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  23 - remove gc-thunk (It has been replaced by after-gc-hook.)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