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 ...
54 Before you can make an official release of perl, there are a few
55 hoops you need to jump through:
61 Make sure you have a PAUSE account suitable for uploading a perl release.
62 If you don't have a PAUSE account, then request one:
64 https://pause.perl.org/pause/query?ACTION=request_id
66 Check that your account is allowed to upload perl distros: goto
67 https://pause.perl.org/, login, then select 'upload file to CPAN'; there
68 should be a "For pumpkings only: Send a CC" tickbox. If not, ask Andreas
69 König to add your ID to the list of people allowed to upload something
70 called perl. You can find Andreas' email address at:
72 https://pause.perl.org/pause/query?ACTION=pause_04imprint
76 You will need a working C<git> installation, checkout of the perl
77 git repository and perl commit bit. For information about working
78 with perl and git, see F<pod/perlrepository.pod>.
80 If you are not yet a perl committer, you won't be able to make a
81 release. Have a chat with whichever evil perl porter tried to talk
82 you into the idea in the first place to figure out the best way to
88 =head2 Building a snapshot
90 A snapshot is intended to encourage in-depth testing from time-to-time,
91 for example after a key point in the stabilisation of a branch. It
92 requires fewer steps than a full release, and the version number of perl in
93 the tarball will usually be the same as that of the previous release.
99 As there are no regular smokes [ XXX yet - please fix?] find out about the
100 state of the current branch on VMS. If the branch you're releasing on
101 is failing tests on VMS, you may not want to do a release.
105 Configure and build perl so that you have a Makefile and porting tools:
107 $ ./Configure -Dusedevel -des
117 Commit META.yml if it has changed:
119 $ git commit -m 'Updating META.yml in preparation for release of 5.x.y' META.yml
123 Check that the manifest is sorted and correct:
127 $ perl Porting/manicheck
130 Commit MANIFEST if it has changed:
132 $ git commit -m 'Updating MANIFEST in preparation for release of 5.x.y' MANIFEST
138 If this is a release candidate or final release, add an entry to
139 F<pod/perlhist.pod> with the current date, e.g.
141 5.8.9-RC1 2008-Nov-10
143 Make sure the correct pumpking is listed, and if this is your first time,
144 append your name to C<THE KEEPERS OF THE PUMPKIN>.
148 Build perl, then make sure it passes its own test suite, and installs:
150 $ ./Configure -des -Dusedevel -Dprefix=/tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest
155 Create a tarball. Use the C<-s> option to specify a suitable suffix for
156 the tarball and directory name:
158 $ cd root/of/perl/tree
160 $ git clean -xdf # make sure perl and git agree on files
162 $ perl Porting/makerel -b -s `git describe` # for a snapshot
163 $ perl Porting/makerel -b -s RC1 # for a release candidate
164 $ perl Porting/makerel -b # for a final release
166 This creates the directory F<../perl-x.y.z-RC1> or similar, copies all
167 the MANIFEST files into it, sets the correct permissions on them,
168 adds DOS line endings to some, then tars it up as
169 F<../perl-x.y.z-RC1.tar.gz>. With C<-b>, it also creates a C<tar.bz2> file.
171 XXX if we go for extra tags and branches stuff, then add the extra details
176 Copy the tarballs (.gz and possibly .bz2) to a web server somewhere you
181 Download the tarball to some other machine. For a release candidate,
182 you really want to test your tarball on two or more different platforms
183 and architectures. The #p5p IRC channel on irc.perl.org is a good place
184 to find willing victims.
188 Check that basic configuration and tests work on each test machine:
190 $ ./Configure -des && make all test
194 Check that the test harness and install work on each test machine:
196 $ ./Configure -des -Dprefix=/install/path && make all test_harness install
200 Check that the output of C<perl -v> and C<perl -V> are as expected,
201 especially as regards version numbers, patch and/or RC levels, and @INC
204 Note that the results may be different without a F<.git/> directory,
205 which is why you should test from the tarball.
209 Bootstrap the CPAN client on the clean install:
211 $ ./bin/perl -MCPAN -e'shell'
217 $ ./bin/perl -MCPAN -e'install Inline'
219 Check that your perl can run this:
221 $ ./bin/perl -lwe 'use Inline C => "int answer() { return 42;} "; print answer'
225 Bootstrap the CPANPLUS client on the clean install:
232 Install an XS module.
236 If all is well, announce the snapshot to p5p. (For a release candidate,
237 instead follow the further steps described later.)
241 =head2 Actions prior to the first release candidate
243 A week or two before the first release candidate, there are some additional
244 tasks you should perform (actually, some of these should be done regularly
245 anyway, but they definitely need doing now):
251 Check F<Maintainers.pl> for consistency; both these commands should
254 $ perl Porting/Maintainers --checkmani
255 $ perl Porting/Maintainers --checkmani lib/ ext/
259 Ensure that dual-life CPAN modules are synchronised with CPAN. Basically,
262 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/core-cpan-diff -a -o /tmp/corediffs
264 to see any inconsistencies between the core and CPAN versions of distros,
265 then fix the core, or cajole CPAN authors as appropriate. See also the
266 C<-d> and C<-v> options for more detail. You'll probably want to use the
267 C<-c cachedir> option to avoid repeated CPAN downloads.
269 To see which core distro versions differ from the current CPAN versions:
271 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/core-cpan-diff -x -a
273 if you are making a maint release, run C<core-cpan-diff> on both blead and
274 maint, then diff the two outputs. Compare this with what you expect, and if
275 necessary, fix things up. For example, you might think that both blead
276 and maint are synchronised with a particular CPAN module, but one might
277 have some extra changes.
281 Ensure dual-life CPAN modules are stable, which comes down to:
283 for each module that fails its regression tests on $current
284 did it fail identically on $previous?
285 if yes, "SEP" (Somebody Else's Problem)
286 else work out why it failed (a bisect is useful for this)
288 attempt to group failure causes
290 for each failure cause
291 is that a regression?
292 if yes, figure out how to fix it
293 (more code? revert the code that broke it)
295 (presumably) it's relying on something un-or-under-documented
296 should the existing behaviour stay?
297 yes - goto "regression"
298 no - note it in perldelta as a significant bugfix
299 (also, try to inform the module's author)
303 Similarly, monitor the smoking of core tests, and try to fix.
307 Similarly, monitor the smoking of perl for compiler warnings, and try to
312 Run F<Porting/cmpVERSION.pl> to compare the current source tree with the
313 previous version to check for for modules that have identical version
314 numbers but different contents, e.g.:
316 $ cd ~/some-perl-root
317 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/cmpVERSION.pl -xd ~/my_perl-tarballs/perl-5.10.0 .
319 then bump the version numbers of any non-dual-life modules that have
320 changed since the previous release, but which still have the old version
321 number. If there is more than one maintenance branch (e.g. 5.8.x, 5.10.x),
322 then compare against both.
324 Note that some of the files listed may be generated (e.g. copied from ext/
325 to lib/, or a script like lib/lib_pm.PL is run to produce lib/lib.pm);
326 make sure you edit the correct file!
328 Once all version numbers have been bumped, re-run the checks.
330 Then run again without the -x option, to check that dual-life modules are
335 Check that files managed by F<regen.pl> and friends are up to date. From
336 within your working directory:
344 If any of the files managed by regen.pl have changed, then you should commit
345 the updated versions:
347 $ git commit -m 'Updated files generated by regen tools for perl 5.x.y' <list of files>
352 Get perldelta in a mostly finished state.
354 Peruse F<Porting/how_to_write_a_perldelta.pod>, and try to make sure that
355 every section it lists is, if necessary, populated and complete. Copy
356 edit the whole document.
360 Bump the perl version number (e.g. from 5.10.0 to 5.10.1).
362 There is a tool to semi-automate this process. It works in two stages.
363 First, it generates a list of suggested changes, which you review and
364 edit; then you feed this list back and it applies the edits. So, first
365 scan the source dir looking for likely candidates:
367 $ Porting/bump-perl-version -s 5.10.0 5.10.1 > /tmp/scan
369 This produces a file containing a list of suggested edits, eg:
373 89: -MODULE_DESC = "Perl 5.10.0 for NetWare"
374 +MODULE_DESC = "Perl 5.10.1 for NetWare"
376 i.e. in the file F<NetWare/Makefile>, line 89 would be changed as shown.
377 Review the file carefully, and delete any -/+ line pairs that you don't
378 want changing. Remember that this tool is largely just grepping for '5.10.0'
379 or whatever, so it will generate false positives. Be careful not change
380 text like "this was fixed in 5.10.0"! Then run:
382 $ Porting/bump-perl-version -u < /tmp/scan
384 which will update all the files shown; then commit the changes.
386 Be particularly careful with F<INSTALL>, which contains a mixture of
387 C<5.10.0>-type strings, some of which need bumping on every release, and
388 some of which need to be left. Also note that this tool currently only
389 performs a single change per line, so in particular, this line in
390 README.vms needs special handling:
392 rename perl-5^.10^.1.dir perl-5_10_1.dir
397 Review and update INSTALL to account for the change in version number;
398 in particular, the "Coexistence with earlier versions of perl 5" section.
402 Update the F<Changes> file to contain the git log command which would show
403 all the changes in this release. You will need assume the existence of a
404 not-yet created tag for the forthcoming release; e.g.
406 git log ... perl-5.10.0..perl5.12.0
408 Due to warts in the perforce-to-git migration, some branches require extra
409 exclusions to avoid other branches being pulled in. Make sure you have the
410 correct incantation: replace the not-yet-created tag with C<HEAD> and see
411 if git log produces roughly the right number of commits across roughly the
417 Check some more build configurations, e.g.
419 -Duseshrplib -Dd_dosuid
422 Check that setuid installs works (for < 5.11.0 only).
423 XXX any other configs?
428 Update F<AUTHORS>, using the C<Porting/checkAUTHORS.pl> script, and if
429 necessary, update the script to include new alias mappings.
431 XXX This script is currently broken (7/2009). It needs updating to work
432 with git and a lack of Changes files.
436 =head2 Building a release candidate
438 (At this point you should already have performed the actions described in
439 L</"Actions prior to the first release candidate">.) You should review
440 that section to ensure that everything there has done, and to see whether
441 any of those actions (such as consistency checks) need to be repeated.
447 Re-read the perldelta to try to find any embarrassing typos and thinkos;
448 remove any C<TODO> or C<XXX> flags; and run through pod and spell
451 podchecker -warnings -warnings pod/perl5101delta.pod
452 spell pod/perl5101delta.pod
456 Update patchlevel.h to add a C<-RC1>-or-whatever string; or, if this is a
457 final release, remove it. [ XXX how now?? see 34813 for old way ]
461 Update C<Module::Corelist>.
463 Note that if this is a maint release, you should run the following actions
464 from the maint directory, but edit the C<Corelist.pm> in I<blead> and
465 subsequently cherry-pick it.
467 corelist.pl uses ftp.funet.fi to verify information about dual-lifed
468 modules on CPAN. It can use a full, local CPAN mirror or fall back
469 to C<wget> or C<curl> to fetch only package metadata remotely.
471 (If you'd prefer to have a full CPAN mirror, see
472 http://www.cpan.org/misc/cpan-faq.html#How_mirror_CPAN)
475 Then change to your perl checkout.
477 If you have a local CPAN mirror, run:
479 $ perl -Ilib Porting/corelist.pl ~/my-cpan-mirror
483 $ perl -Ilib Porting/corelist.pl cpan
485 This will chug for a while. Assuming all goes well, it will
486 update lib/Module/CoreList.pm.
488 Check that file over carefully:
490 $ git diff lib/Module/CoreList.pm
493 If necessary, bump C<$VERSION> (there's no need to do this for
494 every RC; in RC1, bump the version to a new clean number that will
495 appear in the final release, and leave as-is for the later RCs and final).
497 Edit the version number in the new C<< 'Module::CoreList' => 'X.YZ' >>
498 entry, as that is likely to reflect the previous version number.
503 Add or update an entry to the C<%released> hash, including today's date
504 (if this is just a release candidate, set the date to '????-??-??').
506 Finally, commit the new version of Module::CoreList:
508 $ git commit -m 'Updated Module::CoreList for the 5.x.y release' \
509 lib/Module/Corelist.pm
514 Follow the instructions in the section L</"Building a snapshot">, then
515 carry on with the extra steps that follow here.
519 Disarm the patchlevel.h change [ XXX expand ]
523 Wait for the smoke tests to catch up with the commit which this release is
524 based on (or at least the last commit of any consequence).
526 Then check that the smoke tests pass (particularly on Win32). If not, go
532 Once smoking is okay, upload it to PAUSE. This is the point of no return.
533 If anything goes wrong after this point, you will need to re-prepare
534 a new release with a new minor version or RC number.
536 You may wish to create a .bz2 version of the tarball and upload that too.
540 Create a tag for the exact git revsion you built the release from:
542 $ git tag perl-5.10.1-RC1 -m'Release Candidate 1 of Perl 5.10.1'
543 $ git push origin tag perl-5.10.1-RC1
547 Mail p5p to announce your new release, with a quote you prepared earlier.
551 Wait 24 hours or so, then post the announcement to use.perl.org.
552 (if you don't have access rights to post news, ask someone like Rafael to
558 =head2 Making a final release
560 At this point you should have a working release candidate with few or no
563 It's essentially the same procedure as for making a release candidate, but
564 with a whole bunch of extra post-release steps.
570 Follow the same steps as for making a release candidate, then
574 Ask Jarkko to update http://www.cpan.org/src/README.html and
575 Rafael to update http://dev.perl.org/perl5/
579 Create a new empty perlNNNdelta.pod file for the current release + 1;
580 see F<Porting/how_to_write_a_perldelta.pod>.
581 [ XXX Perhaps we should have an empty template file we can copy in. ]
583 In addition, edit F<pod.lst>, adding the new entry as 'D', and unmark previous
584 entry as 'D', then run C<perl pod/buildtoc --build-all> to update the
590 vms/descrip_mms.template
592 (F<vms/descrip_mms.template> still needs a manual edit to bump the
593 C<perldelta.pod> entry - it would be good for someone to figure out the fix.)
595 and change perlNNNdelta references to the new version in these files
603 Also, edit the previous delta file to change the C<NAME> from C<perldelta>
606 These two lists of files probably aren't exhaustive; do a recursive grep
607 on the previous filename to look for suitable candidates.
609 (see 16410843ea for an example).
613 If this was a maintenance release, then edit F<Porting/mergelog> to change
614 all the C<d> (deferred) flags to C<.> (needs review).
619 If this was a major release, then
625 bump the version, e.g. 5.12.0 to 5.13.0;
629 [ XXX probably lots more stuff to do, including perldelta,
634 Create a new maint branch with an empty Porting/mergelog file
635 [ XXX and lots of other stuff too, probably ]
641 Copy the perlNNNdelta.pod for this release into the other branches, and
642 remember to update these files on those branches too:
647 vms/descrip_mms.template
650 (see fc5be80860 for an example).
654 Make sure any recent F<pod/perlhist.pod> entries are copied to
655 F<perlhist.pod> on other branches; typically the RC* and final entries,
658 5.8.9-RC1 2008-Nov-10
659 5.8.9-RC2 2008-Dec-06
664 Remind the current maintainer of C<Module::CoreList> to push a new release
672 http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2009-05/msg00608.html,
673 plus a whole bunch of other sources, including private correspondence.