548 Be sure to commit your changes:
550 $ git commit -m 'add new release to perlhist' pod/perlhist.pod
554 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT or BLEAD release>
556 Update F<patchlevel.h> to add a C<-RC1>-or-whatever string; or, if this is
557 a final release, remove it. For example:
559 static const char * const local_patches[] = {
562 PERL_GIT_UNPUSHED_COMMITS /* do not remove this line */
564 Be sure to commit your change:
566 $ git commit -m 'bump version to RCnnn' patchlevel.h
570 Build perl, then make sure it passes its own test suite, and installs:
573 $ ./Configure -des -Dprefix=/tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest
575 # or if it's an odd-numbered version:
576 $ ./Configure -des -Dusedevel -Dprefix=/tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest
582 Check that the output of C</tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest/bin/perl -v> and
583 C</tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest/bin/perl -V> are as expected,
584 especially as regards version numbers, patch and/or RC levels, and @INC
585 paths. Note that as they have been been built from a git working
586 directory, they will still identify themselves using git tags and
589 Then delete the temporary installation.
593 Push all your recent commits:
595 $ git push origin ....
600 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
602 Tag the release (e.g.):
604 $ git tag v5.11.0 -m'First release of the v5.11 series!'
606 (Adjust the syntax appropriately if you're working on Win32, i.e. use
607 C<-m "..."> rather than C<-m'...'>.)
609 It is VERY important that from this point forward, you not push
610 your git changes to the Perl master repository. If anything goes
611 wrong before you publish your newly-created tag, you can delete
612 and recreate it. Once you push your tag, we're stuck with it
613 and you'll need to use a new version number for your release.
617 Create a tarball. Use the C<-s> option to specify a suitable suffix for
618 the tarball and directory name:
620 $ cd root/of/perl/tree
622 $ git clean -xdf # make sure perl and git agree on files
623 $ git status # and there's nothing lying around
625 $ perl Porting/makerel -b -s `git describe` # for a snapshot
626 $ perl Porting/makerel -b -s RC1 # for a release candidate
627 $ perl Porting/makerel -b # for a final release
629 This creates the directory F<../perl-x.y.z-RC1> or similar, copies all
630 the MANIFEST files into it, sets the correct permissions on them,
631 adds DOS line endings to some, then tars it up as
632 F<../perl-x.y.z-RC1.tar.gz>. With C<-b>, it also creates a C<tar.bz2> file.
634 If you're getting your tarball suffixed with -uncommitted and you're sure
635 your changes were all committed, you can override the suffix with:
637 $ perl Porting/makerel -b -s ''
639 XXX if we go for extra tags and branches stuff, then add the extra details
644 Clean up the temporary directory, e.g.
646 $ rm -rf ../perl-x.y.z-RC1
650 Copy the tarballs (.gz and possibly .bz2) to a web server somewhere you
655 Download the tarball to some other machine. For a release candidate,
656 you really want to test your tarball on two or more different platforms
657 and architectures. The #p5p IRC channel on irc.perl.org is a good place
658 to find willing victims.
662 Check that basic configuration and tests work on each test machine:
664 $ ./Configure -des && make all test
668 Check that the test harness and install work on each test machine:
671 $ ./Configure -des -Dprefix=/install/path && make all test_harness install
676 Check that the output of C<perl -v> and C<perl -V> are as expected,
677 especially as regards version numbers, patch and/or RC levels, and @INC
680 Note that the results may be different without a F<.git/> directory,
681 which is why you should test from the tarball.
685 Run the Installation Verification Procedure utility:
687 $ ./perl utils/perlivp
689 All tests successful.
694 Compare the pathnames of all installed files with those of the previous
695 release (i.e. against the last installed tarball on this branch which you
696 have previously verified using this same procedure). In particular, look
697 for files in the wrong place, or files no longer included which should be.
698 For example, suppose the about-to-be-released version is 5.10.1 and the
701 cd installdir-5.10.0/
702 find . -type f | perl -pe's/5\.10\.0/5.10.1/g' | sort > /tmp/f1
703 cd installdir-5.10.1/
704 find . -type f | sort > /tmp/f2
709 Bootstrap the CPAN client on the clean install:
711 $ bin/perl -MCPAN -e "shell"
713 If you're running this on Win32 you probably also need a set of Unix
714 command-line tools available for CPAN to function correctly without
715 Perl alternatives like LWP installed. Cygwin is an obvious choice.)
719 Try installing a popular CPAN module that's reasonably complex and that
720 has dependencies; for example:
725 Check that your perl can run this:
727 $ bin/perl -lwe "use Inline C => q[int f() { return 42;}]; print f"
733 Bootstrap the CPANPLUS client on the clean install:
737 (Again, on Win32 you'll need something like Cygwin installed, but make sure
738 that you don't end up with its various F<bin/cpan*> programs being found on
739 the PATH before those of the Perl that you're trying to test.)
743 Install an XS module, for example:
747 $ bin/perl -MDBI -e 1
752 I<If you're building a SNAPSHOT, you should STOP HERE>
756 Check that the L<perlbug> utility works. Try the following:
760 Subject: test bug report
761 Local perl administrator [yourself]:
767 Action (Send/Display/Edit/Subject/Save to File): f
768 Name of file to save message in [perlbug.rep]:
769 Action (Send/Display/Edit/Subject/Save to File): q
771 and carefully examine the output (in F<perlbug.rep]>), especially
772 the "Locally applied patches" section. If everything appears okay, then
773 delete the file, and try it again, this time actually submitting the bug
774 report. Check that it shows up, then remember to close it!
778 Wait for the smoke tests to catch up with the commit which this release is
779 based on (or at least the last commit of any consequence).
781 Then check that the smoke tests pass (particularly on Win32). If not, go
784 Note that for I<BLEAD> releases this may not be practical. It takes a
785 long time for the smokers to catch up, especially the Win32
786 smokers. This is why we have a RC cycle for I<MAINT> releases, but for
787 I<BLEAD> releases sometimes the best you can do is to plead with
788 people on IRC to test stuff on their platforms, fire away, and then
793 Once smoking is okay, upload it to PAUSE. This is the point of no return.
794 If anything goes wrong after this point, you will need to re-prepare
795 a new release with a new minor version or RC number.
797 https://pause.perl.org/
799 (Login, then select 'Upload a file to CPAN')
801 If your workstation is not connected to a high-bandwidth,
802 high-reliability connection to the Internet, you should probably use the
803 "GET URL" feature (rather than "HTTP UPLOAD") to have PAUSE retrieve the
804 new release from wherever you put it for testers to find it. This will
805 eliminate anxious gnashing of teeth while you wait to see if your
806 15 megabyte HTTP upload successfully completes across your slow, twitchy
807 cable modem. You can make use of your home directory on dromedary for
808 this purpose: F<http://users.perl5.git.perl.org/~USERNAME> maps to
809 F</home/USERNAME/public_html>, where F<USERNAME> is your login account
810 on dromedary. I<Remember>: if your upload is partially successful, you
811 may need to contact a PAUSE administrator or even bump the version of perl.
813 Upload both the .gz and .bz2 versions of the tarball.
815 Wait until you receive notification emails from the PAUSE indexer
816 confirming that your uploads have been received. IMPORTANT -- you will
817 probably get an email that indexing has failed, due to module permissions.
818 This is considered normal.
820 Do not proceed any further until you are sure that your tarballs are on
821 CPAN. Check your authors directory on one of the "fast" CPAN mirrors
822 (e.g., cpan.hexten.net
823 or cpan.cpantesters.org) to confirm that your uploads have been successful.
827 Now that you've shipped the new perl release to PAUSE, it's
828 time to publish the tag you created earlier to the public git repo (e.g.):
830 $ git push origin tag v5.11.0
834 I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT or BLEAD release>
836 Disarm the F<patchlevel.h> change; for example,
838 static const char * const local_patches[] = {
841 PERL_GIT_UNPUSHED_COMMITS /* do not remove this line */
843 Be sure to commit your change:
845 $ git commit -m 'disarm RCnnn bump' patchlevel.h
846 $ git push origin ....
851 Mail p5p to announce your new release, with a quote you prepared earlier.
855 Add your quote to F<Porting/epigraphs.pod> and commit it.
859 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC>
861 Remind the current maintainer of C<Module::CoreList> to push a new release
866 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC>
868 Create a new perldelta.
870 First, update the F<.gitignore> file in the F<pod/> folder to ignore the next
871 release's generated F<pod/perlNNNdelta.pod> file rather than this releases's
872 one which we are about to set in stone (where NNN is the perl version number
873 without the dots. i.e. 5135 for 5.13.5).
875 Then, move the existing F<pod/perldelta.pod> to F<pod/perlNNNdelta.pod>.
877 Now edit the moved delta file to change the C<NAME> from C<perldelta> to
880 Then create a new empty perldelta.pod file for the new release; see
881 F<Porting/how_to_write_a_perldelta.pod>.
883 You should be able to do this by just copying in a skeleton template and
884 then doing a quick fix up of the version numbers.
886 Then commit the move and the new file.
888 For example, assuming you just released 5.10.1:
890 $ git mv pod/perldelta.pod pod/perl5101delta.pod
891 $ (edit pod/perl5101delta.pod to retitle)
892 $ git add pod/perl5101delta.pod
894 $ cp -i Porting/perldelta_template.pod pod/perldelta.pod
895 $ (edit pod/perldelta.pod)
896 $ git add pod/perldelta.pod
897 $ git commit -m 'create perldelta for 5.10.2'
899 Now you need to update various tables of contents, most of which can be
900 generated automatically.
902 Edit F<pod.lst>: add the new entry, flagged as 'd', and unflag the previous
903 entry from being 'd'; for example:
905 -d perl5101delta Perl changes in version 5.10.1
906 +d perl5102delta Perl changes in version 5.10.2
907 + perl5101delta Perl changes in version 5.10.1
909 Run C<perl pod/buildtoc --build-all> to update the F<perldelta> version in
916 vms/descrip_mms.template
923 $ git commit -a -m 'update TOC for perlNNNdelta'
925 At this point you may want to compare the commit with a previous bump to
926 see if they look similar. See commit 2b6e134265 for an example of a
927 previous version bump.
931 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC, BLEAD>
933 If this was the first release of a new maint series, (5.x.0 where x is
934 even), then create a new maint branch based on the commit tagged as
935 the current release and bump the version in the blead branch in git,
936 e.g. 5.12.0 to 5.13.0.
938 [ XXX probably lots more stuff to do, including perldelta,
941 Assuming you're using git 1.7.x or newer:
943 $ git checkout -b maint-5.12
944 $ git push origin -u maint-5.12
948 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC, BLEAD>
950 Copy the perldelta.pod for this release into the other branches; for
953 $ cp -i ../5.10.x/pod/perldelta.pod pod/perl5101delta.pod # for example
954 $ git add pod/perl5101delta.pod
956 Edit F<pod.lst> to add an entry for the file, e.g.:
958 perl5101delta Perl changes in version 5.10.1
960 Then rebuild various files:
962 $ perl pod/buildtoc --build-all
966 $ git commit -a -m 'add perlXXXdelta'
970 Make sure any recent F<pod/perlhist.pod> entries are copied to
971 F<perlhist.pod> on other branches; typically the RC* and final entries,
974 5.8.9-RC1 2008-Nov-10
975 5.8.9-RC2 2008-Dec-06
980 If necessary, send an email to C<perlbug-admin at perl.org> requesting
981 that new version numbers be added to the RT fields C<Perl Version> and
986 I<You MUST RETIRE to your preferred PUB, CAFE or SEASIDE VILLA for some
987 much-needed rest and relaxation>.
989 Thanks for releasing perl!
993 =head2 Building a release - the day after
999 Check your author directory under L<http://www.cpan.org/authors/id/>
1000 to ensure that the tarballs are available on the website.
1004 Check C</src> on CPAN (on a fast mirror) to ensure that links to
1005 the new tarballs have appeared. There should be links in C</src/5.0>
1006 (which is accumulating all new versions), links in C</src> (which shows
1007 only the latest version on each branch), and an appropriate mention in
1008 C</src/README.html> (which describes the latest versions).
1010 These links should appear automatically, some hours after upload.
1011 If they don't, or the C<README.html> description is inadequate,
1012 ask Ask <ask@perl.org>.
1016 Check L<http://www.cpan.org/src/> to ensure that the C</src> updates
1017 have been correctly mirrored to the website.
1018 If they haven't, ask Ask <ask@perl.org>.
1022 Check L<http://search.cpan.org> to see if it has indexed the distribution.
1023 It should be visible at a URL like C<http://search.cpan.org/dist/perl-5.10.1/>.
1027 I<This step ONLY for STABLE>
1029 Ask Rafael to update L<http://dev.perl.org/perl5/>.
1036 http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2009-05/msg00608.html,
1037 plus a whole bunch of other sources, including private correspondence.