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 -b -s `git describe` # for a snapshot
106 $ perl Porting/makerel -b -s RC1 # for a release candidate
107 $ perl Porting/makerel -b # 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>. With C<-b>, it also creates a C<tar.bz2> file.
114 XXX if we go for extra tags and branches stuff, then add the extra details
119 Copy the tarballs (.gz and possibly .bz2) to a web server somewhere you
124 Download the tarball to some other machine (for a release candidate, to
125 two or more servers: IRC is good for this).
129 Check that C<./Configure -des && make all test> works in one place.
133 Check that C<./Configure ... && make all test_harness install> works.
137 Check that the output of C<perl -v> and C<perl -V> are as expected,
138 especially as regards version numbers, patch and/or RC levels, and @INC
139 paths. Note that the results may be different without a F<.git/> directory,
140 which is why you should test from the tarball.
144 Bootstrap the CPAN client on the clean install.
149 XXX pick something new; this is now bundled
153 How about Inline. Install it, and then check that your perl can run this:
154 perl -lwe 'use Inline C => "int answer() { return 42;} "; print answer'
160 Bootstrap the CPANPLUS client.
164 Install an XS module.
168 If all is well, announce the snapshot to p5p. (For a release candidate,
169 instead follow the further steps described later.)
173 =head2 Actions prior to the first release candidate
175 A week or two before the first release candidate, there are some additional
176 tasks you should perform (actually, some of these should be done regularly
177 anyway, but they definitely need doing now):
183 Check F<Maintainers.pl> for consistency; both these commands should
186 perl Porting/Maintainers --checkmani
187 perl Porting/Maintainers --checkmani lib/ ext/
191 Ensure that dual-life CPAN modules are synchronised with CPAN. Basically,
194 ./perl -Ilib Porting/core-cpan-diff -a -o /tmp/corediffs
196 to see any inconsistencies between the core and CPAN versions of distros,
197 then fix the core, or cajole CPAN authors as appropriate. See also the
198 C<-d> and C<-v> options for more detail. You'll probably want to use the
199 C<-c cachedir> option to avoid repeated CPAN downloads.
201 To see which core distro versions differ from the current CPAN versions:
203 ./perl -Ilib Porting/core-cpan-diff -x -a
205 if you are making a maint release, run C<core-cpan-diff> on both blead and
206 maint, then diff the two outputs. Compare this with what you expect, and if
207 necessary, fix things up. For example, you might think that both blead
208 and maint are synchronised with a particular CPAN module, but one might
209 have some extra changes.
213 Ensure dual-life CPAN modules are stable, which comes down to:
215 for each module that fails its regression tests on $current
216 did it fail identically on $previous?
217 if yes, "SEP" (Somebody Else's Problem)
218 else work out why it failed (a bisect is useful for this)
220 attempt to group failure causes
222 for each failure cause
223 is that a regression?
224 if yes, figure out how to fix it
225 (more code? revert the code that broke it)
227 (presumably) it's relying on something un-or-under-documented
228 should the existing behaviour stay?
229 yes - goto "regression"
230 no - note it in perldelta as a significant bugfix
231 (also, try to inform the module's author)
235 Similarly, monitor the smoking of core tests, and try to fix.
239 Similarly, monitor the smoking of perl for compiler warnings, and try to
244 Run F<Porting/cmpVERSION.pl> to compare the current source tree with the
245 previous version to check for for modules that have identical version
246 numbers but different contents, e.g.:
248 $ cd ~/some-perl-root
249 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/cmpVERSION.pl -xd ~/my_perl-tarballs/perl-5.10.0 .
251 then bump the version numbers of any non-dual-life modules that have
252 changed since the previous release, but which still have the old version
253 number. If there is more than one maintenance branch (e.g. 5.8.x, 5.10.x),
254 then compare against both.
256 Note that some of the files listed may be generated (e.g. copied from ext/
257 to lib/, or a script like lib/lib_pm.PL is run to produce lib/lib.pm);
258 make sure you edit the correct file!
260 Once all version numbers have been bumped, re-run the checks.
262 Then run again without the -x option, to check that dual-life modules are
268 Get perldelta in a mostly finished state.
269 Peruse F<Porting/how_to_write_a_perldelta.pod>, and try to make sure that
270 every section it lists is, if necessary, populated and complete. Copy
271 edit the whole document.
275 Bump the perl version number (e.g. from 5.10.0 to 5.10.1).
277 There is a tool to semi-automate this process. It works in two stages.
278 First, it generates a list of suggested changes, which you review and
279 edit; then you feed this list back and it applies the edits. So, first
280 scan the source dir looking for likely candidates:
282 $ Porting/bump-perl-version -s 5.10.0 5.10.1 > /tmp/scan
284 This produces a file containing a list of suggested edits, eg:
288 89: -MODULE_DESC = "Perl 5.10.0 for NetWare"
289 +MODULE_DESC = "Perl 5.10.1 for NetWare"
291 i.e. in the file F<NetWare/Makefile>, line 89 would be changed as shown.
292 Review the file carefully, and delete any -/+ line pairs that you don't
293 want changing. Remember that this tool is largely just grepping for '5.10.0'
294 or whatever, so it will generate false positives. Be careful not change
295 text like "this was fixed in 5.10.0"! Then run:
297 $ Porting/bump-perl-version -u < /tmp/scan
299 which will update all the files shown; then commit the changes.
301 Be particularly careful with F<INSTALL>, which contains a mixture of
302 C<5.10.0>-type strings, some of which need bumping on every release, and
303 some of which need to be left. Also note that this tool currently only
304 performs a single change per line, so in particular, this line in
305 README.vms needs special handling:
307 rename perl-5^.10^.1.dir perl-5_10_1.dir
312 Review and update INSTALL to account for the change in version number;
313 in particular, the "Coexistence with earlier versions of perl 5" section.
317 Update the F<Changes> file to contain the git log command which would show
318 all the changes in this release. You will need assume the existence of a
319 not-yet created tag for the forthcoming release; e.g.
321 git log ... perl-5.10.0..perl5.12.0
323 Due to warts in the perforce-to-git migration, some branches require extra
324 exclusions to avoid other branches being pulled in. Make sure you have the
325 correct incantation: replace the not-yet-created tag with C<HEAD> and see
326 if git log produces roughly the right number of commits across roughly the
332 Check some more build configurations, e.g.
334 -Duseshrplib -Dd_dosuid
337 Check that setuid installs works (for < 5.11.0 only).
338 XXX any other configs?
342 Make sure you have a PAUSE account suitable for uploading a perl release.
343 If you don't have a PAUSE account, then request one:
345 https://pause.perl.org/pause/query?ACTION=request_id
347 Check that your account is allowed to upload perl distros: goto
348 https://pause.perl.org/, login, then select 'upload file to CPAN'; there
349 should be a "For pumpkings only: Send a CC" tickbox. If not, ask Andreas
350 to add your ID to the list of people allowed to upload something called
355 Update F<AUTHORS>, using the C<Porting/checkAUTHORS.pl> script, and if
356 necessary, update the script to include new alias mappings.
358 XXX This script is currently broken (7/2009). It needs updating to work
359 with git and a lack of Changes files.
363 =head2 Building a release candidate
365 (At this point you should already have performed the actions described in
366 L</"Actions prior to the first release candidate">.) You should review
367 that section to ensure that everything there has done, and to see whether
368 any of those actions (such as consistency checks) need to be repeated.
374 Re-read the perldelta to try to find any embarrassing typos and thinkos;
375 remove any C<TODO> or C<XXX> flags; and run through pod and spell
378 podchecker -warnings -warnings pod/perl5101delta.pod
379 spell pod/perl5101delta.pod
383 Update patchlevel.h to add a C<-RC1>-or-whatever string; or, if this is a
384 final release, remove it. [ XXX how now?? see 34813 for old way ]
388 Update C<Module::Corelist>.
390 Note that if this is a maint release, you should run the following actions
391 from the maint directory, but edit the C<Corelist.pm> in I<blead> and
392 subsequently cherry-pick it.
394 First, in order to update the C<%upstream> and C<%bug_tracker> hashes,
395 the C<Porting/corelist.pl> script requires you to have a local CPAN
396 mirror. See http://www.cpan.org/misc/cpan-faq.html#How_mirror_CPAN for
397 more details, but basically:
399 $ mkdir ~/cpan-mirror
400 $ rsync -av --delete ftp.funet.fi::CPAN ~/cpan-mirror/
402 (and re-run the rsync each time you need it to be up-to-date).
403 [XXX this really needs fixing to not require a whole CPAN mirror]
405 If necessary, bump C<$VERSION> (there's no need to do this for
406 every RC; in RC1, bump the version to a new clean number that will
407 appear in the final release, and leave as-is for the later RCs and final).
411 $ cd ~/perl/root; make perl
412 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/corelist.pl ~/cpan-mirror/ > /tmp/corelist
414 This creates a file that looks something like
417 'AnyDBM_File' => '1.00',
422 'App::Prove' => undef,
427 'App::Prove' => 'http://rt.cpan.org/...',
431 Cut and paste these tables into F<lib/Module/CoreList.pm>: the module
432 version list should be appended as the last entry in the C<%version> hash
433 (or replaced, if we've already added it for an earlier release candidate),
434 while the existing C<%upstream> and C<%bug_tracker> hashes should be
435 replaced with the new versions.
437 Edit the version number in the new C<< 'Module::CoreList' => 'X.YZ' >>
438 entry, as that is likely to reflect the previous version number.
440 Then, add the current perl version to the C<CAVEATS> paragraph.
442 Add or update an entry to the C<%released> hash, including today's date
443 (if this is just a release candidate, set the date to '????-??-??').
448 Follow the instructions in the section L</"Building a snapshot">, then
449 carry on with the extra steps that follow here.
453 Disarm the patchlevel.h change [ XXX expand ]
457 Wait for the smoke tests to catch up with the commit which this release is
458 based on (or at least the last commit of any consequence).
460 Then check that the smoke tests pass (particularly on Win32). If not, go
466 Once smoking is okay, upload it to PAUSE. This is the point of no return.
467 You may wish to create a .bz2 version of the tarball and upload that too.
471 create a tag [XXX and branches and stuff ????], e.g.:
473 $ git tag perl-5.10.1-RC1 -m'Release Candidate 1 of Perl 5.10.1'
474 $ git push origin tag perl-5.10.1-RC1
478 Mail p5p to announce it, with a quote you prepared earlier.
482 Wait 24 hours or so, then post the announcement to use.perl.org.
483 (if you don't have access rights to post news, ask someone like Rafael to
489 =head2 Making a final release
491 At this point you should have a working release candidate with few or no
494 It's essentially the same procedure as for making a release candidate, but
495 with a whole bunch of extra post-release steps.
501 Follow the same steps as for making a release candidate, then
505 Ask Jarkko to update http://www.cpan.org/src/README.html and
506 Rafael to update http://dev.perl.org/perl5/
510 Create a new empty perlNNNdelta.pod file for the current release + 1;
511 see F<Porting/how_to_write_a_perldelta.pod>.
512 [ XXX Perhaps we should have an empty template file we can copy in. ]
514 In addition, edit F<pod.lst>, adding the new entry as 'D', and unmark previous
515 entry as 'D', then run C<perl pod/buildtoc --build-all> to update the
521 vms/descrip_mms.template
523 (F<vms/descrip_mms.template> still needs a manual edit to bump the
524 C<perldelta.pod> entry - it would be good for someone to figure out the fix.)
526 and change perlNNNdelta references to the new version in these files
534 Also, edit the previous delta file to change the C<NAME> from C<perldelta>
537 These two lists of files probably aren't exhaustive; do a recursive grep
538 on the previous filename to look for suitable candidates.
540 (see 16410843ea for an example).
544 If this was a maintenance release, then edit F<Porting/mergelog> to change
545 all the C<d> (deferred) flags to C<.> (needs review).
550 If this was a major release, then
556 bump the version, e.g. 5.12.0 to 5.13.0;
560 [ XXX probably lots more stuff to do, including perldelta,
565 Create a new maint branch with an empty Porting/mergelog file
566 [ XXX and lots of other stuff too, probably ]
572 Copy the perlNNNdelta.pod for this release into the other branches, and
573 remember to update these files on those branches too:
578 vms/descrip_mms.template
581 (see fc5be80860 for an example).
585 Make sure any recent F<pod/perlhist.pod> entries are copied to
586 F<perlhist.pod> on other branches; typically the RC* and final entries,
589 5.8.9-RC1 2008-Nov-10
590 5.8.9-RC2 2008-Dec-06
595 Remind the current maintainer of C<Module::CoreList> to push a new release
603 http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2009-05/msg00608.html,
604 plus a whole bunch of other sources, including private correspondence.