admin/make-tarball.txt

   1 Instructions to create pretest or release tarballs. -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
   2 -- originally written by Gerd Moellmann, amended by Francesco Potortì
   3    with the initial help of Eli Zaretskii
   4
   5
   6 Steps to take before starting on the first pretest in any release sequence:
   7
   8 0.  The release branch (e.g. emacs-24) should already have been made
   9     and you should use it for all that follows.  Diffs from this
  10     branch should be going to the emacs-diffs mailing list (see
  11     admin/notes/bzr section on bzr-email plugin).
  12
  13 1.  Decide on versions of automake and autoconf, and ensure you will
  14     have them available for the duration of the release process.
  15
  16 2.  Consider increasing the value of the variable
  17     `customize-changed-options-previous-release' in cus-edit.el to
  18     refer to a newer version of Emacs.  (This is probably needed only
  19     when preparing the first pretest for a major Emacs release.)
  20     Commit cus-edit.el if changed.
  21
  22 3.  Remove any old pretests from ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/pretest.
  23     You can use `gnupload --delete' (see below for more gnupload details).
  24
  25 General steps (for each step, check for possible errors):
  26
  27 1.  `bzr update' (for a bound branch), or `bzr pull'.
  28      bzr status   # check for locally modified files
  29
  30 2.  Regenerate the etc/AUTHORS file:
  31       M-: (require 'authors) RET
  32       M-x authors RET
  33
  34     If there is an "*Authors Errors*" buffer, address the issues.
  35     If there was a ChangeLog typo, fix it.  If a file was deleted or
  36     renamed, consider adding an appropriate entry to authors-ignored-files,
  37     authors-valid-file-names, or authors-renamed-files-alist.
  38
  39     If necessary, repeat M-x authors after making those changes.
  40     Save the "*Authors*" buffer as etc/AUTHORS.
  41     Check the diff looks reasonable.  Maybe add entries to
  42     authors-ambiguous-files or authors-aliases, and repeat.
  43     Commit any fixes to ChangeLogs or authors.el.
  44
  45 3.  Set the version number (M-x load-file RET admin/admin.el RET, then
  46     M-x set-version RET).  For a release, add released ChangeLog
  47     entries (M-x add-release-logs RET).
  48
  49     For a pretest, start at version .90.  After .99, use .990 (so that
  50     it sorts).
  51
  52     The final pretest should be a release candidate.  Set the version
  53     number to that of the actual release.  Pick a date about a week
  54     from now when you intend to make the release.  Use M-x add-release-logs
  55     to add the ChangeLog entries for that date to the tar file (but
  56     not yet to the repository).  Name the tar file as
  57     emacs-XX.Y-rc1.tar.  If all goes well in the following week, you
  58     can simply rename the file and use it for the actual release.
  59
  60 4.   autoreconf -i -I m4 --force
  61      make bootstrap
  62
  63      make -C etc/refcards
  64      make -C etc/refcards clean
  65
  66 5.  Copy lisp/loaddefs.el to lisp/ldefs-boot.el.
  67
  68     Commit etc/AUTHORS, lisp/ldefs-boot.el, and the files changed
  69     by M-x set-version.  Use a commit log message that bzrmerge.el
  70     will ignore (eg "Bump version...").
  71     For a release, also commit the ChangeLog files in all directories.
  72
  73     If someone else made a commit between step 1 and now,
  74     you need to repeat from step 4 onwards.  (You can commit the files
  75     from step 2 and 3 earlier to reduce the chance of this.)
  76
  77 6.  ./make-dist --snapshot --no-compress
  78
  79     Check the contents of the new tar with admin/diff-tar-files
  80     against the previous release (if this is the first pretest) or the
  81     previous pretest.  If you did not make the previous pretest
  82     yourself, find it at <ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/pretest>.
  83     Releases are of course at <ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/emacs/>.
  84
  85     If this is the first pretest of a major release, just comparing
  86     with the previous release may overlook many new files.  You can try
  87     something like `find . | sort' in a clean bzr tree, and compare the
  88     results against the new tar contents.
  89
  90 7.   tar -xf emacs-NEW.tar; cd emacs-NEW
  91      ./configure --prefix=/tmp/emacs && make && make install
  92     Use `script' or M-x compile to save the compilation log in
  93     compile-NEW.log and compare it against an old one.  The easiest way
  94     to do that is to visit the old log in Emacs, change the version
  95     number of the old Emacs to __, do the same with the new log and do
  96     M-x ediff.  Especially check that Info files aren't built, and that
  97     no autotools (autoconf etc) run.
  98
  99 8.  cd EMACS_ROOT_DIR && bzr tag TAG
 100     TAG is emacs-XX.Y.ZZ for a pretest, emacs-XX.Y for a release.
 101
 102 9. Decide what compression schemes to offer.
 103     For a release, at least gz and xz:
 104       gzip --best -c emacs-NEW.tar > emacs-NEW.tar.gz
 105       xz -c emacs-NEW.tar > emacs-NEW.tar.xz
 106     For pretests, just xz is probably fine (saves bandwidth).
 107
 108     Now you should upload the files to the GNU ftp server.  In order to
 109     do that, you must be registered as an Emacs maintainer and have your
 110     GPG key acknowledged by the ftp people.  For instructions, see
 111     http://www.gnu.org/prep/maintain/html_node/Automated-Upload-Registration.html
 112     The simplest method to upload is to use the gnulib
 113     <http://www.gnu.org/s/gnulib/> script "build-aux/gnupload":
 114
 115     For a pretest:
 116      gnupload [--user your@gpg.key.email] --to alpha.gnu.org:emacs/pretest \
 117        FILE.gz FILE.xz ...
 118
 119     For a release:
 120      gnupload [--user your@gpg.key.email] --to ftp.gnu.org:emacs \
 121        FILE.gz FILE.xz ...
 122
 123     You only need the --user part if you have multiple GPG keys and do
 124     not want to use the default.
 125     Obviously, if you do not have a fast uplink, be prepared for the
 126     upload to take a while.
 127
 128
 129     If you prefer to do it yourself rather than use gnupload:
 130
 131     For each FILE, create a detached GPG binary signature and a
 132     clearsigned directive file like this:
 133
 134      gpg -b FILE
 135      echo directory: emacs/pretest > FILE.directive      (for a pretest)
 136      echo directory: emacs > FILE.directive              (for a release)
 137      gpg --clearsign FILE.directive
 138     Upload by anonymous ftp to ftp://ftp-upload.gnu.org/ the files FILE,
 139     FILE.sig, FILE.directive.asc.
 140     For a release, place the files in the /incoming/ftp directory.
 141     For a pretest, place the files in /incoming/alpha instead, so that
 142     they appear on ftp://alpha.gnu.org/.
 143
 144 10. After five minutes, verify that the files are visible at
 145     ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/pretest/ for a pretest, or
 146     ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/ for a release.
 147
 148     Download them and check the signatures.  Check they build.
 149
 150 11. Send an announcement to: emacs-devel, and bcc: info-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
 151     For a pretest, also bcc: platform-testers@gnu.org.
 152     (The reason for using bcc: is to make it less likely that people
 153     will followup on the wrong list.)
 154     See the info-gnu-emacs mailing list archives for the form
 155     of past announcements.  The first pretest announcement, and the
 156     release announcement, should have more detail.
 157
 158 12. For a release, update the Emacs homepage in the web repository.
 159     Also update history.html, and add the new NEWS file as NEWS.xx.y.
 160     Regenerate the html manuals (use make-manuals from admin.el).
 161     If there are new manuals, add appropriate index pages.