release_managers_guide - Releasing a new version of perl 5.x
-As of August 2009, this file is mostly complete, although it is missing
-some detail on doing a major release (e.g. 5.10.0 -> 5.12.0). Note that
-things change at each release, so there may be new things not covered
-here, or tools may need updating.
+Note that things change at each release, so there may be new things not
+covered here, or tools may need updating.
+
=head1 SYNOPSIS
This document describes the series of tasks required - some automatic, some
-manual - to produce a perl release of some description, be that a snaphot,
-release candidate, or final, numbered release of maint or blead.
+manual - to produce a perl release of some description, be that a release
+candidate, or final, numbered release of maint or blead.
The release process has traditionally been executed by the current
pumpking. Blead releases from 5.11.0 forward are made each month on the
... the cycle continues ...
+
=head1 DETAILS
Some of the tasks described below apply to all four types of
type of release, you will see a notation to that effect at
the beginning of the step.
+
=head2 Release types
=over 4
=item Blead final release (BLEAD-FINAL)
A release with an even version number, and subversion number == 0, such as
-5.14.0. That is to say, ite the big new release once per year.
+5.14.0. That is to say, it's the big new release once per year.
It's essentially the same procedure as for making a release candidate, but
with a whole bunch of extra post-release steps, even more than for MAINT.
=back
+
=head2 Prerequisites
Before you can make an official release of perl, there are a few
Some of the following steps should be done regularly, but all I<must> be
done in the run up to a release.
-=over 4
-=item *
+=head3 dual-life CPAN module synchronisation
Ensure that dual-life CPAN modules are synchronised with CPAN. Basically,
run the following:
and maint are synchronised with a particular CPAN module, but one might
have some extra changes.
-=item *
+
+=head3 dual-life CPAN module stability
Ensure dual-life CPAN modules are stable, which comes down to:
no - note it in perldelta as a significant bugfix
(also, try to inform the module's author)
-=item *
+
+=head3 smoking
Similarly, monitor the smoking of core tests, and try to fix. See
L<http://doc.procura.nl/smoke/index.html> for a summary. See also
L<http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.daily-build.reports/> which has
the raw reports.
-=item *
-
Similarly, monitor the smoking of perl for compiler warnings, and try to
fix.
-=item *
+
+=head3 perldelta
Get perldelta in a mostly finished state.
every section it lists is, if necessary, populated and complete. Copy
edit the whole document.
-=item *
-Bump the version number (e.g. from 5.12.0 to 5.12.1).
+=head3 Bump the version number
+
+Increase the version number (e.g. from 5.12.0 to 5.12.1).
For a BLEAD-POINT 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
$ 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
+At this point you may want to compare the commit with a previous bump to
+see if they look similar. See commit 8891dd8d for an example of a
+previous version bump.
+
+When the version number is bumped, you should also update Module::CoreList
+(as described below in L<"update Module::CoreList">) to reflect the new
version number.
-=item *
+
+=head3 update INSTALL
Review and update INSTALL to account for the change in version number;
in particular, the "Coexistence with earlier versions of perl 5" section.
release (so for 5.15.3 this would be 5.15.2).
-=item *
+=head3 update Changes
Update the F<Changes> file to contain the git log command which would show
all the changes in this release. You will need assume the existence of a
if C<git log> produces roughly the right number of commits across roughly the
right time period (you may find C<git log --pretty=oneline | wc> useful).
-=item *
+
+=head3 Check more build configurations
Check some more build configurations. The check that setuid builds and
installs is for < 5.11.0 only.
XXX think of other configurations that need testing.
-=item *
+
+=head3 update perlport
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
-
=head2 Building a release - on the day
This section describes the actions required to make a release
that are performed on the actual day.
-=over 4
-=item *
+=head3 re-check earlier actions
-Review all the items in the previous section,
+Review all the actions in the previous section,
L<"Building a release - advance actions"> to ensure they are all done and
up-to-date.
-=item *
+
+=head3 bump version number
For a BLEAD-POINT release, if you did not bump the perl version number as
part of I<advance actions>, do that now.
-=item *
+
+=head3 finalize perldelta
Finalize the perldelta. In particular, fill in the Acknowledgements
section. You can generate a list of contributors with checkAUTHORS.pl.
If you make changes, be sure to commit them.
-=item *
+
+=head3 build a clean perl
Make sure you have a gitwise-clean perl directory (no modified files,
unpushed commits etc):
$ git status
$ git clean -dxf
-=item *
-
-Configure and build perl so that you have a Makefile and porting tools:
+then configure and build perl so that you have a Makefile and porting tools:
$ ./Configure -Dusedevel -des && make
-=item *
+
+=head3 update Module::CoreList
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 branch, but commit the C<CoreList.pm> changes in
-I<blead> and subsequently cherry-pick it. XXX need a better example
+I<blead> and subsequently cherry-pick any releases since the last
+maint release and then your recent commit. 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
$ git commit -m 'Update Module::CoreList for 5.x.y' dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm
-=item *
+
+=head3 check MANIFEST
Check that the manifest is sorted and correct:
$ make test_porting
$ git commit -m 'Update MANIFEST' MANIFEST
-=item *
-Add an entry to F<pod/perlhist.pod> with the current date, e.g.:
+=head3 update perlhist.pod
- David 5.10.1-RC1 2009-Aug-06
+I<You MUST SKIP this step for a RC release>
+
+Add an entry to F<pod/perlhist.pod> with the release date, e.g.:
+
+ David 5.10.1 2009-Aug-06
Make sure that the correct pumpking is listed in the left-hand column, and
if this is the first release under the stewardship of a new pumpking, make
$ git commit -m 'add new release to perlhist' pod/perlhist.pod
-=item *
+
+=head3 update patchlevel.h
I<You MUST SKIP this step for a BLEAD-POINT release>
$ git commit -m 'bump version to RCnnn' patchlevel.h
-=item *
+
+=head3 build, test and check a fresh perl
Build perl, then make sure it passes its own test suite, and installs:
$ make test install
-=item *
-
Check that the output of C</tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest/bin/perl -v> and
C</tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest/bin/perl -V> are as expected,
especially as regards version numbers, patch and/or RC levels, and @INC
Then delete the temporary installation.
-=item *
+
+=head3 push the work so far
Push all your recent commits:
$ git push origin ....
-=item *
+=head3 tag the release
Tag the release (e.g.):
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 *
+
+=head3 build the tarball
Create a tarball. Use the C<-s> option to specify a suitable suffix for
the tarball and directory name:
(7-Zip on Windows is the same code as AdvanceCOMP, so Windows users get the
smallest files first time)
-=item *
-Clean up the temporary directory, e.g.
+Finally, clean up the temporary directory, e.g.
$ rm -rf ../perl-x.y.z-RC1
+
+=head3 test the tarball
+
+=over 4
+
=item *
Copy the tarballs (.gz and possibly .bz2) to a web server somewhere you
delete the file, and try it again, this time actually submitting the bug
report. Check that it shows up, then remember to close it!
-=item *
+=back
+
+
+=head3 monitor smokes
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).
to plead with people on IRC to test stuff on their platforms, fire away,
and then hope for the best.
-=item *
+
+=head3 upload to PAUSE
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
(e.g., cpan.hexten.net
or cpan.cpantesters.org) to confirm that your uploads have been successful.
-=item *
+
+=head3 publish tag
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 push origin tag v5.11.0
-=item *
+
+=head3 disarm patchlevel.h
I<You MUST SKIP this step for BLEAD-POINT release>
$ git push origin ....
-=item *
+
+=head3 announce to p5p
Mail p5p to announce your new release, with a quote you prepared earlier.
-=item *
+
+=head3 update epigraphs.pod
Add your quote to F<Porting/epigraphs.pod> and commit it.
-=item *
+
+=head3 Module::CoreList nagging
I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC>
Remind the current maintainer of C<Module::CoreList> to push a new release
to CPAN.
-=item *
+
+=head3 new perldelta
I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC>
directory, as at least one of the pod files it expects to find is
autogenerated: perluniprops.pod. But you can't build perl if you've added
the new perldelta file and not updated toc. So, make sure you have a built
-perl (with a pod/perluniprops.pod file) now, I<>before> continuing.
+perl (with a pod/perluniprops.pod file) now, I<before> continuing.
First, update the F<pod/.gitignore> file to ignore the next
release's generated F<pod/perlNNNdelta.pod> file rather than this release's
$ git add pod/perldelta.pod
$ git commit -m 'create perldelta for 5.10.2'
-=item *
+=head3 update perldelta TOC and references
Now you need to update various tables of contents related to perldelta,
most of which can be generated automatically.
-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
+Edit F<pod.lst>: add the entry for the new perlNNNdelta file (for the
+previous version).
Manually create a temporary link to the new delta file; normally this is
done from the Makefile, but the Makefile is updated by buildtoc, and
$ 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 8891dd8d for an example of a
+At this point you may want to compare the commit with a previous bump to
+see if they look similar. See commit dd885b5 for an example of a
previous version bump.
-=item *
+
+=head3 bump version
I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC, BLEAD-POINT, MAINT>
"5.14" => [qw(switch say state unicode_strings)],
+ "5.15" => [qw(switch say state unicode_strings)],
-Then follow the item "Bump the version number" in the section
-L<"Building a release - advance actions"> to bump the version in the
-remaining files and test and commit.
+Then follow the section L<"Bump the version number"> to bump the version
+in the remaining files and test and commit.
-Finally, push the changes.
-=item *
+=head3 push commits
+
+Finally, push any commits done above.
+
+ $ git push origin ....
+
+
+=head3 create maint branch
I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC, BLEAD-POINT, MAINT>
$ git checkout -b maint-5.12 v5.12.0
$ git push origin -u maint-5.12
-=item *
+
+=head3 make the maint branch available in the APC
+
+Clone the new branch into /srv/gitcommon/branches on camel so the APC will
+receive its changes.
+
+ $ git clone --branch maint-5.14 /gitroot/perl.git \
+ ? /srv/gitcommon/branches/perl-5.14.x
+ $ chmod -R g=u /srv/gitcommon/branches/perl-5.14.x
+
+And nag the sysadmins to make this directory available via rsync.
+
+
+=head3 copy perldelta.pod to other branches
I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC, BLEAD-POINT>
$ git commit -a -m 'add perlXXXdelta'
-=item *
+
+=head3 update perlhist.pod in other branches
Make sure any recent F<pod/perlhist.pod> entries are copied to
-F<perlhist.pod> on other branches; typically the RC* and final entries,
+F<perlhist.pod> on other branches
e.g.
- 5.8.9-RC1 2008-Nov-10
- 5.8.9-RC2 2008-Dec-06
5.8.9 2008-Dec-14
-=item *
+
+=head3 bump RT version number
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 *
+
+=head3 Relax!
I<You MUST RETIRE to your preferred PUB, CAFE or SEASIDE VILLA for some
much-needed rest and relaxation>.
Thanks for releasing perl!
-=back
=head2 Building a release - the day after
+=head3 check tarball availability
+
+Check various website entries to make sure the that tarball has appeared
+and is properly indexed:
+
=over 4
=item *
Check L<http://search.cpan.org> to see if it has indexed the distribution.
It should be visible at a URL like C<http://search.cpan.org/dist/perl-5.10.1/>.
-=item *
+=back
-I<This step ONLY for STABLE>
-Ask Rafael to update L<http://dev.perl.org/perl5/>.
+=head3 update dev.perl.org
+
+I<This step ONLY for BLEAD-POINT and MAINT>
+
+Ask Leo Lapworth to update L<http://dev.perl.org/perl5/>.
-=back
=head1 SOURCE
https://perl5.git.perl.org / perl5.git / blobdiff