Note that things change at each release, so there may be new things not
covered here, or tools may need updating.
+=head1 MAKING A CHECKLIST
+
+If you are preparing to do a release, you can run the
+F<Porting/make-rmg-checklist> script to generate a new version of this
+document that starts with a checklist for your release.
+
+This script is run as:
+
+ perl Porting/make-rmg-checklist \
+ --type [BLEAD-POINT or MAINT or ...] > /tmp/rmg.pod
+
+You can also pass the C<--html> flag to generate an HTML document instead of
+POD.
+
+ perl Porting/make-rmg-checklist --html \
+ --type [BLEAD-POINT or MAINT or ...] > /tmp/rmg.html
=head1 SYNOPSIS
and is a base for ideas on how the various tasks could be automated
or distributed.
-The outline of a typical release cycle is as follows:
+The checklist of a typical release cycle is as follows:
(5.10.1 is released, and post-release actions have been done)
=back
+=for checklist begin
=head2 Prerequisites
Before you can make an official release of perl, there are a few
hoops you need to jump through:
-=over 4
-
-=item PAUSE account
+=head3 PAUSE account
Make sure you have a PAUSE account suitable for uploading a perl release.
If you don't have a PAUSE account, then request one:
https://pause.perl.org/pause/query?ACTION=pause_04imprint
-=item search.cpan.org
+=head3 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
+=head3 CPAN mirror
Some release engineering steps require a full mirror of the CPAN.
Work to fall back to using a remote mirror via HTTP is incomplete
but ongoing. (No, a minicpan mirror is not sufficient)
-=item git checkout and commit bit
+=head3 git checkout and commit bit
You will need a working C<git> installation, checkout of the perl
git repository and perl commit bit. For information about working
you into the idea in the first place to figure out the best way to
resolve the issue.
+=for checklist skip RC
-=item Quotation for release announcement epigraph
+=head3 Quotation for release announcement epigraph
I<SKIP this step for RC>
For all except an RC release of perl, you will need a quotation
to use as an epigraph to your release announcement.
-
=back
-
=head2 Building a release - advance actions
The work of building a release candidate for a numbered release of
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
-edit; then you feed this list back and it applies the edits. So, first
-scan the source directory looking for likely candidates. The command line
-arguments are the old and new version numbers, and -s means scan:
-
- $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/bump-perl-version -s 5.10.0 5.10.1 > /tmp/scan
-
-This produces a file containing a list of suggested edits, e.g.:
-
- NetWare/Makefile
-
- 89: -MODULE_DESC = "Perl 5.10.0 for NetWare"
- +MODULE_DESC = "Perl 5.10.1 for NetWare"
+There is a tool to semi-automate this process:
-i.e. in the file F<NetWare/Makefile>, line 89 would be changed as shown.
-Review the file carefully, and delete any -/+ line pairs that you don't
-want changing. You can also edit just the C<+> line to change the
-suggested replacement text. Remember that this tool is largely just
-grepping for '5.10.0' or whatever, so it will generate false positives. Be
-careful not change text like "this was fixed in 5.10.0"! Then run:
+ $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/bump-perl-version -i 5.10.0 5.10.1
- $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/bump-perl-version -u < /tmp/scan
+Remember that this tool is largely just grepping for '5.10.0' or whatever,
+so it will generate false positives. Be careful not change text like
+"this was fixed in 5.10.0"!
-which will update all the files shown.
+Use git status and git diff to select changes you want to keep.
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
The line in F<INSTALL> about "is binary incompatible with" requires a
correct choice of earlier version to declare incompatibility with.
-Also note that this tool
-currently only detects a single substitution per line: so in particular,
-this line in README.vms needs special handling:
-
- rename perl-5^.10^.1.dir perl-5_10_1.dir
-
When doing a BLEAD-POINT or BLEAD-FINAL release, also make sure the
C<PERL_API_*> constants in F<patchlevel.h> are in sync with the version
you're releasing, unless you're
Commit your changes:
- $ git st
+ $ git status
$ git diff
B<review the delta carefully>
$ git commit -a -m 'Bump the perl version in various places for 5.x.y'
+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.
For BLEAD-POINT releases, it needs to refer to the previous BLEAD-POINT
release (so for 5.15.3 this would be 5.15.2).
-
-=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
-not-yet created tag for the forthcoming release; e.g.
-
- git log ... perl-5.10.0..perl-5.12.0
-
-Due to warts in the perforce-to-git migration, some branches require extra
-exclusions to avoid other branches being pulled in. Make sure you have the
-correct incantation: replace the not-yet-created tag with C<HEAD> and see
-if 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).
-
-
=head3 Check more build configurations
Check some more build configurations. The check that setuid builds and
=head3 finalize perldelta
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.${last}..HEAD | \
- perl Porting/checkAUTHORS.pl --who -
+section, which can be generated with something like:
-Look at the previous L<perldelta> for how to write the opening
-paragraph of the Acknowledgements section. To get the amount of
-changed files and number of lines use this command:
-
- $ git diff --shortstat v5.13.${last}..HEAD | \
- ./perl -Ilib -nE 'my ($files, $insert, $delete) = /(\d+)/ga; say "$files files and ", $insert + $delete, " lines changed"'
-
-Making sure to round off the number of lines changed.
+ $ perl Porting/acknowledgements.pl v5.15.0..HEAD
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
Also, you may want to generate and view an HTML version of it to check
formatting, e.g.
- $ ./perl -Ilib ext/Pod-Html/pod2html pod/perldelta.pod > /tmp/perldelta.html
+ $ ./perl -Ilib ext/Pod-Html/bin/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.
+=for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT MAINT RC
+
+=head3 remove stale perldeltas
+
+For the first RC release that is ONLY for a BLEAD-FINAL, the perldeltas
+from the BLEAD-POINT releases since the previous BLEAD_FINAL should have
+now been consolidated into the current perldelta, and hence are now just
+useless clutter. They can be removed using:
+
+ $ git rm <file1> <file2> ...
+
+For example, for RC0 of 5.16.0:
+
+ $ cd pod
+ $ git rm perldelta515*.pod
+
+All mention to them should also be removed. Edit F<pod/perl.pod> to remove
+them from its table of contents, then run F<Porting/pod_rules.pl> to
+propagate your changes there into all the other files that mention them
+(including F<MANIFEST>). You'll need to C<git add> the files that it changes.
+
+Then build a clean perl and do a full test
+
+ $ git status
+ $ git clean -dxf
+ $ ./Configure -Dusedevel -des
+ $ make
+ $ make test
+
+Once all tests pass, commit your changes.
=head3 build a clean perl
-Make sure you have a gitwise-clean perl directory (no modified files,
+If you skipped the previous step (removing the stale perldeltas)
+make sure you have a gitwise-clean perl directory (no modified files,
unpushed commits etc):
$ git status
$ ./Configure -Dusedevel -des && make
-
=head3 update Module::CoreList
Update C<Module::CoreList> with module version data for the new release.
$ make
-If this not the first update for this version (e.g. if it was updated
+If this is 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:
$ git diff dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm
+=head4 Bump C<$Module::CoreList::VERSION>
+
If necessary, bump C<$VERSION> (there's no need to do this for
every RC; in RC1, bump the version to a new clean number that will
appear in the final release, and leave as-is for the later RCs and final).
+It may also happen that C<Module::CoreList> has been modified in blead, and
+hence has a new version number already. (But make sure it is not the same
+number as a CPAN release.)
Edit the version number in the new C<< 'Module::CoreList' => 'X.YZ' >>
entry, as that is likely to reflect the previous version number.
Add a perldelta entry for the new Module::CoreList version.
-You should also add the version you're about to release to the
-L<Module::CoreList/CAVEATS> section which enumerates the perl releases
-that Module::CoreList covers.
+=for checklist skip RC
+
+=head4 Update C<%Module::CoreList::release> and C<CAVEATS>
In addition, if this is a final release (rather than a release candidate):
$ git commit -m 'Update Module::CoreList for 5.x.y' dist/Module-CoreList/lib/Module/CoreList.pm
-
-=head3 check MANIFEST
-
-Check that the manifest is sorted and correct:
-
- $ make distclean
- $ git clean -xdf # This shouldn't be necessary if distclean is correct
- $ perl Porting/manicheck
-
-If manicheck turns up anything wrong, update MANIFEST and begin this step again.
-
- $ ./configure -des -Dusedevel
- $ make test_porting
- $ git commit -m 'Update MANIFEST' MANIFEST
-
+=for checklist skip RC
=head3 update perlhist.pod
-Add an entry to F<pod/perlhist.pod> with the current date, e.g.:
+I<You MUST SKIP this step for a RC release>
- David 5.10.1-RC1 2009-Aug-06
+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
+=for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT
=head3 update patchlevel.h
=head3 build the tarball
+Before you run the following, you might want to install 7-Zip (the
+C<p7zip-full> package under Debian or the C<p7zip> port on MacPorts) or
+the AdvanceCOMP suite (e.g. the C<advancecomp> package under Debian,
+or the C<advancecomp> port on macports - 7-Zip on Windows is the
+same code as AdvanceCOMP, so Windows users get the smallest files
+first time). These compress about 5% smaller than gzip and bzip2.
+Over the lifetime of your distribution this will save a lot of
+people a small amount of download time and disk space, which adds
+up.
+
Create a tarball. Use the C<-s> option to specify a suitable suffix for
the tarball and directory name:
XXX if we go for extra tags and branches stuff, then add the extra details
here
-Optionally, you might want to compress your tarball more. Unix F<gzip>
-doesn't actually produce the smallest possible DEFLATE output. If you have the
-AdvanceCOMP suite (e.g. the C<advancecomp> port on macports), you can run
-
- $ advdef -z -4 ../perl-x.y.z-RC1.tar.gz
-
-which will probably shrink your tarball by about 5%. Over the lifetime of
-your distribution this will save a lot of people a small amount of download
-time and disk space, which adds up.
-
-(7-Zip on Windows is the same code as AdvanceCOMP, so Windows users get the
-smallest files first time)
-
-
Finally, clean up the temporary directory, e.g.
$ rm -rf ../perl-x.y.z-RC1
=back
+=for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT
=head3 monitor smokes
Upload both the .gz and .bz2 versions of the tarball.
-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 module permissions.
-This is considered normal.
-
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.hexten.net
or cpan.cpantesters.org) to confirm that your uploads have been successful.
+I<You MUST SKIP this step for RC>
+
+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 module permissions.
+This is considered normal.
+
=head3 publish tag
$ git push origin tag v5.11.0
+=for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT
=head3 disarm patchlevel.h
Mail p5p to announce your new release, with a quote you prepared earlier.
+Use the template at Porting/release_announcement_template.txt
=head3 update epigraphs.pod
Add your quote to F<Porting/epigraphs.pod> and commit it.
+Your release announcement will probably not have reached the web-visible
+archives yet, so you won't be able to include the customary link to the
+release announcement yet.
+=head3 blog about your epigraph
+
+If you have a blog, please consider writing an entry in your blog explaining
+why you chose that particular quote for your epigraph.
+
+=for checklist skip RC
=head3 Module::CoreList nagging
Remind the current maintainer of C<Module::CoreList> to push a new release
to CPAN.
+=for checklist skip RC
=head3 new perldelta
Create a new perldelta.
-B<Note>: currently, the buildtoc below must be run in a I<built> perl source
-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.
-
-First, update the F<pod/.gitignore> file to ignore the next
-release's generated F<pod/perlNNNdelta.pod> file rather than this release's
-one which we are about to set in stone (where NNN is the perl version number
-without the dots. i.e. 5135 for 5.13.5).
-
- $ (edit pod/.gitignore )
- $ git add pod/.gitignore
-
-Then, move the existing F<pod/perldelta.pod> to F<pod/perlNNNdelta.pod>,
-and edit the moved delta file to change the C<NAME> from C<perldelta> to
-C<perlNNNdelta>. For example, assuming you just released 5.10.1, and are
-about to create the 5.10.2 perldelta:
+=over 4
- $ rm pod/perl5101delta.pod # remove the auto-generated file, if any
- $ git mv pod/perldelta.pod pod/perl5101delta.pod
- $ (edit pod/perl5101delta.pod to retitle)
- $ git add pod/perl5101delta.pod
+=item *
-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. Then commit the move and the new file.
+Confirm that you have a clean checkout with no local changes.
- $ 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'
+=item *
-=head3 update perldelta TOC and references
+Run F<Porting/new-perldelta.pl>
-Now you need to update various tables of contents related to perldelta,
-most of which can be generated automatically.
+=item *
-Edit F<pod.lst>: add the new entry, flagged as 'd', and unflag the previous
-entry from being 'd'; for example:
+Run the C<git add> commands it outputs to add new and modified files.
- -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
+=item *
-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
-buildtoc won't run without the file there:
+Verify that the build still works, by running C<./Configure> and
+C<make test_porting>. (On Win32, run C<nmake> and
+C<nmake test TEST_FILES="porting\*.t ..\lib\diagnostics.t">.)
- $ ln -s perldelta.pod pod/perl5102delta.pod
+=item *
-Run C<perl pod/buildtoc --build-all> to update the F<perldelta> version in
-the following files:
+If F<t/porting/podcheck.t> spots errors in the new F<pod/perldelta.pod>,
+run C<./perl -MTestInit t/porting/podcheck.t | less> for more detail.
+Skip to the end of its test output to see the options it offers you.
- MANIFEST
- Makefile.SH
- pod/perl.pod
- vms/descrip_mms.template
- win32/Makefile
- win32/makefile.mk
- win32/pod.mak
+=item *
-Finally, commit:
+When C<make test_porting> passes, commit the new perldelta.
- $ git commit -a -m 'update TOC for perlNNNdelta'
+=back
-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 e3c71926d3 for an example of a
previous version bump.
+=for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT MAINT RC
=head3 bump version
in the remaining files and test and commit.
+=head3 clean build and test
+
+Run a clean build and test to make sure nothing obvious is broken.
+
+In particular, F<Porting/perldelta_template.pod> is intentionally exempted
+from podchecker tests, to avoid false positives about placeholder text.
+However, once it's copied to F<pod/perldelta.pod> the contents can now
+cause test failures. Problems should resolved by doing one of the
+following:
+
+=over
+
+=item 1
+
+Replace placeholder text with correct text.
+
+=item 2
+
+If the problem is from a broken placeholder link, you can add it to the
+array C<@perldelta_ignore_links> in F<t/porting/podcheck.t>. Lines
+containing such links should be marked with C<XXX> so that they get
+cleaned up before the next release.
+
+=item 3
+
+Following the instructions output by F<t/porting/podcheck.t> on how to
+update its exceptions database.
+
+=back
+
=head3 push commits
Finally, push any commits done above.
$ git push origin ....
+=for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT MAINT RC
=head3 create maint branch
$ git push origin -u maint-5.12
+=for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT MAINT RC
+
=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 --shared --branch maint-5.14 /gitroot/perl.git \
+ $ git clone --branch maint-5.14 /gitroot/perl.git \
? /srv/gitcommon/branches/perl-5.14.x
- $ chmod g=u /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.
+=for checklist skip BLEAD-POINT RC
=head3 copy perldelta.pod to other branches
$ 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.:
+Edit F<pod/perl.pod> to add an entry for the file, e.g.:
perl5101delta Perl changes in version 5.10.1
=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
=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>.
+Log into http://rt.perl.org/ and check whether the new version is in the RT
+fields C<Perl Version> and C<Fixed In>. The easiest way to determine this is
+to go to L<https://rt.perl.org/rt3/Search/Build.html> and click on the drop
+downs next to the C<Perl Version> and C<Fixed In> labels.
+If the new version is not listed there, send an email to C<perlbug-admin at
+perl.org> requesting this.
=head3 Relax!
=head2 Building a release - the day after
+=head3 link announcement in epigraphs.pod
+
+Add, to your quote to F<Porting/epigraphs.pod>, a link to the release
+announcement in the web-visible mailing list archive. Commit it.
+
=head3 check tarball availability
Check various website entries to make sure the that tarball has appeared
=head3 update dev.perl.org
-I<This step ONLY for BLEAD-POINT and MAINT>
+I<This step ONLY for BLEAD-FINAL and MAINT>
-Ask Rafael to update L<http://dev.perl.org/perl5/>.
+Ask Leo Lapworth to update L<http://dev.perl.org/perl5/>.
+=for checklist end
=head1 SOURCE
https://perl5.git.perl.org / perl5.git / blobdiff