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  20 - remove gc-thunk (It has been replaced by after-gc-hook.)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