admin/FOR-RELEASE

   1 Tasks needed before the next release.
   2
   3 * TO BE DONE SHORTLY BEFORE RELEASE
   4
   5 ** Manuals
   6 Check cross-references between the manuals (eg from emacs to elisp)
   7 are correct.  You can use something like the following in the info
   8 directory in the Emacs build tree:
   9
  10 emacs -Q --eval "(progn (require 'info) (setq Info-directory-list '(\".\")))" \
  11   -f info-xref-check-all
  12
  13 Setting Info-directory-list avoids having system info pages confuse
  14 things.  References to external manuals will be flagged as
  15 uncheckable.  You should still check these, and also that each
  16 external manual has an appropriate redirect in the file manual/.htaccess
  17 in the web pages repository.  E.g.:
  18 Redirect /software/emacs/manual/html_mono/automake.html /software/automake/manual/automake.html
  19 Redirect /software/emacs/manual/html_node/automake/ /software/automake/manual/html_node/
  20
  21 Another tool you can use to check links is gnu.org's linc.py:
  22 http://www.gnu.org/server/source/
  23
  24 You run this something like:
  25
  26 cd /path/to/cvs/emacs-www
  27 linc.py -o /path/to/output-dir --url http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/ .
  28
  29 Be warned that it is really, really slow (as in, can take ~ a full day
  30 to check the manual/ directory).  It is probably best to run it on a
  31 single directory at a time from eg manual/html_node.  It is very
  32 inefficient, but may reveal a few things that info-xref does not.
  33
  34
  35 make emacs.dvi, elisp.dvi, and deal with any errors (undefined
  36 references etc) in the output.  Break any overfull lines.
  37 Underfull hboxes are not serious, but it can be nice to get rid of
  38 them if a simple rephrasing or rearrangement will work.
  39
  40 Update the master menu and detailed menu (eg the antinews version).
  41 The command texinfo-multiple-files-update can do this, but you
  42 probably want to apply the results selectively (eg the current master
  43 menu has better line-breaks than the automatic version).  It includes
  44 the menu-entry name (if there is one) as well as the node name - using
  45 only the latter looks better.  Also, it doesn't seem to handle nested
  46 includes, so will miss edebug.texi etc.
  47
  48 Check for widow and orphan lines in the printed manual; make sure all
  49 the pages really look ok in the manual as formatted.  Orphans/widows
  50 are cases where the first/last line of a paragraph is on its own at
  51 the end/start of a page, or where the last word in a paragraph is on
  52 its own at the start of a line.  It looks better if you reword/respace
  53 things to avoid these.  (AFAIK, there is no way to find these except
  54 paging through the whole manual.)  This should be the very last thing
  55 you do, since any change can alter the layout.
  56 (Actually, there is probably little point in trying to do this.
  57 It's only really relevant if printed versions of the manuals are going
  58 to be published.  End-users are not likely to print out all 1000+
  59 pages of the manuals, and even if they do, the resulting page breaks
  60 depend on what paper and font size they use.  This also means that if
  61 you _are_ going to do this, it should be done with the paper and font
  62 size that the GNU Press are going to use when they print the manuals.
  63 I think this is different to what you get if you just use eg `make
  64 emacs.pdf' (e.g., enable "smallbook").
  65
  66 ** Check the keybindings in the refcards are correct, and add any new ones.
  67 Regenerate the pdf versions in etc/refcards/.
  68 What paper size are the English versions supposed to be on?
  69 On Debian testing, the packages texlive-lang-czechslovak and
  70 texlive-lang-polish will let you generate the cs-* and sk-* pdfs.
  71 (You may need texlive-lang-cyrillic, texlive-lang-german for others.)
  72 The Makefile rules did not work for me, I had to use something like:
  73 csplain -output-format=pdf cs-refcard
  74
  75 ** Ask maintainers of refcard translations to update them.
  76
  77 Emacs 22 translators:
  78
  79 LANG    Translator            Status
  80 cs      Pavel Janík
  81 de      Sven Joachim
  82 fr      Eric Jacoboni
  83 pl      Włodek Bzyl
  84 pt-br   Rodrigo Real
  85 ru      Alex Ott
  86 sk      Miroslav Vaško
  87
  88 ** For a major release, add a "New in Emacs XX" section to faq.texi.
  89
  90 ** Remove temporary +++/--- lines in NEWS.
  91
  92 ** Try to reorder NEWS: most important things first, related items together.
  93
  94 ** Consider bumping customize-changed-options-previous-release.
  95
  96 ** cusver-check from admin.el can help find new defcustoms missing
  97 :version tags.
  98
  99 * BUGS
 100
 101 ** Check for modes which bind M-s that conflicts with a new global binding M-s
 102 and change key bindings where necessary.  The current list of modes:
 103
 104 1. Gnus binds `M-s' to `gnus-summary-search-article-forward'.
 105
 106 2. Minibuffer binds `M-s' to `next-matching-history-element'
 107    (not useful any more since C-s can now search in the history).
 108
 109 3. `center-line' in Text mode was already moved to the text formatting
 110    keymap as `M-o M-s' (thus this binding is not necessary any more
 111    in `nroff-mode-map' too and can be removed now from the nroff mode
 112    because it can now use the global key binding `M-o M-s' `center-line').
 113
 114 4. PCL-CVS binds `M-s' to `cvs-status', and log-edit-mode binds it to
 115    `log-edit-comment-search-forward'.  Perhaps search commands
 116    on the global key binding `M-s' are useless in these modes.
 117
 118 5. Rmail binds `\es' to `rmail-search'/`rmail-summary-search'.
 119
 120
 121 * DOCUMENTATION
 122
 123 ** Check the Emacs Tutorial.
 124
 125 The first line of every tutorial must begin with text ending in a
 126 period (".", ASCII 0x2E) saying "Emacs Tutorial" in the respective
 127 language. This should be followed by "See end for copying conditions",
 128 likewise in the respective language.
 129
 130 After each file name, on the same line or the following line, come the
 131 names of the people who have checked it.
 132
 133 SECTION                  READERS
 134 ----------------------------------
 135 TUTORIAL             cyd
 136 TUTORIAL.bg          ogi
 137 TUTORIAL.cn
 138 TUTORIAL.cs
 139 TUTORIAL.de          wl
 140 TUTORIAL.eo
 141 TUTORIAL.es
 142 TUTORIAL.fr
 143 TUTORIAL.he          eliz
 144 TUTORIAL.it
 145 TUTORIAL.ja
 146 TUTORIAL.ko
 147 TUTORIAL.nl          Pieter Schoenmakers
 148 TUTORIAL.pl
 149 TUTORIAL.pt_BR
 150 TUTORIAL.ro
 151 TUTORIAL.ru          Alex Ott
 152 TUTORIAL.sk
 153 TUTORIAL.sl          Primoz PETERLIN
 154 TUTORIAL.sv          Mats Lidell
 155 TUTORIAL.th
 156 TUTORIAL.zh
 157
 158 ** Check the manual.
 159
 160 abbrevs.texi      cyd
 161 ack.texi          rgm
 162 anti.texi         cyd
 163 arevert-xtra.texi cyd
 164 basic.texi        cyd
 165 buffers.texi      cyd
 166 building.texi     cyd
 167 calendar.texi     rgm
 168 cal-xtra.texi     rgm
 169 cmdargs.texi      cyd
 170 commands.texi     cyd
 171 custom.texi       cyd
 172 dired.texi        cyd
 173 dired-xtra.texi   rgm
 174 display.texi      cyd
 175 emacs.texi        rgm
 176 emacs-xtra.texi   rgm
 177 emerge-xtra.texi  rgm
 178 entering.texi     cyd
 179 files.texi        cyd
 180 fixit.texi        cyd
 181 fortran-xtra.texi rgm
 182 frames.texi       cyd
 183 glossary.texi     rgm
 184 help.texi         cyd
 185 indent.texi       cyd
 186 killing.texi      cyd
 187 kmacro.texi       cyd
 188 macos.texi        rgm  (can't actually test any of it though)
 189 maintaining.texi  cyd
 190 mark.texi         cyd
 191 mini.texi         rgm
 192 misc.texi         cyd
 193 modes.texi        cyd
 194 msdog.texi        rgm  (can't actually test any of it though)
 195 msdog-xtra.texi   rgm  (can't actually test any of it though)
 196 mule.texi         rgm  (not 100% sure about "Fontsets")
 197 m-x.texi          cyd
 198 package.texi      cyd
 199 picture-xtra.texi rgm
 200 programs.texi     cyd
 201 regs.texi         cyd
 202 rmail.texi        rgm
 203 screen.texi       cyd
 204 search.texi       cyd
 205 sending.texi      cyd
 206 text.texi         cyd
 207 trouble.texi      cyd
 208 vc-xtra.texi      cyd
 209 vc1-xtra.texi     cyd
 210 windows.texi      cyd
 211 xresources.texi   cyd
 212
 213 ** Check the Lisp manual.
 214
 215 abbrevs.texi      rgm
 216 advice.texi       cyd
 217 anti.texi         rgm
 218 back.texi         rgm
 219 backups.texi      cyd
 220 buffers.texi      cyd
 221 commands.texi     cyd
 222 compile.texi      cyd
 223 control.texi      cyd
 224 customize.texi    cyd
 225 debugging.texi    cyd
 226 display.texi      cyd
 227 edebug.texi       rgm
 228 elisp.texi
 229 errors.texi       rgm
 230 eval.texi         cyd
 231 files.texi        cyd
 232 frames.texi       cyd
 233 functions.texi    cyd
 234 hash.texi         cyd
 235 help.texi         cyd
 236 hooks.texi        rgm
 237 index.texi
 238 internals.texi    rgm  cyd
 239 intro.texi        cyd
 240 keymaps.texi      cyd
 241 lists.texi        cyd
 242 loading.texi      cyd
 243 macros.texi       cyd
 244 maps.texi         rgm
 245 markers.texi      rgm
 246 minibuf.texi      rgm
 247 modes.texi        cyd
 248 nonascii.texi     cyd
 249 numbers.texi      cyd
 250 objects.texi      cyd
 251 os.texi           cyd
 252 package.texi      rgm
 253 positions.texi    cyd
 254 processes.texi    rgm
 255 searching.texi    rgm
 256 sequences.texi    cyd
 257 streams.texi      cyd
 258 strings.texi      cyd
 259 symbols.texi      cyd
 260 syntax.texi       cyd
 261 text.texi         cyd
 262 tips.texi         rgm
 263 variables.texi    cyd
 264 windows.texi      rgm (skimmed)
 265
 266 \f
 267 Local variables:
 268 mode: outline
 269 coding: utf-8
 270 end: