RELEASE

   1 This is a checklist for making Guile releases.
   2 It's specific to the FSF's development environment; please don't put
   3 it in the distribution.
   4
   5 Maybe we should name Guile releases after entertaining poisons:
   6 absinthe, etc.  However, the first release containing the module
   7 system should be called Godot: "This is the one you've been waiting
   8 for."
   9
  10 * Deprecate `read-only-string?'.
  11
  12 Before releasing the next version of libguile which is not binary compatible
  13 with the one released with 1.4:
  14 - remove struct members system_transformer and top_level_lookup_closure_var
  15   from struct scm_root_state in root.h.
  16
  17 After signal handling and threading have been fixed:
  18 - remove the code corresponding to GUILE_OLD_ASYNC_CLICK and the corresponding
  19   GUILE_OLD_ASYNC_CLICK macro.
  20
  21 In release 1.5:
  22 - remove deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
  23   SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
  24   SCM_NVECTORP
  25 - remove gc-thunk (It has been replaced by after-gc-hook.)
  26 - remove scm_sysmissing
  27 - remove gh_int2scmb (replaced by gh_bool2scm)
  28 - remove scm_fseek (replaced by scm_seek)
  29 - remove scm_tag
  30 - remove code related to the name property of hooks.  Also, check init.c,
  31   since the dependency between hooks and objprop will then be eliminated.
  32 - remove deprecated function scm_list_star/list*  (use SRFI-1 compliant
  33   scm_cons_star/cons* instead.)
  34 - remove scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo (guile always uses doubles to represent
  35   inexact real numbers)
  36 - remove scm_tc_dblr (replaced by scm_tc16_real)
  37 - remove scm_tc_dblc (replaced by scm_tc16_complex)
  38 - remove deprecated types, functions and macros from numbers.h:  scm_dblproc,
  39   SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL, SCM_IMAG,
  40   SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
  41
  42 In release 1.6:
  43 - remove deprecated variables:
  44     scm_top_level_lookup_closure_var
  45 - remove deprecated functions:
  46     eval.c: scm_eval2, scm_eval_3
  47     load.c: scm_read_and_eval_x
  48 - remove deprecated procedures:
  49     boot-9.scm:eval-in-module
  50 - remove deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
  51   SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
  52   SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
  53   SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP
  54 - remove function scm_call_catching_errors
  55   (replaced by catch functions from throw.[ch])
  56 - remove support for "#&" reader syntax in (ice-9 optargs).
  57 - remove scm_make_shared_substring
  58 - remove scm_read_only_string_p
  59 - remove scm_strhash
  60 - remove scm_tc7_ssymbol
  61 - remove scm_tc7_msymbol
  62 - remove scm_tcs_symbols
  63
  64 Modules sort.c and random.c should be factored out into separate
  65 modules (but still be distributed with guile-core) when we get a new
  66 module system.
  67
  68 Platforms for test builds:
  69 SunOS (gcc and pcc) --- galapas.ai.mit.edu
  70 Solaris (gcc and SUN cc) --- saturn.ai.mit.edu
  71 NetBSD (gcc) --- repo-man.ai.mit.edu (use /home/repo/jimb)
  72 HP/UX (gcc, HP cc) --- nutrimat.gnu.ai.mit.edu
  73
  74 These gentlemen have kindly offered to do pre-release testing:
  75
  76 Tom Tromey <tromey@cygnus.com>:
  77
  78   alphaev5-unknown-linux-gnu
  79   hppa1.1-hp-hpux10.20
  80   hppa1.1-hp-hpux11.00
  81   mips-sgi-irix5.3
  82   powerpc-ibm-aix4.2.0.0
  83   powerpc-unknown-linux-gnu
  84   sparc-sun-solaris2.6
  85   i686-pc-linux-gnu
  86   mips-sgi-irix6.3
  87   sparc-sun-sunos4.1.4
  88
  89 Ian Grant <I.A.N.Grant@damtp.cam.ac.uk>:
  90
  91   alpha-dec-osf4.0e
  92
  93 Julian Satchell <satchell@merry.dra.hmg.gb>:
  94
  95   dec-mips-ultrix
  96
  97 Perry Metzger <perry@piermont.com>
  98
  99   NetBSD
 100
 101
 102 Release Checklists ===================================================
 103
 104 There are basically two phases to doing a release:
 105
 106 * "SPIFFING": Updating NEWS, README, INSTALL.  Running tests.  Getting
 107   people to try builds on various machines.  Getting everything
 108   straightened up.
 109
 110 * "PUNTING": Updating the version numbers.  Tagging the sources.  Asking
 111   the FSF to put the disty on ftp.gnu.org.  Posting announcements.
 112
 113 The "Spiffing" phase you might go through several times as you
 114 discover problems.  The "Punting" phase you do only once.
 115
 116
 117 Spiffing checklist:
 118
 119 * Do a `cvs update -A', to get rid of any sticky tags in your working
 120   directory.
 121 * Check for files that have changed a lot, but do not have up-to-date
 122   copyright notices.  This can be as simple as doing:
 123         grep 'Copyright' * | grep -v 1999
 124   and looking for files you know you've worked on a lot.
 125 * Make sure NEWS, INSTALL and the docs are up to date:
 126   + Scan the ChangeLogs for user-visible changes, marked with an asterisk
 127     at the left margin.
 128   + Update NEWS and the Texinfo documentation as appropriate.
 129   + Remove the user-visible markers from the log entries once they're
 130     documented.
 131   + Check for any [[incomplete]] sections of NEWS.
 132   + Fact-check INSTALL.
 133 * Make sure the downloading addresses and filenames in README are
 134   current.  (But don't bump the version number yet.  We do that below.)
 135 * Check that the versions of aclocal, automake, autoconf, and autoheader
 136   in your PATH match those given in HACKING.  Note that the `make
 137   dist' process always invokes these tools, even when all the
 138   generated files are up to date.
 139 * Rebuild all generated files in the source tree:
 140   + Install the .m4 files where aclocal will find them.
 141   + Run aclocal.
 142   + Run autoconf.
 143   + Run autoheader.
 144   + Run automake.
 145 * Verify that Guile builds and runs in your working directory.
 146 * Run the test suite, in guile-core/test-suite.
 147 * Commit all changes to the CVS repository.
 148 * Build a test distribution.
 149   + BEFORE doing 'make dist', configure the source tree for build
 150     in the same tree with configuration options
 151     --enable-maintainer-mode --enable-debug-malloc --with-threads.
 152   + Make sure that readline was enabled correctly.
 153   + Build the tree.
 154     (If the above steps are not done, the dependencies won't be properly
 155     included in the generated Makefile.in files.)
 156   + Then do 'make dist'.
 157   + Check that the dependencies in guile-readline/Makefile look OK.
 158     (We currently use a kludge which edits the dependencies generated
 159     by automake so that Guile can be built in a directory separate
 160     from the source tree also with non-GNU make programs.)
 161 * Give the test disty to various people to try.  Here's what you should do:
 162   + Unset GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
 163   + Remove automake and autoconf from your path, or turn off their
 164     execute bits, or something.  (Users must be able to build the
 165     disty without installing those tools.)
 166   + Configure, make, and install.
 167   + Make sure LD_LIBRARY_PATH doesn't include anything unnecessary.
 168   + Run the test suite on the installed version.
 169   + You might try the example code in the doc directory.
 170
 171 Once you've got a disty that seems pretty solid:
 172
 173 * Choose new interface numbers for shared libraries.
 174 * Update the version numbers in GUILE-VERSION and README.  (There are
 175   many places in README that need updating!)  The Guile version
 176   number should have one of the following forms:
 177     N.M                      - a major release
 178     N.M.L, where L is even   - a minor release
 179     N.M.L, where L is odd    - sources from CVS or nightly snapshot
 180 * Reformat the names in THANKS.
 181 * Do a `cvs update -A' of the whole tree, to look for any stray
 182   uncommitted or accidental changes.
 183 * Commit your changes.
 184 * Make one last test distribution.
 185
 186 Punting checklist:
 187
 188 * Add "Guile N.M released." entry to the top-level ChangeLog, and commit it.
 189 * Tag the entire source tree with a tag of the form "release_N_M"
 190   or "release_N_M_L".
 191 * Do a 'make dist'.
 192 * Put the distribution up for FTP somewhere, and send mail to
 193   ftp-upload@gnu.org, asking them to put it on prep.
 194 * Send an announcement message to gnu-announce@gnu.org.  Put a brief
 195   summary of the changes in this release first, then "Obtaining
 196   Guile", "Thanks", "About This Distribution," and "Nightly
 197   Snapshots."  If I remember correctly, the moderator will delay it
 198   until the distribution appears on ftp.gnu.org.  The announcement
 199   text should be mostly taken from Guile's README file.
 200 * Notify freshmeat.net, although they're probably watching anyway.
 201   (They got the 1.3 release just fine.)  I have no idea if
 202   www.bowerbird.com.au will be something anyone refers to, but Guile
 203   does have an entry there.
 204 * Tweak the version numbers in GUILE-VERSION, and README to indicate
 205   that the sources are a snapshot again.  Snapshots should have
 206   version numbers of the form "N.M.L", where L is odd.
 207 * Start a new section of the NEWS file.
 208 * Start a new THANKS file.