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 To see which core distro versions differ from the current CPAN versions:
189 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/core-cpan-diff -x -a
191 Passing C<-u cpan> (and maybe C<-u undef>) will probably be helpful, since
192 those are the only types of distributions that you can actually affect as a
193 perl release manager (as opposed to a CPAN module maintainer).
195 You can also run an actual diff of the contents of the modules, comparing core
196 to CPAN, to ensure that there were no erroneous/extraneous changes that need to
197 be dealt with. You do this by not passing the C<-x> option:
199 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/core-cpan-diff -a -o /tmp/corediffs
201 then fix the core, or cajole CPAN authors as appropriate. See also the C<-d>
202 and C<-v> options for more detail (and the C<-u> option as mentioned above).
203 You'll probably want to use the C<-c cachedir> option to avoid repeated CPAN
204 downloads and may want to use C<-m file:///mirror/path> if you made a local
205 CPAN mirror. Note that a minicpan mirror won't actually work, but can provide a
206 good first pass to quickly get a list of modules which definitely haven't
207 changed, to avoid having to download absolutely everything.
209 If you are making a MAINT release, run C<core-cpan-diff> on both blead and
210 maint, then diff the two outputs. Compare this with what you expect, and if
211 necessary, fix things up. For example, you might think that both blead
212 and maint are synchronised with a particular CPAN module, but one might
213 have some extra changes.
215 =head3 How to sync a CPAN module with a cpan/ distro
221 Fetch the most recent version from CPAN.
225 Unpack the retrieved tarball. Rename the old directory; rename the new
226 directory to the original name.
230 Restore any F<.gitignore> file. This can be done by issuing
231 C<git checkout .gitignore> in the F<cpan/Distro> directory.
235 Remove files we do not need. That is, remove any files that match the
236 entries in C<@IGNORE> in F<Porting/Maintainer.pl>, and anything that
237 matches the C<EXCLUDED> section of the distro's entry in the C<%Modules>
242 Restore any files mentioned in the C<CUSTOMIZED> section, using
243 C<git checkout>. Make any new customizations if necessary. Also,
244 restore any files that are mentioned in C<@IGNORE>, but were checked
245 in in the repository anyway.
249 For any new files in the distro, determine whether they are needed.
250 If not, delete them, and list them in either C<EXCLUDED> or C<@INGORE>.
251 Otherwise, add them to C<MANIFEST>, and run C<git add> to add the files
256 For any files that are gone, remove them from C<MANIFEST>, and use
257 C<git rm> to tell git the files will be gone.
261 If the C<MANIFEST> file was changed in any of the previous steps, run
262 C<perl Porting/manisort --output MANIFEST.sort; mv MANIFEST.sort MANIFEST>.
266 For any files that have an execute bit set, either remove the execute
267 bit, or edit F<Porting/exec-bit.txt>
271 Run C<make>, see if C<perl> compiles.
275 Run the tests for the package.
279 Run the tests in F<t/porting>.
283 Update the C<DISTRIBUTION> entry in F<Porting/Maintainers.pl>.
287 Run a full configure/build/test cycle.
291 If everything is ok, commit the changes.
295 For entries with a non-simple C<FILES> section, or with a C<MAP>, you
296 may have to take more steps than listed above.
298 F<Porting/sync-with-cpan> is a script that automates most of the steps
299 above; but see the comments at the beginning of the file.
302 =head3 dual-life CPAN module stability
304 Ensure dual-life CPAN modules are stable, which comes down to:
306 for each module that fails its regression tests on $current
307 did it fail identically on $previous?
308 if yes, "SEP" (Somebody Else's Problem)
309 else work out why it failed (a bisect is useful for this)
311 attempt to group failure causes
313 for each failure cause
314 is that a regression?
315 if yes, figure out how to fix it
316 (more code? revert the code that broke it)
318 (presumably) it's relying on something un-or-under-documented
319 should the existing behaviour stay?
320 yes - goto "regression"
321 no - note it in perldelta as a significant bugfix
322 (also, try to inform the module's author)
325 =head3 monitor smoke tests for failures
327 Similarly, monitor the smoking of core tests, and try to fix. See
328 L<http://doc.procura.nl/smoke/index.html> for a summary. See also
329 L<http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.daily-build.reports/> which has
332 Similarly, monitor the smoking of perl for compiler warnings, and try to
336 =head3 update perldelta
338 Get perldelta in a mostly finished state.
340 Read F<Porting/how_to_write_a_perldelta.pod>, and try to make sure that
341 every section it lists is, if necessary, populated and complete. Copy
342 edit the whole document.
345 =head3 Bump the version number
347 Do not do this yet for a BLEAD-POINT release! You will do this at the end of
350 Increase the version number (e.g. from 5.12.0 to 5.12.1).
352 For a release candidate for a stable perl, this should happen a week or two
353 before the first release candidate to allow sufficient time for testing and
354 smoking with the target version built into the perl executable. For
355 subsequent release candidates and the final release, it it not necessary to
356 bump the version further.
358 There is a tool to semi-automate this process:
360 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/bump-perl-version -i 5.10.0 5.10.1
362 Remember that this tool is largely just grepping for '5.10.0' or whatever,
363 so it will generate false positives. Be careful not change text like
364 "this was fixed in 5.10.0"!
366 Use git status and git diff to select changes you want to keep.
368 Be particularly careful with F<INSTALL>, which contains a mixture of
369 C<5.10.0>-type strings, some of which need bumping on every release, and
370 some of which need to be left unchanged.
371 The line in F<INSTALL> about "is binary incompatible with" requires a
372 correct choice of earlier version to declare incompatibility with.
374 When doing a BLEAD-POINT or BLEAD-FINAL release, also make sure the
375 C<PERL_API_*> constants in F<patchlevel.h> are in sync with the version
376 you're releasing, unless you're
377 absolutely sure the release you're about to make is 100% binary compatible
378 to an earlier release. When releasing a MAINT perl version, the C<PERL_API_*>
379 constants C<MUST NOT> be changed as we aim to guarantee binary compatibility
382 After editing, regenerate uconfig.h (this must be run on a system with a
385 $ perl regen/uconfig_h.pl
387 This might not cause any new changes.
391 $ git clean -xdf # careful if you don't have local files to keep!
392 $ ./Configure -des -Dusedevel
400 B<review the delta carefully>
402 $ git commit -a -m 'Bump the perl version in various places for 5.x.y'
404 At this point you may want to compare the commit with a previous bump to
405 see if they look similar. See commit 8891dd8d for an example of a
406 previous version bump.
408 When the version number is bumped, you should also update Module::CoreList
409 (as described below in L<"update Module::CoreList">) to reflect the new
413 =head3 update INSTALL
415 Review and update INSTALL to account for the change in version number;
416 in particular, the "Coexistence with earlier versions of perl 5" section.
418 Be particularly careful with the section "Upgrading from 5.X.Y or earlier".
419 The "X.Y" needs to be changed to the most recent version that we are
420 I<not> binary compatible with.
422 For MAINT and BLEAD-FINAL releases, this needs to refer to the last
423 release in the previous development cycle (so for example, for a 5.14.x
424 release, this would be 5.13.11).
426 For BLEAD-POINT releases, it needs to refer to the previous BLEAD-POINT
427 release (so for 5.15.3 this would be 5.15.2).
429 =head3 Check more build configurations
431 Check some more build configurations.
433 $ sh Configure -Dprefix=/tmp/perl-5.x.y -Uinstallusrbinperl \
434 -Duseshrplib -Dusesitecustomize
438 XXX think of other configurations that need testing.
441 =head3 update perlport
443 L<perlport> has a section currently named I<Supported Platforms> that
444 indicates which platforms are known to build in the current release.
445 If necessary update the list and the indicated version number.
449 =head2 Building a release - on the day
451 This section describes the actions required to make a release
452 that are performed on the actual day.
455 =head3 re-check earlier actions
457 Review all the actions in the previous section,
458 L<"Building a release - advance actions"> to ensure they are all done and
462 =head3 create a release branch
464 For BLEAD-POINT releases, making a release from a release branch avoids the
465 need to freeze blead during the release. This is less important for
466 BLEAD-FINAL, MAINT, and RC releases, since blead will already be frozen in
467 those cases. Create the branch by running
469 git checkout -b release-5.xx.yy
472 =head3 bump version number
474 For a BLEAD-POINT release, if you did not bump the perl version number as
475 part of I<advance actions>, do that now.
478 =head3 finalize perldelta
480 Finalize the perldelta. In particular, fill in the Acknowledgements
481 section, which can be generated with something like:
483 $ perl Porting/acknowledgements.pl v5.15.0..HEAD
485 Re-read the perldelta to try to find any embarrassing typos and thinkos;
486 remove any C<TODO> or C<XXX> flags; update the "Known Problems" section
487 with any serious issues for which fixes are not going to happen now; and
488 run through pod and spell checkers, e.g.
490 $ podchecker -warnings -warnings pod/perldelta.pod
491 $ spell pod/perldelta.pod
493 Also, you may want to generate and view an HTML version of it to check
496 $ ./perl -Ilib ext/Pod-Html/bin/pod2html pod/perldelta.pod > /tmp/perldelta.html
498 Another good HTML preview option is http://search.cpan.org/pod2html
500 If you make changes, be sure to commit them.
502 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT MAINT RC
504 =head3 remove stale perldeltas
506 For the first RC release that is ONLY for a BLEAD-FINAL, the perldeltas
507 from the BLEAD-POINT releases since the previous BLEAD_FINAL should have
508 now been consolidated into the current perldelta, and hence are now just
509 useless clutter. They can be removed using:
511 $ git rm <file1> <file2> ...
513 For example, for RC0 of 5.16.0:
516 $ git rm perldelta515*.pod
518 All mention to them should also be removed. Edit F<pod/perl.pod> to remove
519 them from its table of contents, then run F<Porting/pod_rules.pl> to
520 propagate your changes there into all the other files that mention them
521 (including F<MANIFEST>). You'll need to C<git add> the files that it changes.
523 Then build a clean perl and do a full test
527 $ ./Configure -Dusedevel -des
531 Once all tests pass, commit your changes.
533 =head3 build a clean perl
535 If you skipped the previous step (removing the stale perldeltas)
536 make sure you have a gitwise-clean perl directory (no modified files,
537 unpushed commits etc):
542 then configure and build perl so that you have a Makefile and porting tools:
544 $ ./Configure -Dusedevel -des && make
546 =head3 update Module::CoreList
548 Update C<Module::CoreList> with module version data for the new release.
550 Note that if this is a MAINT release, you should run the following actions
551 from the maint branch, but commit the C<CoreList.pm> changes in
552 I<blead> and subsequently cherry-pick any releases since the last
553 maint release and then your recent commit. XXX need a better example
555 F<corelist.pl> uses ftp.funet.fi to verify information about dual-lived
556 modules on CPAN. It can use a full, local CPAN mirror or fall back
557 to C<wget> or C<curl> to fetch only package metadata remotely. (If you're
558 on Win32, then installing Cygwin is one way to have commands like C<wget>
559 and C<curl> available.)
561 (If you'd prefer to have a full CPAN mirror, see
562 http://www.cpan.org/misc/cpan-faq.html#How_mirror_CPAN)
564 Then change to your perl checkout, and if necessary,
568 If this is not the first update for this version (e.g. if it was updated
569 when the version number was originally bumped), first edit
570 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm> to delete the existing
571 entries for this version from the C<%released> and C<%version> hashes:
572 they will have a key like C<5.010001> for 5.10.1.
574 XXX the edit-in-place functionality of Porting/corelist.pl should
575 be fixed to handle this automatically.
577 Then, If you have a local CPAN mirror, run:
579 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/corelist.pl ~/my-cpan-mirror
583 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/corelist.pl cpan
585 This will chug for a while, possibly reporting various warnings about
586 badly-indexed CPAN modules unrelated to the modules actually in core.
587 Assuming all goes well, it will update
588 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm>.
590 Check that file over carefully:
592 $ git diff dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm
594 If this is a .0 Perl version, add the appropriate lines in F<Corelist.pm>
595 to alias "5.nnn000" to "5.nnn" in each hash. (If feeling energetic,
596 amend F<corelist.pl> to automate this.)
598 =head4 Bump C<$Module::CoreList::VERSION>
600 If necessary, bump C<$Module::CoreList::VERSION> (there's no need to do this for
601 every RC; in RC1, bump the version to a new clean number that will
602 appear in the final release, and leave as-is for the later RCs and final).
603 It may also happen that C<Module::CoreList> has been modified in blead, and
604 hence has a new version number already. (But make sure it is not the same
605 number as a CPAN release.)
607 Edit the version number in the new C<< 'Module::CoreList' => 'X.YZ' >>
608 entry, as that is likely to reflect the previous version number.
610 =head4 Bump version in Module::CoreList F<Changes>
612 Also edit Module::CoreList's new version number in its F<Changes>
615 =head4 Add Module::CoreList version bump to perldelta
617 Add a perldelta entry for the new Module::CoreList version.
619 =for checklist skip RC
621 =head4 Update C<%Module::CoreList::released> and C<CAVEATS>
623 In addition, if this is a final release (rather than a release candidate):
629 Update this version's entry in the C<%released> hash with today's date.
633 Make sure that the script has correctly updated the C<CAVEATS> section
634 (Note, the C<CAVEATS> section is in
635 F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pod>)
639 =head4 Commit Module::CoreList changes
641 Finally, commit the new version of Module::CoreList:
642 (unless this is for MAINT; in which case commit it to blead first, then
643 cherry-pick it back).
645 $ git commit -m 'Update Module::CoreList for 5.x.y' dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pod
647 =for checklist skip RC
649 =head3 update perlhist.pod
651 I<You MUST SKIP this step for a RC release>
653 Add an entry to F<pod/perlhist.pod> with the release date, e.g.:
655 David 5.10.1 2009-Aug-06
657 Make sure that the correct pumpking is listed in the left-hand column, and
658 if this is the first release under the stewardship of a new pumpking, make
659 sure that his or her name is listed in the section entitled
660 C<THE KEEPERS OF THE PUMPKIN>.
662 Be sure to commit your changes:
664 $ git commit -m 'add new release to perlhist' pod/perlhist.pod
666 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT
668 =head3 update patchlevel.h
670 I<You MUST SKIP this step for a BLEAD-POINT release>
672 Update F<patchlevel.h> to add a C<-RC1>-or-whatever string; or, if this is
673 a final release, remove it. For example:
675 static const char * const local_patches[] = {
678 PERL_GIT_UNPUSHED_COMMITS /* do not remove this line */
680 Be sure to commit your change:
682 $ git commit -m 'bump version to RCnnn' patchlevel.h
685 =head3 build, test and check a fresh perl
687 Build perl, then make sure it passes its own test suite, and installs:
690 $ ./Configure -des -Dprefix=/tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest
692 # or if it's an odd-numbered version:
693 $ ./Configure -des -Dusedevel -Dprefix=/tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest
697 Check that the output of C</tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest/bin/perl -v> and
698 C</tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest/bin/perl -V> are as expected,
699 especially as regards version numbers, patch and/or RC levels, and @INC
700 paths. Note that as they have been been built from a git working
701 directory, they will still identify themselves using git tags and
702 commits. (Note that for an odd-numbered version, perl will install
703 itself as C<perl5.x.y>). C<perl -v> will identify itself as:
705 This is perl 5, version X, subversion Y (v5.X.Y (v5.X.Z-NNN-gdeadbeef))
707 where 5.X.Z is the latest tag, NNN the number of commits since this tag,
708 and C<< deadbeef >> commit of that tag.
710 Then delete the temporary installation.
713 =head3 push the work so far
715 Push all your recent commits:
717 $ git push origin ....
720 =head3 tag the release
722 Tag the release (e.g.):
724 $ git tag v5.11.0 -m "First release of the v5.11 series!"
726 It is B<VERY> important that from this point forward, you not push
727 your git changes to the Perl master repository. If anything goes
728 wrong before you publish your newly-created tag, you can delete
729 and recreate it. Once you push your tag, we're stuck with it
730 and you'll need to use a new version number for your release.
733 =head3 build the tarball
735 Before you run the following, you might want to install 7-Zip (the
736 C<p7zip-full> package under Debian or the C<p7zip> port on MacPorts) or
737 the AdvanceCOMP suite (e.g. the C<advancecomp> package under Debian,
738 or the C<advancecomp> port on macports - 7-Zip on Windows is the
739 same code as AdvanceCOMP, so Windows users get the smallest files
740 first time). These compress about 5% smaller than gzip and bzip2.
741 Over the lifetime of your distribution this will save a lot of
742 people a small amount of download time and disk space, which adds
745 Create a tarball. Use the C<-s> option to specify a suitable suffix for
746 the tarball and directory name:
748 $ cd root/of/perl/tree
750 $ git clean -xdf # make sure perl and git agree on files
751 $ git status # and there's nothing lying around
753 $ perl Porting/makerel -b -s RC1 # for a release candidate
754 $ perl Porting/makerel -b # for a final release
756 This creates the directory F<../perl-x.y.z-RC1> or similar, copies all
757 the MANIFEST files into it, sets the correct permissions on them,
758 adds DOS line endings to some, then tars it up as
759 F<../perl-x.y.z-RC1.tar.gz>. With C<-b>, it also creates a C<tar.bz2> file.
761 If you're getting your tarball suffixed with -uncommitted and you're sure
762 your changes were all committed, you can override the suffix with:
764 $ perl Porting/makerel -b -s ''
766 XXX if we go for extra tags and branches stuff, then add the extra details
769 Finally, clean up the temporary directory, e.g.
771 $ rm -rf ../perl-x.y.z-RC1
774 =head3 test the tarball
776 Once you have a tarball it's time to test the tarball (not the repository).
778 =head4 Copy the tarball to a web server
780 Copy the tarballs (.gz and possibly .bz2) to a web server somewhere you
783 =head4 Download the tarball to another machine
785 Download the tarball to some other machine. For a release candidate,
786 you really want to test your tarball on two or more different platforms
787 and architectures. The #p5p IRC channel on irc.perl.org is a good place
788 to find willing victims.
790 =head4 Check that F<Configure> works
792 Check that basic configuration and tests work on each test machine:
794 $ ./Configure -des && make all test
796 =head4 Run the test harness and install
798 Check that the test harness and install work on each test machine:
801 $ ./Configure -des -Dprefix=/install/path && make all test_harness install
804 =head4 Check C<perl -v> and C<perl -V>
806 Check that the output of C<perl -v> and C<perl -V> are as expected,
807 especially as regards version numbers, patch and/or RC levels, and @INC
810 Note that the results may be different without a F<.git/> directory,
811 which is why you should test from the tarball.
813 =head4 Run the Installation Verification Procedure utility
815 $ ./perl utils/perlivp
817 All tests successful.
820 =head4 Compare the installed paths to the last release
822 Compare the pathnames of all installed files with those of the previous
823 release (i.e. against the last installed tarball on this branch which you
824 have previously verified using this same procedure). In particular, look
825 for files in the wrong place, or files no longer included which should be.
826 For example, suppose the about-to-be-released version is 5.10.1 and the
829 cd installdir-5.10.0/
830 find . -type f | perl -pe's/5\.10\.0/5.10.1/g' | sort > /tmp/f1
831 cd installdir-5.10.1/
832 find . -type f | sort > /tmp/f2
835 =head4 Test the CPAN client
837 Bootstrap the CPAN client on the clean install:
839 $ bin/perl -MCPAN -e "shell"
841 If you're running this on Win32 you probably also need a set of Unix
842 command-line tools available for CPAN to function correctly without
843 Perl alternatives like LWP installed. Cygwin is an obvious choice.)
845 =head4 Install the Inline module and test it
847 Try installing a popular CPAN module that's reasonably complex and that
848 has dependencies; for example:
853 Check that your perl can run this:
855 $ bin/perl -lwe "use Inline C => q[int f() { return 42;}]; print f"
859 =head4 Bootstrap the CPANPLUS client
861 Bootstrap the CPANPLUS client on the clean install:
865 (Again, on Win32 you'll need something like Cygwin installed, but make sure
866 that you don't end up with its various F<bin/cpan*> programs being found on
867 the PATH before those of the Perl that you're trying to test.)
869 =head4 Install the DBI module with CPANPLUS
873 $ bin/perl -MDBI -e 1
876 =head4 Make sure that perlbug works
878 Test L<perlbug> with the following:
882 Subject: test bug report
883 Local perl administrator [yourself]:
889 Action (Send/Display/Edit/Subject/Save to File): f
890 Name of file to save message in [perlbug.rep]:
891 Action (Send/Display/Edit/Subject/Save to File): q
893 and carefully examine the output (in F<perlbug.rep]>), especially
894 the "Locally applied patches" section. If everything appears okay, then
895 delete the file, and try it again, this time actually submitting the bug
896 report. Check that it shows up, then remember to close it!
898 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT
900 =head3 monitor smokes
902 Wait for the smoke tests to catch up with the commit which this release is
903 based on (or at least the last commit of any consequence).
905 Then check that the smoke tests pass (particularly on Win32). If not, go
908 Note that for I<BLEAD-POINT> releases this may not be practical. It takes a
909 long time for the smokers to catch up, especially the Win32
910 smokers. This is why we have a RC cycle for I<MAINT> and I<BLEAD-FINAL>
911 releases, but for I<BLEAD-POINT> releases sometimes the best you can do is
912 to plead with people on IRC to test stuff on their platforms, fire away,
913 and then hope for the best.
916 =head3 upload to PAUSE
918 Once smoking is okay, upload it to PAUSE. This is the point of no return.
919 If anything goes wrong after this point, you will need to re-prepare
920 a new release with a new minor version or RC number.
922 https://pause.perl.org/
924 (Login, then select 'Upload a file to CPAN')
926 If your workstation is not connected to a high-bandwidth,
927 high-reliability connection to the Internet, you should probably use the
928 "GET URL" feature (rather than "HTTP UPLOAD") to have PAUSE retrieve the
929 new release from wherever you put it for testers to find it. This will
930 eliminate anxious gnashing of teeth while you wait to see if your
931 15 megabyte HTTP upload successfully completes across your slow, twitchy
932 cable modem. You can make use of your home directory on dromedary for
933 this purpose: F<http://users.perl5.git.perl.org/~USERNAME> maps to
934 F</home/USERNAME/public_html>, where F<USERNAME> is your login account
935 on dromedary. I<Remember>: if your upload is partially successful, you
936 may need to contact a PAUSE administrator or even bump the version of perl.
938 Upload both the .gz and .bz2 versions of the tarball.
940 Do not proceed any further until you are sure that your tarballs are on
941 CPAN. Check your authors directory on one of the "fast" CPAN mirrors
942 (e.g., cpan.hexten.net
943 or cpan.cpantesters.org) to confirm that your uploads have been successful.
945 =for checklist skip RC
947 =head3 wait for indexing
949 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC>
951 Wait until you receive notification emails from the PAUSE indexer
952 confirming that your uploads have been received. IMPORTANT -- you will
953 probably get an email that indexing has failed, due to module permissions.
954 This is considered normal.
959 Now that you've shipped the new perl release to PAUSE, it's
960 time to publish the tag you created earlier to the public git repo (e.g.):
962 $ git push origin tag v5.11.0
964 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT
966 =head3 disarm patchlevel.h
968 I<You MUST SKIP this step for BLEAD-POINT release>
970 Disarm the F<patchlevel.h> change; for example,
972 static const char * const local_patches[] = {
975 PERL_GIT_UNPUSHED_COMMITS /* do not remove this line */
977 Be sure to commit your change:
979 $ git commit -m 'disarm RCnnn bump' patchlevel.h
980 $ git push origin ....
984 =head3 announce to p5p
986 Mail p5p to announce your new release, with a quote you prepared earlier.
988 Use the template at Porting/release_announcement_template.txt
990 Send a carbon copy to C<noc@metacpan.org>
992 =head3 merge release branch back to blead
994 If you made a release branch for this release, merge it back into master now,
999 git merge release-5.xx.yy
1001 git push origin :release-5.xx.yy
1002 git branch -d release-5.xx.yy
1004 =head3 update epigraphs.pod
1006 Add your quote to F<Porting/epigraphs.pod> and commit it.
1007 Your release announcement will probably not have reached the web-visible
1008 archives yet, so you won't be able to include the customary link to the
1009 release announcement yet.
1011 =head3 blog about your epigraph
1013 If you have a blog, please consider writing an entry in your blog explaining
1014 why you chose that particular quote for your epigraph.
1016 =for checklist skip RC
1018 =head3 Module::CoreList nagging
1020 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC>
1022 Remind the current maintainer of C<Module::CoreList> to push a new release
1025 =for checklist skip RC
1027 =head3 new perldelta
1029 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC>
1031 Create a new perldelta.
1037 Confirm that you have a clean checkout with no local changes.
1041 Run F<Porting/new-perldelta.pl>
1045 Run the C<git add> commands it outputs to add new and modified files.
1049 Verify that the build still works, by running C<./Configure> and
1050 C<make test_porting>. (On Win32, run C<nmake> and
1051 C<nmake test TEST_FILES="porting\*.t ..\lib\diagnostics.t">.)
1055 If F<t/porting/podcheck.t> spots errors in the new F<pod/perldelta.pod>,
1056 run C<./perl -MTestInit t/porting/podcheck.t | less> for more detail.
1057 Skip to the end of its test output to see the options it offers you.
1061 When C<make test_porting> passes, commit the new perldelta.
1065 At this point you may want to compare the commit with a previous bump to
1066 see if they look similar. See commit e3c71926d3 for an example of a
1067 previous version bump.
1069 =for checklist skip MAINT RC
1073 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC and MAINT>
1075 If this was a BLEAD-FINAL release (i.e. the first release of a new maint
1076 series, 5.x.0 where x is even), then bump the version in the blead branch
1077 in git, e.g. 5.12.0 to 5.13.0.
1079 First, add a new feature bundle to F<regen/feature.pl>, initially by just
1080 copying the exiting entry, and bump the file's $VERSION (after the __END__
1083 "5.14" => [qw(switch say state unicode_strings)],
1084 + "5.15" => [qw(switch say state unicode_strings)],
1086 Run F<regen/feature.pl> to propagate the changes to F<lib/feature.pm>.
1088 Then follow the section L<"Bump the version number"> to bump the version
1089 in the remaining files and test and commit.
1091 If this was a BLEAD-POINT release, then just follow the section
1092 L<"Bump the version number">.
1095 =head3 clean build and test
1097 Run a clean build and test to make sure nothing obvious is broken.
1099 In particular, F<Porting/perldelta_template.pod> is intentionally exempted
1100 from podchecker tests, to avoid false positives about placeholder text.
1101 However, once it's copied to F<pod/perldelta.pod> the contents can now
1102 cause test failures. Problems should resolved by doing one of the
1109 Replace placeholder text with correct text.
1113 If the problem is from a broken placeholder link, you can add it to the
1114 array C<@perldelta_ignore_links> in F<t/porting/podcheck.t>. Lines
1115 containing such links should be marked with C<XXX> so that they get
1116 cleaned up before the next release.
1120 Following the instructions output by F<t/porting/podcheck.t> on how to
1121 update its exceptions database.
1127 Finally, push any commits done above.
1129 $ git push origin ....
1131 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT MAINT RC
1133 =head3 create maint branch
1135 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC, BLEAD-POINT, MAINT>
1137 If this was a BLEAD-FINAL release (i.e. the first release of a new maint
1138 series, 5.x.0 where x is even), then create a new maint branch based on
1139 the commit tagged as the current release.
1141 Assuming you're using git 1.7.x or newer:
1143 $ git checkout -b maint-5.12 v5.12.0
1144 $ git push origin -u maint-5.12
1147 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT MAINT RC
1149 =head3 make the maint branch available in the APC
1151 Clone the new branch into /srv/gitcommon/branches on camel so the APC will
1152 receive its changes.
1154 $ git clone --branch maint-5.14 /gitroot/perl.git \
1155 ? /srv/gitcommon/branches/perl-5.14.x
1156 $ chmod -R g=u /srv/gitcommon/branches/perl-5.14.x
1158 And nag the sysadmins to make this directory available via rsync.
1160 =for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT RC
1162 =head3 copy perldelta.pod to other branches
1164 I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC, BLEAD-POINT>
1166 Copy the perldelta.pod for this release into the other branches; for
1169 $ cp -i ../5.10.x/pod/perldelta.pod pod/perl5101delta.pod # for example
1170 $ git add pod/perl5101delta.pod
1172 Edit F<pod/perl.pod> to add an entry for the file, e.g.:
1174 perl5101delta Perl changes in version 5.10.1
1176 Then rebuild various files:
1178 $ perl pod/buildtoc --build-all
1182 $ git commit -a -m 'add perlXXXdelta'
1185 =head3 update perlhist.pod in other branches
1187 Make sure any recent F<pod/perlhist.pod> entries are copied to
1188 F<perlhist.pod> on other branches
1194 =head3 bump RT version number
1196 Log into http://rt.perl.org/ and check whether the new version is in the RT
1197 fields C<Perl Version> and C<Fixed In>. The easiest way to determine this is
1198 to go to L<https://rt.perl.org/rt3/Search/Build.html> and click on the drop
1199 downs next to the C<Perl Version> and C<Fixed In> labels.
1201 If the new version is not listed there, send an email to C<perlbug-admin at
1202 perl.org> requesting this.
1206 I<You MUST RETIRE to your preferred PUB, CAFE or SEASIDE VILLA for some
1207 much-needed rest and relaxation>.
1209 Thanks for releasing perl!
1212 =head2 Building a release - the day after
1214 =head3 link announcement in epigraphs.pod
1216 Add, to your quote to F<Porting/epigraphs.pod>, a link to the release
1217 announcement in the web-visible mailing list archive. Commit it.
1219 =head3 check tarball availability
1221 Check various website entries to make sure the that tarball has appeared
1222 and is properly indexed:
1228 Check your author directory under L<http://www.cpan.org/authors/id/>
1229 to ensure that the tarballs are available on the website.
1233 Check C</src> on CPAN (on a fast mirror) to ensure that links to
1234 the new tarballs have appeared. There should be links in C</src/5.0>
1235 (which is accumulating all new versions), links in C</src> (which shows
1236 only the latest version on each branch), and an appropriate mention in
1237 C</src/README.html> (which describes the latest versions).
1239 These links should appear automatically, some hours after upload.
1240 If they don't, or the C<README.html> description is inadequate,
1241 ask Ask <ask@perl.org>.
1245 Check L<http://www.cpan.org/src/> to ensure that the C</src> updates
1246 have been correctly mirrored to the website.
1247 If they haven't, ask Ask <ask@perl.org>.
1251 Check L<http://search.cpan.org> to see if it has indexed the distribution.
1252 It should be visible at a URL like C<http://search.cpan.org/dist/perl-5.10.1/>.
1256 =for checklist skip RC
1258 =head3 update dev.perl.org
1260 I<You MUST SKIP this step for a RC release>
1262 In your C<perlorg> repository, link to the new release. For a new
1263 latest-maint release, edit F<docs/shared/tpl/stats.html>. Otherwise,
1264 edit F<docs/dev/perl5/index.html>.
1266 Then make a pull request to Leo Lapworth. If this fails for some reason
1267 and you cannot cajole anybody else into submitting that change, you can
1268 mail Leo as last resort.
1270 This repository can be found on L<github|https://github.com/perlorg/perlweb>.
1277 http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2009-05/msg00608.html,
1278 plus a whole bunch of other sources, including private correspondence.