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  43   has been replaced by (ice-9 and-let-star) and/or (srfi srfi-2).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 - remove deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long, scm_sizet
 103 - remove deprecated macros: scm_contregs, scm_port_rw_active,
 104   scm_port, scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame,
 105   scm_fport, SCM_FIXNUM_BIT, scm_option, scm_subr_entry, scm_rstate,
 106   scm_rng, scm_i_rstate, scm_srcprops, scm_srcprops_chunk,
 107   scm_info_frame, scm_stack, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
 108 - remove deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
 109   scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl.
 110
 111 Modules sort.c and random.c should be factored out into separate
 112 modules (but still be distributed with guile-core) when we get a new
 113 module system.
 114
 115 Platforms for test builds:
 116 SunOS (gcc and pcc) --- galapas.ai.mit.edu
 117 Solaris (gcc and SUN cc) --- saturn.ai.mit.edu
 118 NetBSD (gcc) --- repo-man.ai.mit.edu (use /home/repo/jimb)
 119 HP/UX (gcc, HP cc) --- nutrimat.gnu.ai.mit.edu
 120
 121 These gentlemen have kindly offered to do pre-release testing:
 122
 123 Tom Tromey <tromey@cygnus.com>:
 124
 125   alphaev5-unknown-linux-gnu
 126   hppa1.1-hp-hpux10.20
 127   hppa1.1-hp-hpux11.00
 128   mips-sgi-irix5.3
 129   powerpc-ibm-aix4.2.0.0
 130   powerpc-unknown-linux-gnu
 131   sparc-sun-solaris2.6
 132   i686-pc-linux-gnu
 133   mips-sgi-irix6.3
 134   sparc-sun-sunos4.1.4
 135
 136 Ian Grant <I.A.N.Grant@damtp.cam.ac.uk>:
 137
 138   alpha-dec-osf4.0e
 139
 140 Julian Satchell <satchell@merry.dra.hmg.gb>:
 141
 142   dec-mips-ultrix
 143
 144 Perry Metzger <perry@piermont.com>
 145
 146   NetBSD
 147
 148
 149 Release Checklists ===================================================
 150
 151 There are basically two phases to doing a release:
 152
 153 * "SPIFFING": Updating NEWS, README, INSTALL.  Running tests.  Getting
 154   people to try builds on various machines.  Getting everything
 155   straightened up.
 156
 157 * "PUNTING": Updating the version numbers.  Tagging the sources.  Asking
 158   the FSF to put the disty on ftp.gnu.org.  Posting announcements.
 159
 160 The "Spiffing" phase you might go through several times as you
 161 discover problems.  The "Punting" phase you do only once.
 162
 163
 164 Spiffing checklist:
 165
 166 * Do a `cvs update -A', to get rid of any sticky tags in your working
 167   directory.
 168 * Check for files that have changed a lot, but do not have up-to-date
 169   copyright notices.  This can be as simple as doing:
 170         grep 'Copyright' * | grep -v 1999
 171   and looking for files you know you've worked on a lot.
 172 * Make sure NEWS, INSTALL, AUTHORS and THANKS and the docs are up to date:
 173   + Scan the ChangeLogs for user-visible changes, marked with an asterisk
 174     at the left margin.
 175   + Update NEWS and the Texinfo documentation as appropriate.
 176   + Remove the user-visible markers from the log entries once they're
 177     documented.
 178   + Check for any [[incomplete]] sections of NEWS.
 179   + Fact-check INSTALL.
 180   + Make sure AUTHORS and THANKS are up-to-date.
 181 * Make sure the downloading addresses and filenames in README are
 182   current.  (But don't bump the version number yet.  We do that below.)
 183 * Check that the versions of aclocal, automake, autoconf, and autoheader
 184   in your PATH match those given in HACKING.  Note that the `make
 185   dist' process always invokes these tools, even when all the
 186   generated files are up to date.
 187 * Rebuild all generated files in the source tree:
 188   + Install the .m4 files where aclocal will find them.
 189   + Run aclocal.
 190   + Run autoconf.
 191   + Run autoheader.
 192   + Run automake.
 193 * Verify that Guile builds and runs in your working directory.
 194 * Run the test suite, in guile-core/test-suite.
 195 * Commit all changes to the CVS repository.
 196 * Build a test distribution.
 197   + BEFORE doing 'make dist', configure the source tree for build
 198     in the same tree with configuration options
 199     --enable-maintainer-mode --enable-debug-malloc --with-threads.
 200   + Make sure that readline was enabled correctly.
 201   + Build the tree.
 202     (If the above steps are not done, the dependencies won't be properly
 203     included in the generated Makefile.in files.)
 204   + Then do 'make dist'.
 205   + Check that the dependencies in guile-readline/Makefile look OK.
 206     (We currently use a kludge which edits the dependencies generated
 207     by automake so that Guile can be built in a directory separate
 208     from the source tree also with non-GNU make programs.)
 209 * Give the test disty to various people to try.  Here's what you should do:
 210   + Unset GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
 211   + Remove automake and autoconf from your path, or turn off their
 212     execute bits, or something.  (Users must be able to build the
 213     disty without installing those tools.)
 214   + Configure, make, and install.
 215   + Make sure LD_LIBRARY_PATH doesn't include anything unnecessary.
 216   + Run the test suite on the installed version.
 217   + You might try the example code in the doc directory.
 218
 219 Once you've got a disty that seems pretty solid:
 220
 221 * Choose new interface numbers for shared libraries.
 222 * Update the version numbers in GUILE-VERSION and README.  (There are
 223   many places in README that need updating!)  The Guile version
 224   number should have one of the following forms:
 225     N.M                      - a major release
 226     N.M.L, where L is even   - a minor release
 227     N.M.L, where L is odd    - sources from CVS or nightly snapshot
 228 * Reformat the names in THANKS.
 229 * Do a `cvs update -A' of the whole tree, to look for any stray
 230   uncommitted or accidental changes.
 231 * Commit your changes.
 232 * Make one last test distribution.
 233
 234 Punting checklist:
 235
 236 * Add "Guile N.M released." entry to the top-level ChangeLog, and commit it.
 237 * Tag the entire source tree with a tag of the form "release_N_M"
 238   or "release_N_M_L".
 239 * Do a 'make dist'.
 240 * Put the distribution up for FTP somewhere, and send mail to
 241   ftp-upload@gnu.org, asking them to put it on prep.
 242 * Send an announcement message to gnu-announce@gnu.org.  Put a brief
 243   summary of the changes in this release first, then "Obtaining
 244   Guile", "Thanks", "About This Distribution," and "Nightly
 245   Snapshots."  If I remember correctly, the moderator will delay it
 246   until the distribution appears on ftp.gnu.org.  The announcement
 247   text should be mostly taken from Guile's README file.
 248 * Notify freshmeat.net, although they're probably watching anyway.
 249   (They got the 1.3 release just fine.)  I have no idea if
 250   www.bowerbird.com.au will be something anyone refers to, but Guile
 251   does have an entry there.
 252 * Tweak the version numbers in GUILE-VERSION, and README to indicate
 253   that the sources are a snapshot again.  Snapshots should have
 254   version numbers of the form "N.M.L", where L is odd.
 255 * Start a new section of the NEWS file.
 256 * Start a new THANKS file.