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[bpt/guile.git] / RELEASE

This is a checklist for making Guile releases.
It's specific to the FSF's development environment; please don't put
it in the distribution.

Maybe we should name Guile releases after entertaining poisons:
absinthe, etc.  However, the first release containing the module
system should be called Godot: "This is the one you've been waiting
for."

In release 1.3.4:
- remove hook support from boot-9.scm
  (only provided for backward compatibility)

In release 1.4:
- remove names evalext.c: serial-map,
               ramap.c:   serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
- remove module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style)
- remove kw.h, scm_tc16_kw
- remove genio.h
- remove deprecated function scm_newsmob.

Modules sort.c and random.c should be factored out into separate
modules (but still be distributed with guile-core) when we get a new
module system.

Platforms for test builds:
SunOS (gcc and pcc) --- galapas.ai.mit.edu
Solaris (gcc and SUN cc) --- saturn.ai.mit.edu
NetBSD (gcc) --- repo-man.ai.mit.edu (use /home/repo/jimb)
HP/UX (gcc, HP cc) --- nutrimat.gnu.ai.mit.edu

These gentlemen have kindly offered to do pre-release testing:

Tom Tromey <tromey@cygnus.com>:

  alphaev5-unknown-linux-gnu
  hppa1.1-hp-hpux10.20
  hppa1.1-hp-hpux11.00
  mips-sgi-irix5.3
  powerpc-ibm-aix4.2.0.0
  powerpc-unknown-linux-gnu
  sparc-sun-solaris2.6
  i686-pc-linux-gnu
  mips-sgi-irix6.3
  sparc-sun-sunos4.1.4

Ian Grant <I.A.N.Grant@damtp.cam.ac.uk>:

  alpha-dec-osf4.0e  

Julian Satchell <satchell@merry.dra.hmg.gb>:

  dec-mips-ultrix

1) Check that the versions of aclocal, automake, autoconf, and autoheader
   in your PATH match those given in README.  Note that the `make
   dist' process always invokes these tools, even when all the
   generated files are up to date.
2) Verify that Guile builds and runs in your working directory.  I
   hope that we'll eventually have a test suite to make this more
   concrete, but for the moment, just make sure things seem sane.
3) Make sure NEWS, INSTALL and the docs are up to date:
   a) Scan the ChangeLogs for user-visible changes, marked with an asterisk
      at the left margin.
   b) Update NEWS and the Texinfo documentation as appropriate.
   c) Remove the user-visible markers from the log entries once they're
      documented.
   d) Check for any [[incomplete]] sections of NEWS.
   e) Fact-check INSTALL.
4) Scan output from `cvs diff' to find files that have changed a lot, but
   do not have up-to-date copyright notices.
5) Update the version numbers in GUILE-VERSION, and README.  The Guile
   version number should be of the form N.M for a major release, and
   N.M.L for snapshots and beta releases; L should be even for beta
   releases, and odd for snapshots.
6) Make sure the downloading addressess and filenames are current.
7) Set up README appropriately for the release; check name spellings
   in THANKS, and reformat.
8) Choose new interface numbers for shared libraries.
9) Do a `cvs update -A', to get rid of any sticky tags.
10) Rebuild all generated files in the source tree:
   a) Install the .m4 files where aclocal will find them.
   b) Run aclocal.
   c) Run automake.
   d) Run autoconf.
   e) Run autoheader.
11) Commit all changes to the CVS repository.
12) Verify that the disty works, too:
    a) BEFORE doing 'make dist', configure the source tree for build
       in the same tree with configuration option --with-threads.
       Make sure that readline was enabled correctly.
       If this is not done, there will be missing dependencies in two
       Makefile.in.
    b) Make a disty, using 'make dist'.
    c) Unpack it somewhere else.
    d) Remove automake and autoconf from your path, or turn off their
       execute bits, or something.  (Users should be able to build disty
       without installing those tools.)
    e) Configure, make, and install.
    f) Test the installed version; don't forget to unset GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
    g) Test the example code in the doc directory.
    h) Give the volunteer pre-release testers above a few days to run
       the distribution on their systems (make the disty available to them
       via ftp).
    i) If you made any fixes, commit them, and start from a) again
13) Add "Guile N.M released." entry to ChangeLog, and commit it.
14) Tag the entire source tree with a tag of the form "release_N_M".
15) Copy the tar file over to the GNU machines, and send mail to
    ftp-upload@gnu.org, asking them to put it on prep.
16) Send an announcement message to gnu-announce@gnu.org.  Put
    "Obtaining Guile" first, then a brief summary of the changes in
    this release, then "Thanks," "About This Distribution," and
    "Nightly Snapshots."  If I remember correctly, the moderator will
    delay it until the tar file appears on prep.  The announcement
    text should be mostly taken from Guile's README file.
17) Notify freshmeat.net, although they're probably watching anyway.
    (They got the 1.3 release just fine.)  I have no idea if
    www.bowerbird.com.au will be something anyone refers to, but Guile
    does have an entry there.
18) Tweak the version numbers in GUILE-VERSION, and README to indicate that 
    the sources are snapshot again.  Snapshots should have version numbers 
    of the form "N.M.L", where L is odd.
19) Start a new section of the NEWS file.
20) Start a new THANKS file.
21) Send mail to majordomo-owner@cygnus.com updating the message you get
    when you ask majordomo for "info guile".