4 release_managers_guide - Releasing a new version of perl 5.x
6 XXX as of Jul 2009, this file is still a work-in-progress. I think it
7 contains all the actions needed to build a release, but things may have
8 got skipped, and some things could do with polishing. Note that things
9 change each release, there may be new things not covered here, or
10 tools may need updating. DAPM
14 This document describes the series of tasks required - some automatic, some
15 manual - to produce a perl release of some description, be that a snaphot,
16 release candidate, or final release.
18 The release process is primarily executed by the current pumpking.
20 This document both helps as a check-list for the pumpking and is
21 a base for ideas on how the various tasks could be automated or
24 The outline of a typical release cycle is as follows:
26 (5.10.1 is released, and post-release actions have been done)
30 an occasional snapshot is released, that still identifies itself as
35 a few weeks before the release, a number of steps are performed,
36 including bumping the version to 5.10.2
38 ...a few weeks passes...
40 perl-5.10.2-RC1 is released
42 perl-5.10.2 is released
44 post-release actions are performed, including creating new
47 ... the cycle continues ...
52 =head2 Building a snapshot
54 A snapshot is intended to encourage in-depth testing from time-to-time,
55 for example after a key point in the stabilisation of a branch. It
56 requires less steps than a full release, and the version number of perl in
57 the tarball will usually still be the old one.
63 As there are no regular smokes [ XXX yet - please fix?] find out about the
64 state of VMS. If it's bad, think again.
73 and commit it if it's changed.
77 Check that the manifest is sorted and correct:
80 $ perl Porting/manisort
81 $ perl Porting/manicheck
85 If this is a release candidate or final release, add an entry to
86 F<pod/perlhist.pod> with the current date, e.g.
90 Make sure the correct pumpking is listed, and if this is your first time,
91 append your name to C<THE KEEPERS OF THE PUMPKIN>.
95 Build perl, then make sure it passes its own test suite, and installs.
99 Create a tarball. Use the C<-s> option to specify a suitable suffix for
100 the tarball and directory name:
102 $ cd root/of/perl/tree
103 $ git clean -xdf # make sure perl and git agree on files
105 $ perl Porting/makerel -s `git describe` # for a snapshot
106 $ perl Porting/makerel -s RC1 # for a release candidate
107 $ perl Porting/makerel # for a final release
109 This creates the directory F<../perl-x.y.z-RC1> or similar, copies all
110 the MANIFEST files into it, sets the correct permissions on them,
111 adds DOS line endings to some, then tars it up as
112 F<../perl-x.y.z-RC1.tar.gz>.
114 XXX if we go for extra tags and branches stuff, then add the extra details
119 Copy the tarball to a web server somewhere you have access to.
123 Download the tarball to some other machine (for a release candidate, to two or
124 more servers: IRC is good for this).
128 Check that C<./Configure -des && make all test> works in one place.
132 Check that C<./Configure ... && make all test_harness install> works.
136 Check that the output of C<perl -v> and C<perl -V> are as expected,
137 especially as regards version numbers, patch and/or RC levels, and @INC
138 paths. Note that the results may be different without a F<.git/> directory,
139 which is why you should test from the tarball.
143 Bootstrap the CPAN client on the clean install.
148 XXX pick something new; this is now bundled
152 Bootstrap the CPANPLUS client.
156 Install an XS module.
160 If all is well, announce the snaphot to p5p. (For a release candidate,
161 instead follow the further steps described later.)
165 =head2 Actions prior to the first release candidate
167 A week or two before the first release candidate, there are some additional
168 tasks you should perform (actually, some of these should be done regularly
169 anyway, but they definitely need doing now):
175 Check F<Maintainers.pl> for consistency; both these commands should
178 perl Porting/Maintainers --checkmani
179 perl Porting/Maintainers --checkmani lib/ ext/
183 Ensure that dual-life CPAN modules are synchronised with CPAN. Basically,
186 ./perl -Ilib Porting/core-cpan-diff -a -o /tmp/corediffs
188 to see any inconsistencies between the core and CPAN versions of distros,
189 then fix the core, or cajole CPAN authors as appropriate. See also the
190 C<-d> and C<-v> options for more detail. You'll probably want to use the
191 C<-c cachedir> option to avoid repeated CPAN downloads.
193 To see which core distro versions differ from the current CPAN versions:
195 ./perl -Ilib Porting/core-cpan-diff -x -a
197 if you are making a maint release, run C<core-cpan-diff> on both blead and
198 maint, then diff the two outputs. Compare this with what you expect, and if
199 necessary, fix things up. For example, you might think that both blead
200 and maint are synchronised with a particular CPAN module, but one might
201 have some extra changes.
205 Ensure dual-life CPAN modules are stable, which comes down to:
207 for each module that fails its regression tests on $current
208 did it fail identically on $previous?
209 if yes, "SEP" (Somebody Else's Problem)
210 else work out why it failed (a bisect is useful for this)
212 attempt to group failure causes
214 for each failure cause
215 is that a regression?
216 if yes, figure out how to fix it
217 (more code? revert the code that broke it)
219 (presumably) it's relying on something un-or-under-documented
220 should the existing behaviour stay?
221 yes - goto "regression"
222 no - note it in perldelta as a significant bugfix
223 (also, try to inform the module's author)
227 Similarly, monitor the smoking of core tests, and try to fix.
231 Similarly, monitor the smoking of perl for compiler warnings, and try to
236 Run F<Porting/cmpVERSION.pl> to compare the current source tree with the
237 previous version to check for for modules that have identical version
238 numbers but different contents, e.g.:
240 $ cd ~/some-perl-root
241 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/cmpVERSION.pl -xd ~/my_perl-tarballs/perl-5.10.0 .
243 then bump the version numbers of any non-dual-life modules that have
244 changed since the previous release, but which still have the old version
245 number. If there is more than one maintenance branch (e.g. 5.8.x, 5.10.x),
246 then compare against both.
248 Note that some of the files listed may be generated (e.g. copied from ext/
249 to lib/, or a script like lib/lib_pm.PL is run to produce lib/lib.pm);
250 make sure you edit the correct file!
252 Once all version numbers have been bumped, re-run the checks.
254 Then run again without the -x option, to check that dual-life modules are
260 Get perldelta in a mostly finished state.
261 Peruse F<Porting/how_to_write_a_perldelta.pod>, and try to make sure that
262 every section it lists is, if necessary, populated and complete. Copy
263 edit the whole document.
267 Bump the perl version number (e.g. from 5.10.0 to 5.10.1).
269 There is a tool to semi-automate this process. It works in two stages.
270 First, it generates a list of suggested changes, which you review and
271 edit; then you feed this list back and it applies the edits. So, first
272 scan the source dir looking for likely candidates:
274 $ Porting/bump-perl-version -s 5.10.0 5.10.1 > /tmp/scan
276 This produces a file containing a list of suggested edits, eg:
280 89: -MODULE_DESC = "Perl 5.10.0 for NetWare"
281 +MODULE_DESC = "Perl 5.10.1 for NetWare"
283 i.e. in the file F<NetWare/Makefile>, line 89 would be changed as shown.
284 Review the file carefully, and delete any -/+ line pairs that you don't
285 want changing. Remember that this tool is largely just grepping for '5.10.0'
286 or whatever, so it will generate false positives. Be careful not change
287 text like "this was fixed in 5.10.0"! Then run:
289 $ Porting/bump-perl-version -u < /tmp/scan
291 which will update all the files shown; then commit the changes.
293 Be particularly careful with F<INSTALL>, which contains a mixture of
294 C<5.10.0>-type strings, some of which need bumping on every release, and
295 some of which need to be left. Also note that this tool currently only
296 performs a single change per line, so in particular, this line in
297 README.vms needs special handling:
299 rename perl-5^.10^.1.dir perl-5_10_1.dir
304 Review and update INSTALL to account for the change in version number;
305 in particular, the "Coexistence with earlier versions of perl 5" section.
309 Update the F<Changes> file to contain the git log command which would show
310 all the changes in this release. You will need assume the existence of a
311 not-yet created tag for the forthcoming release; e.g.
313 git log ... perl-5.10.0..perl5.12.0
315 Due to warts in the perforce-to-git migration, some branches require extra
316 exclusions to avoid other branches being pulled in. Make sure you have the
317 correct incantation: replace the not-yet-created tag with C<HEAD> and see
318 if git log produces roughly the right number of commits across roughly the
324 Check some more build configurations, e.g.
326 -Duseshrplib -Dd_dosuid
329 Check that setuid installs works (for < 5.11.0 only).
330 XXX any other configs?
334 Make sure you have a PAUSE account suitable for uploading a perl release.
335 If you don't have a PAUSE account, then request one:
337 https://pause.perl.org/pause/query?ACTION=request_id
339 Check that your account is allowed to upload perl distros: goto
340 https://pause.perl.org/, login, then select 'upload file to CPAN'; there
341 should be a "For pumpkings only: Send a CC" tickbox. If not, ask Andreas
342 to add your ID to the list of people allowed to upload something called
347 Update F<AUTHORS>, using the C<Porting/checkAUTHORS.pl> script, and if
348 necessary, update the script to include new alias mappings.
350 XXX This script is currently broken (7/2009). It needs updating to work
351 with git and a lack of Changes files.
355 =head2 Building a release candidate
357 (At this point you should already have performed the actions described in
358 L</"Actions prior to the first release candidate">.) You should review
359 that section to ensure that everything there has done, and to see whether
360 any of those actions (such as consistency checks) need to be repeated.
366 Re-read the perldelta to try to find any embarrassing typos and thinkos;
367 remove any C<TODO> or C<XXX> flags; and run through pod and spell
370 podchecker -warnings -warnings pod/perl5101delta.pod
371 spell pod/perl5101delta.pod
375 Update patchlevel.h to add a C<-RC1>-or-whatever string; or, if this is a
376 final release, remove it. [ XXX how now?? see 34813 for old way ]
380 Update C<Module::Corelist>.
382 Note that if this is a maint release, you should run the following actions
383 from the maint directory, but edit the C<Corelist.pm> in I<blead> and
384 subsequently cherry-pick it.
386 First, in order to update the C<%upstream> and C<%bug_tracker> hashes,
387 the C<Porting/corelist.pl> script requires you to have a local CPAN
388 mirror. See http://www.cpan.org/misc/cpan-faq.html#How_mirror_CPAN for
389 more details, but basically:
391 $ mkdir ~/cpan-mirror
392 $ rsync -av --delete ftp.funet.fi::CPAN ~/cpan-mirror/
394 (and re-run the rsync each time you need it to be up-to-date).
395 [XXX this really needs fixing to not require a whole CPAN mirror]
397 If necessary, bump C<$VERSION> (there's no need to do this for
398 every RC; in RC1, bump the version to a new clean number that will
399 appear in the final release, and leave as-is for the later RCs and final).
403 $ cd ~/perl/root; make perl
404 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/corelist.pl ~/cpan-mirror/ > /tmp/corelist
406 This creates a file that looks something like
409 'AnyDBM_File' => '1.00',
414 'App::Prove' => undef,
419 'App::Prove' => 'http://rt.cpan.org/...',
423 Cut and paste these tables into F<lib/Module/CoreList.pm>: the module
424 version list should be appended as the last entry in the C<%version> hash
425 (or replaced, if we've already added it for an earlier release candidate),
426 while the existing C<%upstream> and C<%bug_tracker> hashes should be
427 replaced with the new versions.
429 Edit the version number in the new C<< 'Module::CoreList' => 'X.YZ' >>
430 entry, as that is likely to reflect the previous version number.
432 Then, add the current perl version to the C<CAVEATS> paragraph.
434 Add or update an entry to the C<%released> hash, including today's date
435 (if this is just a release candidate, set the date to '????-??-??').
440 Follow the instructions in the section L</"Building a snapshot">, then
441 carry on with the extra steps that follow here.
445 Disarm the patchlevel.h change [ XXX expand ]
449 Wait for the smoke tests to catch up with the commit which this release is
450 based on (or at least the last commit of any consequence).
452 Then check that the smoke tests pass (particularly on Win32). If not, go
458 Once smoking is okay, upload it to PAUSE. This is the point of no return.
459 You may wish to create a .bz2 version of the tarball and upload that too.
463 create a tag [XXX and branches and stuff ????], e.g.:
465 $ git tag perl-5.10.1-RC1 -m'Release Candidate 1 of Perl 5.10.1'
466 $ git push origin tag perl-5.10.1-RC1
470 Mail p5p to announce it, with a quote you prepared earlier.
474 Wait 24 hours or so, then post the announcement to use.perl.org.
475 (if you don't have access rights to post news, ask someone like Rafael to
481 =head2 Making a final release
483 At this point you should have a working release candidate with few or no
486 It's essentially the same procedure as for making a release candidate, but
487 with a whole bunch of extra post-release steps.
493 Follow the same steps as for making a release candidate, then
497 Ask Jarkko to update http://www.cpan.org/src/README.html and
498 Rafael to update http://dev.perl.org/perl5/
502 Create a new empty perlNNNdelta.pod file for the current release + 1;
503 see F<Porting/how_to_write_a_perldelta.pod>.
504 [ XXX Perhaps we should have an empty template file we can copy in. ]
506 In addition, edit F<pod.lst>, adding the new entry as 'D', and unmark previous
507 entry as 'D', then run C<perl pod/buildtoc --build-all> to update the
513 vms/descrip_mms.template
515 (F<vms/descrip_mms.template> still needs a manual edit to bump the
516 C<perldelta.pod> entry - it would be good for someone to figure out the fix.)
518 and change perlNNNdelta references to the new version in these files
526 Also, edit the previous delta file to change the C<NAME> from C<perldelta>
529 These two lists of files probably aren't exhaustive; do a recursive grep
530 on the previous filename to look for suitable candidates.
532 (see 16410843ea for an example).
536 If this was a maintenance release, then edit F<Porting/mergelog> to change
537 all the C<d> (deferred) flags to C<.> (needs review).
542 If this was a major release, then
548 bump the version, e.g. 5.12.0 to 5.13.0;
552 [ XXX probably lots more stuff to do, including perldelta,
557 Create a new maint branch with an empty Porting/mergelog file
558 [ XXX and lots of other stuff too, probably ]
564 Copy the perlNNNdelta.pod for this release into the other branches, and
565 remember to update these files on those branches too:
570 vms/descrip_mms.template
573 (see fc5be80860 for an example).
577 Make sure any recent F<pod/perlhist.pod> entries are copied to
578 F<perlhist.pod> on other branches; typically the RC* and final entries,
581 5.8.9-RC1 2008-Nov-10
582 5.8.9-RC2 2008-Dec-06
587 Remind the current maintainer of C<Module::CoreList> to push a new release
595 http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2009-05/msg00608.html,
596 plus a whole bunch of other sources, including private correspondence.