+=encoding utf8
+
=head1 NAME
release_managers_guide - Releasing a new version of perl 5.x
release candidate, or final, numbered release of maint or blead.
The release process has traditionally been executed by the current
-pumpking.
+pumpking. Blead releases from 5.11.0 forward are made each month on the
+20th by a non-pumpking release engineer. The release engineer roster
+and schedule can be found in Porting/release_schedule.pod.
This document both helps as a check-list for the release engineer
and is a base for ideas on how the various tasks could be automated
perl-5.10.2 is released
post-release actions are performed, including creating new
- perl5103delta.pod
+ perldelta.pod
... the cycle continues ...
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
+L<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
König to add your ID to the list of people allowed to upload something
called perl. You can find Andreas' email address at:
https://pause.perl.org/pause/query?ACTION=pause_04imprint
+=item search.cpan.org
+
+Make sure that search.cpan.org knows that you're allowed to upload
+perl distros. Contact Graham Barr to make sure that you're on the right
+list.
+
=item CPAN mirror
Some release engineering steps require a full mirror of the CPAN.
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.
+C<-c cachedir> option to avoid repeated CPAN downloads and may want to
+use C<-m file:///mirror/path> if you made a local CPAN mirror.
To see which core distro versions differ from the current CPAN versions:
I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
Similarly, monitor the smoking of core tests, and try to fix.
+See L<http://doc.procura.nl/smoke/index.html> for a summary.
=item *
numbers but different contents, e.g.:
$ cd ~/some-perl-root
- $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/cmpVERSION.pl -xd ~/my_perl-tarballs/perl-5.10.0 .
+ $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/cmpVERSION.pl -xd . v5.10.0
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.
+Be sure to bump the version numbers in separate commits for each module
+(or group of related modules) so that changes can be cherry-picked later
+if necessary.
+
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!
Then run again without the -x option, to check that dual-life modules are
also sensible.
+ $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/cmpVERSION.pl -d . v5.10.0
+
=item *
I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
Get perldelta in a mostly finished state.
-Peruse F<Porting/how_to_write_a_perldelta.pod>, and try to make sure that
+Read F<Porting/how_to_write_a_perldelta.pod>, and try to make sure that
every section it lists is, if necessary, populated and complete. Copy
edit the whole document.
I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
-A week or two before the first release candidate, bump the perl version
-number (e.g. from 5.10.0 to 5.10.1), to allow sufficient time for testing
-and smoking with the target version built into the perl executable. For
-subsequent release candidates and the final release, it it not necessary
-to bump the version further.
+Bump the version number (e.g. from 5.12.0 to 5.12.1).
+
+For a blead release, this can happen on the day of the release. For a
+release candidate for a stable perl, this should happen a week or two
+before the first release candidate to allow sufficient time for testing and
+smoking with the target version built into the perl executable. For
+subsequent release candidates and the final release, it it not necessary to
+bump the version further.
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
$ Porting/bump-perl-version -u < /tmp/scan
-which will update all the files shown; then commit the changes.
+which will update all the files shown.
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
rename perl-5^.10^.1.dir perl-5_10_1.dir
+When doing a blead release, also make sure the C<PERL_API_*> constants in
+F<patchlevel.h> are in sync with the with the version you're releasing, unless
+you're absolutely sure the release you're about to make is 100% binary
+compatible to an earlier release. When releasing a stable perl version, the
+C<PERL_API_*> constants C<MUST NOT> be changed as we aim to guarantee binary
+compatibility in maint branches.
+
+Commit your changes:
+
+ $ git st
+ $ git diff
+ B<review the delta carefully>
+
+ $ git commit -a -m 'Bump the perl version in various places for 5.x.y'
+
+When the version number is bumped, you should also update Module::CoreList (as
+described below in L<"Building a release - on the day">) to reflect the new
+version number.
=item *
Review and update INSTALL to account for the change in version number;
in particular, the "Coexistence with earlier versions of perl 5" section.
+Be particularly careful with the section "Upgrading from 5.X.Y or earlier". For
+stable releases, this needs to refer to the last release in the previous
+development cycle. For blead releases, it needs to refer to the previous blead
+release.
+
=item *
I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
-Update F<AUTHORS>, using the C<Porting/checkAUTHORS.pl> script, and if
-necessary, update the script to include new alias mappings for porters
-already in F<AUTHORS>
-
- $ git log | perl Porting/checkAUTHORS.pl --acknowledged AUTHORS -
+L<perlport> has a section currently named I<Supported Platforms> that
+indicates which platforms are known to build in the current release.
+If necessary update the list and the indicated version number.
=back
=item *
+For a blead release, if you did not bump the perl version number as part
+of I<advance actions>, do that now.
+
+=item *
+
I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
+Finalize the perldelta. In particular, fill in the Acknowledgements
+section. You can generate a list of contributors with checkAUTHORS.pl.
+For example:
+
+ $ git log --pretty=fuller v5.13.2..HEAD | \
+ perl Porting/checkAUTHORS.pl --who -
+
Re-read the perldelta to try to find any embarrassing typos and thinkos;
remove any C<TODO> or C<XXX> flags; update the "Known Problems" section
with any serious issues for which fixes are not going to happen now; and
run through pod and spell checkers, e.g.
- $ podchecker -warnings -warnings pod/perl5101delta.pod
- $ spell pod/perl5101delta.pod
+ $ podchecker -warnings -warnings pod/perldelta.pod
+ $ spell pod/perldelta.pod
Also, you may want to generate and view an HTML version of it to check
formatting, e.g.
- $ perl pod/pod2html pod/perl5101delta.pod > /tmp/perl5101delta.html
+ $ perl pod/pod2html pod/perldelta.pod > /tmp/perldelta.html
+
+Another good HTML preview option is http://search.cpan.org/pod2html
+
+If you make changes, be sure to commit them.
=item *
Make sure you have a gitwise-clean perl directory (no modified files,
unpushed commits etc):
+ $ git clean -dxf
$ git status
=item *
within your working directory:
$ git status
- $ make regen
+ $ make regen_all
$ make regen_perly
$ git status
$ git commit -a -m 'make regen; make regen_perly'
-=item *
-
-Rebuild META.yml:
-
- $ rm META.yml
- $ make META.yml
- $ git diff
-
-XXX it would be nice to make Porting/makemeta use regen_lib.pl
-to get the same 'update the file if its changed' functionality
-we get with 'make regen' etc.
-
-Commit META.yml if it has changed:
-
- $ git commit -m 'Update META.yml' META.yml
+(XXX regen might be a problem depending on the bison version available.
+We need to get a wizard to give better instructions on what to do or not do.)
=item *
I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
-Update C<Module::Corelist> with module version data for the new release.
+Update C<Module::CoreList> with module version data for the new release.
Note that if this is a maint release, you should run the following actions
-from the maint directory, but commit the C<Corelist.pm> changes in
-I<blead> and subsequently cherry-pick it.
+from the maint branch, but commit the C<CoreList.pm> changes in
+I<blead> and subsequently cherry-pick it. XXX need a better example
F<corelist.pl> uses ftp.funet.fi to verify information about dual-lived
modules on CPAN. It can use a full, local CPAN mirror or fall back
-to C<wget> or C<curl> to fetch only package metadata remotely.
+to C<wget> or C<curl> to fetch only package metadata remotely. (If you're
+on Win32, then installing Cygwin is one way to have commands like C<wget>
+and C<curl> available.)
(If you'd prefer to have a full CPAN mirror, see
http://www.cpan.org/misc/cpan-faq.html#How_mirror_CPAN)
Then change to your perl checkout, and if necessary,
- $ make perl
+ $ make
-If this not the first update for this version, first edit
-F<ext/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm> to delete the existing
+If this not the first update for this version (e.g. if it was updated
+when the version number was originally bumped), first edit
+F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm> to delete the existing
entries for this version from the C<%released> and C<%version> hashes:
they will have a key like C<5.010001> for 5.10.1.
$ ./perl -Ilib Porting/corelist.pl cpan
This will chug for a while, possibly reporting various warnings about
-badly-indexed CPABN modules unreltaed to the modules actually in core.
+badly-indexed CPAN modules unrelated to the modules actually in core.
Assuming all goes well, it will update
-F<ext/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm>.
+F<dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm>.
Check that file over carefully:
- $ git diff ext/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm
+ $ git diff dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm
If necessary, bump C<$VERSION> (there's no need to do this for
every RC; in RC1, bump the version to a new clean number that will
Edit the version number in the new C<< 'Module::CoreList' => 'X.YZ' >>
entry, as that is likely to reflect the previous version number.
+Also edit Module::CoreList's new version number in its F<Changes> file and
+in its F<META.yml> file.
+
In addition, if this is a final release (rather than a release candidate):
=over 4
$ perl Porting/manicheck
$ git status
+ XXX manifest _sorting_ is now checked with make test_porting
+
Commit MANIFEST if it has changed:
$ git commit -m 'Update MANIFEST' MANIFEST
=item *
-I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
+I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT or BLEAD release>
Update F<patchlevel.h> to add a C<-RC1>-or-whatever string; or, if this is
a final release, remove it. For example:
=item *
-If this is maint release, make sure F<Porting/mergelog> is saved and
-committed.
+Push all your recent commits:
+
+ $ git push origin ....
+
=item *
-Push all your recent commits:
+I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
- $ git push origin ....
+Tag the release (e.g.):
+
+ $ git tag v5.11.0 -m'First release of the v5.11 series!'
+
+(Adjust the syntax appropriately if you're working on Win32, i.e. use
+C<-m "..."> rather than C<-m'...'>.)
+
+It is VERY important that from this point forward, you not push
+your git changes to the Perl master repository. If anything goes
+wrong before you publish your newly-created tag, you can delete
+and recreate it. Once you push your tag, we're stuck with it
+and you'll need to use a new version number for your release.
=item *
adds DOS line endings to some, then tars it up as
F<../perl-x.y.z-RC1.tar.gz>. With C<-b>, it also creates a C<tar.bz2> file.
+If you're getting your tarball suffixed with -uncommitted and you're sure
+your changes were all committed, you can override the suffix with:
+
+ $ perl Porting/makerel -b -s ''
+
XXX if we go for extra tags and branches stuff, then add the extra details
here
$ bin/perl -MCPAN -e'shell'
+(Use C<... -e "shell"> instead on Win32. You probably also need a set of
+Unix command-line tools available for CPAN to function correctly without
+Perl alternatives like LWP installed. Cygwin is an obvious choice.)
+
=item *
Try installing a popular CPAN module that's reasonably complex and that
42
$
+(Use C<... -lwe "use ..."> instead on Win32.)
+
=item *
Bootstrap the CPANPLUS client on the clean install:
$ bin/cpanp
+(Again, on Win32 you'll need something like Cygwin installed, but make sure
+that you don't end up with its various F<bin/cpan*> programs being found on
+the PATH before those of the Perl that you're trying to test.)
+
=item *
Install an XS module, for example:
=item *
-I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
+I<If you're building a SNAPSHOT, you should STOP HERE>
+
+=item *
Check that the C<perlbug> utility works. Try the following:
=item *
-I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
-
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).
=item *
-I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
-
Once smoking is okay, upload it to PAUSE. This is the point of no return.
If anything goes wrong after this point, you will need to re-prepare
a new release with a new minor version or RC number.
(Login, then select 'Upload a file to CPAN')
+If your workstation is not connected to a high-bandwidth,
+high-reliability connection to the Internet, you should probably use the
+"GET URL" feature (rather than "HTTP UPLOAD") to have PAUSE retrieve the
+new release from wherever you put it for testers to find it. This will
+eliminate anxious gnashing of teeth while you wait to see if your
+15 megabyte HTTP upload successfully completes across your slow, twitchy
+cable modem. You can make use of your home directory on dromedary for
+this purpose: F<http://users.perl5.git.perl.org/~USERNAME> maps to
+F</home/USERNAME/public_html>, where F<USERNAME> is your login account
+on dromedary. I<Remember>: if your upload is partially successful, you
+may need to contact a PAUSE administrator or even bump the version of perl.
+
Upload both the .gz and .bz2 versions of the tarball.
-=item *
+Wait until you receive notification emails from the PAUSE indexer
+confirming that your uploads have been received. IMPORTANT -- you will
+probably get an email that indexing has failed (due to dual-life modules,
+apparently). This is considered normal.
-I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
+Do not proceed any further until you are sure that your tarballs are on
+CPAN. Check your authors directory on one of the "fast" CPAN mirrors
+(e.g. cpan.shadowcatprojects.net, cpan.dagolden.com, cpan.hexten.net
+or cpan.cpantesters.org) to confirm that your uploads have been successful.
+
+=item *
-Create a tag for the exact git revision you built the release from.
-C<commit> below is the commit corresponding to the tarball. It can be
-omitted if there have been no further commits since the tarball was
-created, for example:
+Now that you've shipped the new perl release to PAUSE, it's
+time to publish the tag you created earlier to the public git repo (e.g.):
- $ git tag perl-5.10.1-RC1 -m'Release Candidate 1 of Perl 5.10.1' <commit>
- $ git push origin tag perl-5.10.1-RC1
+ $ git push origin tag v5.11.0
=item *
-I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
-
Disarm the F<patchlevel.h> change; for example,
static const char * const local_patches[] = {
=item *
-I<You MAY SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
+Add your quote to F<Porting/epigraphs.pod> and commit it.
+
+=item *
Wait 24 hours or so, then post the announcement to use.perl.org.
(if you don't have access rights to post news, ask someone like Rafael to
=item *
-I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
-
-Ask Jarkko to add the tarball to http://www.cpan.org/src/
+Check http://www.cpan.org/src/ to see if the new tarballs have appeared.
+They should appear automatically, but if they don't then ask Jarkko to look
+into it, since his scripts must have broken.
=item *
-I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT, RC, BLEAD>
+I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC, BLEAD>
Ask Jarkko to update the descriptions of which tarballs are current in
http://www.cpan.org/src/README.html, and Rafael to update
=item *
-I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT, RC>
+I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC>
Remind the current maintainer of C<Module::CoreList> to push a new release
to CPAN.
=item *
-I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT, RC>
+I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC>
-Bump the perlXYZ version number.
+Create a new perldelta.
-First, create a new empty perlNNNdelta.pod file for the current release + 1;
-see F<Porting/how_to_write_a_perldelta.pod>.
+First, move the existing F<pod/perldelta.pod> to F<pod/perlNNNdelta.pod> (where
+NNN is the perl version number without the dots. i.e. 5134 for 5.13.4).
+
+Now edit the moved delta file to change the C<NAME> from C<perldelta> to
+C<perlNNNdelta>.
+
+Then create a new empty perldelta.pod file for the new release; see
+F<Porting/how_to_write_a_perldelta.pod>.
You should be able to do this by just copying in a skeleton template and
then doing a quick fix up of the version numbers, e.g.
- $ cp -i Porting/perldelta_template pod/perl5102delta.pod
- $ (edit it)
- $ git add pod/perl5102delta.pod
+Then commit the move and the new file.
+
+For example, assuming you just released 5.10.1:
+
+ $ git mv pod/perldelta.pod pod/perl5101delta.pod
+ $ (edit pod/perl5101delta.pod to retitle)
+ $ git add pod/perl5101delta.pod
+
+ $ cp -i Porting/perldelta_template.pod pod/perldelta.pod
+ $ (edit pod/perldelta.pod)
+ $ git add pod/perldelta.pod
+ $ git commit -m 'create perldelta for 5.10.2'
-Edit F<pod.lst>: add the new entry, flagged as 'D', and unflag the previous
-entry from being 'D'; for example:
+Now you need to update various tables of contents, most of which can be
+generated automatically.
- -D perl5101delta Perl changes in version 5.10.1
- +D perl5102delta Perl changes in version 5.10.2
+Edit F<pod.lst>: add the new entry, flagged as 'd', and unflag the previous
+entry from being 'd'; for example:
+
+ -d perl5101delta Perl changes in version 5.10.1
+ +d perl5102delta Perl changes in version 5.10.2
+ perl5101delta Perl changes in version 5.10.1
Run C<perl pod/buildtoc --build-all> to update the F<perldelta> version in
Then manually edit (F<vms/descrip_mms.template> to bump the version
in the following entry:
- [.pod]perldelta.pod : [.pod]perl5101delta.pod
+ [.pod]perl5101delta.pod : [.pod]perldelta.pod
XXX this previous step needs to fixed to automate it in pod/buildtoc.
-Manually update references to the perlNNNdelta version in these files:
-
- INSTALL
- README
-
-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 that may have
-been missed.
-
Finally, commit:
- $ git commit -a -m 'create perlXXXdelta'
+ $ git commit -a -m 'update TOC for perlNNNdelta'
At this point you may want to compare the commit with a previous bump to
see if they look similar. See commit ca8de22071 for an example of a
previous version bump.
-=item *
-
-I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT, RC, BLEAD>
-
-If this was a maint release, then edit F<Porting/mergelog> to change
-all the C<d> (deferred) flags to C<.> (needs review).
+XXX the commit uses the old perldelta naming scheme and we need to reference
+another one once this has been done with the scheme.
=item *
-I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT, RC, BLEAD>
+I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC, BLEAD>
-If this was a major release (5.x.0), then create a new maint branch
-based on the commit tagged as the current release and bump the version
-in the blead branch in git, e.g. 5.12.0 to 5.13.0.
+If this was the first release of a new maint series, (5.x.0 where x is
+even), then create a new maint branch based on the commit tagged as
+the current release and bump the version in the blead branch in git,
+e.g. 5.12.0 to 5.13.0.
[ XXX probably lots more stuff to do, including perldelta,
C<lib/feature.pm> ]
-XXX need a git recipe
+Assuming you're using git 1.7.x or newer:
+
+ $ git checkout -b maint-5.12
+ $ git push origin -u maint-5.12
=item *
-I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT, RC, BLEAD>
+I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC, BLEAD>
-Copy the perlNNNdelta.pod for this release into the other branches; for
+Copy the perldelta.pod for this release into the other branches; for
example:
- $ cp -i ../5.10.x/pod/perl5101delta.pod pod/ # for example
+ $ cp -i ../5.10.x/pod/perldelta.pod pod/perl5101delta.pod # for example
$ git add pod/perl5101delta.pod
Edit F<pod.lst> to add an entry for the file, e.g.:
perl5101delta Perl changes in version 5.10.1
-
+
Then rebuild various files:
$ perl pod/buildtoc --build-all
=item *
-I<You MUST SKIP this step for SNAPSHOT>
-
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.
=item *
-I<You MUST RETIRE to your preferred PUB, CAFE or SEASIDE VILLA for some much-needed
-rest and relaxation>.
+If necessary, send an email to C<perlbug-admin at perl.org> requesting
+that new version numbers be added to the RT fields C<Perl Version> and
+C<Fixed In>.
+
+=item *
+
+I<You MUST RETIRE to your preferred PUB, CAFE or SEASIDE VILLA for some
+much-needed rest and relaxation>.
Thanks for releasing perl!