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 === Eventually:
  11
  12 * Deprecate `read-only-string?'.
  13
  14 After signal handling and threading have been fixed:
  15 - remove the code corresponding to GUILE_OLD_ASYNC_CLICK and the corresponding
  16   GUILE_OLD_ASYNC_CLICK macro.
  17
  18 === In release 1.6.0:
  19
  20 - Make sure that the deprecation mechanism explained in INSTALL and
  21   README is completed and works.
  22
  23 === In release 1.8.0:
  24
  25 - remove deprecated subr and gsubr functions
  26     in procs.h, procs.c: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
  27       scm_make_subr_with_generic,
  28     in gsubr.h, gsubr.c: scm_make_gsubr, scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
  29
  30 - remove deprecated C interface to modules
  31     in modules.h, modules.c:
  32       root_module_lookup_closure, scm_sym_app, scm_sym_modules,
  33       module_prefix, make_modules_in_var, beautify_user_module_x_var,
  34       scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module, scm_ensure_user_module,
  35       scm_load_scheme_module
  36
  37 - remove vcell and obarray support.
  38   Remove all code bracketed by `#if SCM_ENABLE_VCELLS'.
  39   Remove SCM_ENABLE_VCELLS itself.
  40   Also remove `variable-set-name-hint' completely.
  41
  42 - remove compatability module (ice-9 and-let*).  It
  43   has been replaced by (ice-9 and-let-star) and/or (srfi srfi-2).
  44
  45 - remove support for autoloading compiled-code modules:
  46     try-module-linked
  47     try-module-dynamic-link
  48     init-dynamic-module
  49     scm_register_module_xxx
  50     etc.
  51 - remove deprecated variables:
  52     scm_top_level_lookup_closure_var
  53     scm_scm_system_transformer
  54     Remove all code that still sets them:
  55      `use-syntax', scm_set_current_module, ...
  56
  57 - remove deprecated functions:
  58     eval.c: scm_eval2, scm_eval_3
  59     load.c: scm_read_and_eval_x
  60     smob.c: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe
  61     gc.c: scm_remember
  62     string.c: scm_makstr
  63 - remove deprecated procedures:
  64     boot-9.scm: eval-in-module, id, -1+, return-it, string-character-length,
  65       flags
  66 - remove deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
  67   SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
  68   SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
  69   SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR,
  70   SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING,
  71   SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH,
  72   SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH, SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET,
  73   SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR, SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING,
  74   SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX,
  75   SCM_GC8MARKP, SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR,
  76   SCM_SUBR_DOC, SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA,
  77   SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
  78   SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
  79   SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR,
  80   SCM_ARRAY_CONTIGUOUS
  81 - remove scm_vector_set_length_x
  82 - remove function scm_call_catching_errors
  83   (replaced by catch functions from throw.[ch])
  84 - remove support for "#&" reader syntax in (ice-9 optargs).
  85 - remove scm_make_shared_substring
  86 - remove scm_read_only_string_p
  87 - remove scm_strhash
  88 - remove scm_tc7_ssymbol
  89 - remove scm_tc7_msymbol
  90 - remove scm_tcs_symbols
  91 - remove scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
  92 - consider removing the automatic loading of (ice-9 rdelim) when guile
  93   starts up.  This would be a brave move, since a lot of code will
  94   assume that read-line is available by default.  However it would make
  95   it easier to use alternative implementations of this module, e.g., a
  96   strictly scsh-compatible version which uses multiple values.  For
  97   interactive use it would be easy to load the module in ~/.guile.
  98 - remove scm_close_all_ports_except
  99 - remove scm_strprint_obj
 100 - remove SCM_CONST_LONG
 101 - remove scm_wta
 102
 103 Modules sort.c and random.c should be factored out into separate
 104 modules (but still be distributed with guile-core) when we get a new
 105 module system.
 106
 107 Platforms for test builds:
 108 SunOS (gcc and pcc) --- galapas.ai.mit.edu
 109 Solaris (gcc and SUN cc) --- saturn.ai.mit.edu
 110 NetBSD (gcc) --- repo-man.ai.mit.edu (use /home/repo/jimb)
 111 HP/UX (gcc, HP cc) --- nutrimat.gnu.ai.mit.edu
 112
 113 These gentlemen have kindly offered to do pre-release testing:
 114
 115 Tom Tromey <tromey@cygnus.com>:
 116
 117   alphaev5-unknown-linux-gnu
 118   hppa1.1-hp-hpux10.20
 119   hppa1.1-hp-hpux11.00
 120   mips-sgi-irix5.3
 121   powerpc-ibm-aix4.2.0.0
 122   powerpc-unknown-linux-gnu
 123   sparc-sun-solaris2.6
 124   i686-pc-linux-gnu
 125   mips-sgi-irix6.3
 126   sparc-sun-sunos4.1.4
 127
 128 Ian Grant <I.A.N.Grant@damtp.cam.ac.uk>:
 129
 130   alpha-dec-osf4.0e
 131
 132 Julian Satchell <satchell@merry.dra.hmg.gb>:
 133
 134   dec-mips-ultrix
 135
 136 Perry Metzger <perry@piermont.com>
 137
 138   NetBSD
 139
 140
 141 Release Checklists ===================================================
 142
 143 There are basically two phases to doing a release:
 144
 145 * "SPIFFING": Updating NEWS, README, INSTALL.  Running tests.  Getting
 146   people to try builds on various machines.  Getting everything
 147   straightened up.
 148
 149 * "PUNTING": Updating the version numbers.  Tagging the sources.  Asking
 150   the FSF to put the disty on ftp.gnu.org.  Posting announcements.
 151
 152 The "Spiffing" phase you might go through several times as you
 153 discover problems.  The "Punting" phase you do only once.
 154
 155
 156 Spiffing checklist:
 157
 158 * Do a `cvs update -A', to get rid of any sticky tags in your working
 159   directory.
 160 * Check for files that have changed a lot, but do not have up-to-date
 161   copyright notices.  This can be as simple as doing:
 162         grep 'Copyright' * | grep -v 1999
 163   and looking for files you know you've worked on a lot.
 164 * Make sure NEWS, INSTALL, AUTHORS and THANKS and the docs are up to date:
 165   + Scan the ChangeLogs for user-visible changes, marked with an asterisk
 166     at the left margin.
 167   + Update NEWS and the Texinfo documentation as appropriate.
 168   + Remove the user-visible markers from the log entries once they're
 169     documented.
 170   + Check for any [[incomplete]] sections of NEWS.
 171   + Fact-check INSTALL.
 172   + Make sure AUTHORS and THANKS are up-to-date.
 173 * Make sure the downloading addresses and filenames in README are
 174   current.  (But don't bump the version number yet.  We do that below.)
 175 * Check that the versions of aclocal, automake, autoconf, and autoheader
 176   in your PATH match those given in HACKING.  Note that the `make
 177   dist' process always invokes these tools, even when all the
 178   generated files are up to date.
 179 * Rebuild all generated files in the source tree:
 180   + Install the .m4 files where aclocal will find them.
 181   + Run aclocal.
 182   + Run autoconf.
 183   + Run autoheader.
 184   + Run automake.
 185 * Verify that Guile builds and runs in your working directory.
 186 * Run the test suite, in guile-core/test-suite.
 187 * Commit all changes to the CVS repository.
 188 * Build a test distribution.
 189   + BEFORE doing 'make dist', configure the source tree for build
 190     in the same tree with configuration options
 191     --enable-maintainer-mode --enable-debug-malloc --with-threads.
 192   + Make sure that readline was enabled correctly.
 193   + Build the tree.
 194     (If the above steps are not done, the dependencies won't be properly
 195     included in the generated Makefile.in files.)
 196   + Then do 'make dist'.
 197   + Check that the dependencies in guile-readline/Makefile look OK.
 198     (We currently use a kludge which edits the dependencies generated
 199     by automake so that Guile can be built in a directory separate
 200     from the source tree also with non-GNU make programs.)
 201 * Give the test disty to various people to try.  Here's what you should do:
 202   + Unset GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
 203   + Remove automake and autoconf from your path, or turn off their
 204     execute bits, or something.  (Users must be able to build the
 205     disty without installing those tools.)
 206   + Configure, make, and install.
 207   + Make sure LD_LIBRARY_PATH doesn't include anything unnecessary.
 208   + Run the test suite on the installed version.
 209   + You might try the example code in the doc directory.
 210
 211 Once you've got a disty that seems pretty solid:
 212
 213 * Choose new interface numbers for shared libraries.
 214 * Update the version numbers in GUILE-VERSION and README.  (There are
 215   many places in README that need updating!)  The Guile version
 216   number should have one of the following forms:
 217     N.M                      - a major release
 218     N.M.L, where L is even   - a minor release
 219     N.M.L, where L is odd    - sources from CVS or nightly snapshot
 220 * Reformat the names in THANKS.
 221 * Do a `cvs update -A' of the whole tree, to look for any stray
 222   uncommitted or accidental changes.
 223 * Commit your changes.
 224 * Make one last test distribution.
 225
 226 Punting checklist:
 227
 228 * Add "Guile N.M released." entry to the top-level ChangeLog, and commit it.
 229 * Tag the entire source tree with a tag of the form "release_N_M"
 230   or "release_N_M_L".
 231 * Do a 'make dist'.
 232 * Put the distribution up for FTP somewhere, and send mail to
 233   ftp-upload@gnu.org, asking them to put it on prep.
 234 * Send an announcement message to gnu-announce@gnu.org.  Put a brief
 235   summary of the changes in this release first, then "Obtaining
 236   Guile", "Thanks", "About This Distribution," and "Nightly
 237   Snapshots."  If I remember correctly, the moderator will delay it
 238   until the distribution appears on ftp.gnu.org.  The announcement
 239   text should be mostly taken from Guile's README file.
 240 * Notify freshmeat.net, although they're probably watching anyway.
 241   (They got the 1.3 release just fine.)  I have no idea if
 242   www.bowerbird.com.au will be something anyone refers to, but Guile
 243   does have an entry there.
 244 * Tweak the version numbers in GUILE-VERSION, and README to indicate
 245   that the sources are a snapshot again.  Snapshots should have
 246   version numbers of the form "N.M.L", where L is odd.
 247 * Start a new section of the NEWS file.
 248 * Start a new THANKS file.