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 less steps than a full release, and the version number of perl in
93 the tarball will usually still be the old one.
99 As there are no regular smokes [ XXX yet - please fix?] find out about the
100 state of VMS. If it's bad, think again.
104 Configure and build perl so that you have a Makefile and porting tools:
106 $ ./Configure -Dusedevel -des
116 Commit META.yml if it has changed:
118 $ git commit -m 'Updating META.yml in preparation for release of 5.x.y' META.yml
122 Check that the manifest is sorted and correct:
126 $ perl Porting/manicheck
129 Commit MANIFEST if it has changed:
131 $ git commit -m 'Updating MANIFEST in preparation for release of 5.x.y' MANIFEST
137 If this is a release candidate or final release, add an entry to
138 F<pod/perlhist.pod> with the current date, e.g.
140 5.8.9-RC1 2008-Nov-10
142 Make sure the correct pumpking is listed, and if this is your first time,
143 append your name to C<THE KEEPERS OF THE PUMPKIN>.
147 Build perl, then make sure it passes its own test suite, and installs.
149 $ ./Configure -des -Dusedevel -Dprefix=/tmp/perl-5.x.y-pretest
154 Create a tarball. Use the C<-s> option to specify a suitable suffix for
155 the tarball and directory name:
157 $ cd root/of/perl/tree
159 $ git clean -xdf # make sure perl and git agree on files
161 $ perl Porting/makerel -b -s `git describe` # for a snapshot
162 $ perl Porting/makerel -b -s RC1 # for a release candidate
163 $ perl Porting/makerel -b # for a final release
165 This creates the directory F<../perl-x.y.z-RC1> or similar, copies all
166 the MANIFEST files into it, sets the correct permissions on them,
167 adds DOS line endings to some, then tars it up as
168 F<../perl-x.y.z-RC1.tar.gz>. With C<-b>, it also creates a C<tar.bz2> file.
170 XXX if we go for extra tags and branches stuff, then add the extra details
175 Copy the tarballs (.gz and possibly .bz2) to a web server somewhere you
180 Download the tarball to some other machine. For a release candidate,
181 you really want to test your tarball on two or more different platforms
182 and architectures. The #p5p IRC channel on irc.perl.org is a good place
183 to find willing victims.
187 Check that C<./Configure -des && make all test> works on each test
192 Check that C<./Configure ... && make all test_harness install> works.
196 Check that the output of C<perl -v> and C<perl -V> are as expected,
197 especially as regards version numbers, patch and/or RC levels, and @INC
200 Note that the results may be different without a F<.git/> directory,
201 which is why you should test from the tarball.
205 Bootstrap the CPAN client on the clean install.
211 perl -MCPAN -e'install Inline'
213 Check that your perl can run this:
215 perl -lwe 'use Inline C => "int answer() { return 42;} "; print answer'
219 Bootstrap the CPANPLUS client.
223 Install an XS module.
227 If all is well, announce the snapshot to p5p. (For a release candidate,
228 instead follow the further steps described later.)
232 =head2 Actions prior to the first release candidate
234 A week or two before the first release candidate, there are some additional
235 tasks you should perform (actually, some of these should be done regularly
236 anyway, but they definitely need doing now):
242 Check F<Maintainers.pl> for consistency; both these commands should
245 perl Porting/Maintainers --checkmani
246 perl Porting/Maintainers --checkmani lib/ ext/
250 Ensure that dual-life CPAN modules are synchronised with CPAN. Basically,
253 ./perl -Ilib Porting/core-cpan-diff -a -o /tmp/corediffs
255 to see any inconsistencies between the core and CPAN versions of distros,
256 then fix the core, or cajole CPAN authors as appropriate. See also the
257 C<-d> and C<-v> options for more detail. You'll probably want to use the
258 C<-c cachedir> option to avoid repeated CPAN downloads.
260 To see which core distro versions differ from the current CPAN versions:
262 ./perl -Ilib Porting/core-cpan-diff -x -a
264 if you are making a maint release, run C<core-cpan-diff> on both blead and
265 maint, then diff the two outputs. Compare this with what you expect, and if
266 necessary, fix things up. For example, you might think that both blead
267 and maint are synchronised with a particular CPAN module, but one might
268 have some extra changes.
272 Ensure dual-life CPAN modules are stable, which comes down to:
274 for each module that fails its regression tests on $current
275 did it fail identically on $previous?
276 if yes, "SEP" (Somebody Else's Problem)
277 else work out why it failed (a bisect is useful for this)
279 attempt to group failure causes
281 for each failure cause
282 is that a regression?
283 if yes, figure out how to fix it
284 (more code? revert the code that broke it)
286 (presumably) it's relying on something un-or-under-documented
287 should the existing behaviour stay?
288 yes - goto "regression"
289 no - note it in perldelta as a significant bugfix
290 (also, try to inform the module's author)
294 Similarly, monitor the smoking of core tests, and try to fix.
298 Similarly, monitor the smoking of perl for compiler warnings, and try to
303 Run F<Porting/cmpVERSION.pl> to compare the current source tree with the
304 previous version to check for for modules that have identical version
305 numbers but different contents, e.g.:
307 $ cd ~/some-perl-root
308 $ ./perl -Ilib Porting/cmpVERSION.pl -xd ~/my_perl-tarballs/perl-5.10.0 .
310 then bump the version numbers of any non-dual-life modules that have
311 changed since the previous release, but which still have the old version
312 number. If there is more than one maintenance branch (e.g. 5.8.x, 5.10.x),
313 then compare against both.
315 Note that some of the files listed may be generated (e.g. copied from ext/
316 to lib/, or a script like lib/lib_pm.PL is run to produce lib/lib.pm);
317 make sure you edit the correct file!
319 Once all version numbers have been bumped, re-run the checks.
321 Then run again without the -x option, to check that dual-life modules are
326 Check that files managed by F<regen.pl> and friends are up to date. From
327 within your working directory:
335 If any of the files managed by regen.pl have changed, then you should commit
336 the updated versions:
338 $ git commit -m 'Updated files generated by regen tools for perl 5.x.y' <list of files>
343 Get perldelta in a mostly finished state.
344 Peruse F<Porting/how_to_write_a_perldelta.pod>, and try to make sure that
345 every section it lists is, if necessary, populated and complete. Copy
346 edit the whole document.
350 Bump the perl version number (e.g. from 5.10.0 to 5.10.1).
352 There is a tool to semi-automate this process. It works in two stages.
353 First, it generates a list of suggested changes, which you review and
354 edit; then you feed this list back and it applies the edits. So, first
355 scan the source dir looking for likely candidates:
357 $ Porting/bump-perl-version -s 5.10.0 5.10.1 > /tmp/scan
359 This produces a file containing a list of suggested edits, eg:
363 89: -MODULE_DESC = "Perl 5.10.0 for NetWare"
364 +MODULE_DESC = "Perl 5.10.1 for NetWare"
366 i.e. in the file F<NetWare/Makefile>, line 89 would be changed as shown.
367 Review the file carefully, and delete any -/+ line pairs that you don't
368 want changing. Remember that this tool is largely just grepping for '5.10.0'
369 or whatever, so it will generate false positives. Be careful not change
370 text like "this was fixed in 5.10.0"! Then run:
372 $ Porting/bump-perl-version -u < /tmp/scan
374 which will update all the files shown; then commit the changes.
376 Be particularly careful with F<INSTALL>, which contains a mixture of
377 C<5.10.0>-type strings, some of which need bumping on every release, and
378 some of which need to be left. Also note that this tool currently only
379 performs a single change per line, so in particular, this line in
380 README.vms needs special handling:
382 rename perl-5^.10^.1.dir perl-5_10_1.dir
387 Review and update INSTALL to account for the change in version number;
388 in particular, the "Coexistence with earlier versions of perl 5" section.
392 Update the F<Changes> file to contain the git log command which would show
393 all the changes in this release. You will need assume the existence of a
394 not-yet created tag for the forthcoming release; e.g.
396 git log ... perl-5.10.0..perl5.12.0
398 Due to warts in the perforce-to-git migration, some branches require extra
399 exclusions to avoid other branches being pulled in. Make sure you have the
400 correct incantation: replace the not-yet-created tag with C<HEAD> and see
401 if git log produces roughly the right number of commits across roughly the
407 Check some more build configurations, e.g.
409 -Duseshrplib -Dd_dosuid
412 Check that setuid installs works (for < 5.11.0 only).
413 XXX any other configs?
418 Update F<AUTHORS>, using the C<Porting/checkAUTHORS.pl> script, and if
419 necessary, update the script to include new alias mappings.
421 XXX This script is currently broken (7/2009). It needs updating to work
422 with git and a lack of Changes files.
426 =head2 Building a release candidate
428 (At this point you should already have performed the actions described in
429 L</"Actions prior to the first release candidate">.) You should review
430 that section to ensure that everything there has done, and to see whether
431 any of those actions (such as consistency checks) need to be repeated.
437 Re-read the perldelta to try to find any embarrassing typos and thinkos;
438 remove any C<TODO> or C<XXX> flags; and run through pod and spell
441 podchecker -warnings -warnings pod/perl5101delta.pod
442 spell pod/perl5101delta.pod
446 Update patchlevel.h to add a C<-RC1>-or-whatever string; or, if this is a
447 final release, remove it. [ XXX how now?? see 34813 for old way ]
451 Update C<Module::Corelist>.
453 Note that if this is a maint release, you should run the following actions
454 from the maint directory, but edit the C<Corelist.pm> in I<blead> and
455 subsequently cherry-pick it.
457 corelist.pl uses ftp.funet.fi to verify information about dual-lifed
458 modules on CPAN. It can use a full, local CPAN mirror or fall back
459 to C<wget> or C<curl> to fetch only package metadata remotely.
461 (If you'd prefer to have a full CPAN mirror, see
462 http://www.cpan.org/misc/cpan-faq.html#How_mirror_CPAN)
465 Then change to your perl checkout.
467 If you have a local CPAN mirror, run:
469 $ perl -Ilib Porting/corelist.pl ~/my-cpan-mirror
473 $ perl -Ilib Porting/corelist.pl cpan
475 This will chug for a while. Assuming all goes well, it will
476 update lib/Module/CoreList.pm.
478 Check that file over carefully:
480 $ git diff lib/Module/CoreList.pm
483 If necessary, bump C<$VERSION> (there's no need to do this for
484 every RC; in RC1, bump the version to a new clean number that will
485 appear in the final release, and leave as-is for the later RCs and final).
487 Edit the version number in the new C<< 'Module::CoreList' => 'X.YZ' >>
488 entry, as that is likely to reflect the previous version number.
493 Add or update an entry to the C<%released> hash, including today's date
494 (if this is just a release candidate, set the date to '????-??-??').
496 Finally, commit the new version of Module::CoreList:
498 $ git commit -m 'Updated Module::CoreList for the 5.x.y release' \
499 lib/Module/Corelist.pm
504 Follow the instructions in the section L</"Building a snapshot">, then
505 carry on with the extra steps that follow here.
509 Disarm the patchlevel.h change [ XXX expand ]
513 Wait for the smoke tests to catch up with the commit which this release is
514 based on (or at least the last commit of any consequence).
516 Then check that the smoke tests pass (particularly on Win32). If not, go
522 Once smoking is okay, upload it to PAUSE. This is the point of no return.
523 You may wish to create a .bz2 version of the tarball and upload that too.
527 create a tag [XXX and branches and stuff ????], e.g.:
529 $ git tag perl-5.10.1-RC1 -m'Release Candidate 1 of Perl 5.10.1'
530 $ git push origin tag perl-5.10.1-RC1
534 Mail p5p to announce it, with a quote you prepared earlier.
538 Wait 24 hours or so, then post the announcement to use.perl.org.
539 (if you don't have access rights to post news, ask someone like Rafael to
545 =head2 Making a final release
547 At this point you should have a working release candidate with few or no
550 It's essentially the same procedure as for making a release candidate, but
551 with a whole bunch of extra post-release steps.
557 Follow the same steps as for making a release candidate, then
561 Ask Jarkko to update http://www.cpan.org/src/README.html and
562 Rafael to update http://dev.perl.org/perl5/
566 Create a new empty perlNNNdelta.pod file for the current release + 1;
567 see F<Porting/how_to_write_a_perldelta.pod>.
568 [ XXX Perhaps we should have an empty template file we can copy in. ]
570 In addition, edit F<pod.lst>, adding the new entry as 'D', and unmark previous
571 entry as 'D', then run C<perl pod/buildtoc --build-all> to update the
577 vms/descrip_mms.template
579 (F<vms/descrip_mms.template> still needs a manual edit to bump the
580 C<perldelta.pod> entry - it would be good for someone to figure out the fix.)
582 and change perlNNNdelta references to the new version in these files
590 Also, edit the previous delta file to change the C<NAME> from C<perldelta>
593 These two lists of files probably aren't exhaustive; do a recursive grep
594 on the previous filename to look for suitable candidates.
596 (see 16410843ea for an example).
600 If this was a maintenance release, then edit F<Porting/mergelog> to change
601 all the C<d> (deferred) flags to C<.> (needs review).
606 If this was a major release, then
612 bump the version, e.g. 5.12.0 to 5.13.0;
616 [ XXX probably lots more stuff to do, including perldelta,
621 Create a new maint branch with an empty Porting/mergelog file
622 [ XXX and lots of other stuff too, probably ]
628 Copy the perlNNNdelta.pod for this release into the other branches, and
629 remember to update these files on those branches too:
634 vms/descrip_mms.template
637 (see fc5be80860 for an example).
641 Make sure any recent F<pod/perlhist.pod> entries are copied to
642 F<perlhist.pod> on other branches; typically the RC* and final entries,
645 5.8.9-RC1 2008-Nov-10
646 5.8.9-RC2 2008-Dec-06
651 Remind the current maintainer of C<Module::CoreList> to push a new release
659 http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2009-05/msg00608.html,
660 plus a whole bunch of other sources, including private correspondence.