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 "scm_*_t" type names in libguile.h.
  26
  27 - remove re-exporting behaviour of `export'.
  28     in boot-9.scm, remove begin-deprecated part of `module-export!'
  29     in format.scm, remove kluge at top
  30     in srfi13.scm, likewise
  31
  32 - remove deprecated subr and gsubr functions
  33     in procs.h, procs.c: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
  34       scm_make_subr_with_generic,
  35     in gsubr.h, gsubr.c: scm_make_gsubr, scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
  36
  37 - remove deprecated C interface to modules
  38     in modules.h, modules.c:
  39       root_module_lookup_closure, scm_sym_app, scm_sym_modules,
  40       module_prefix, make_modules_in_var, beautify_user_module_x_var,
  41       scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module, scm_ensure_user_module,
  42       scm_load_scheme_module
  43
  44 - remove vcell and obarray support.
  45   Remove all code bracketed by `#if SCM_ENABLE_VCELLS'.
  46   Remove SCM_ENABLE_VCELLS itself.
  47   Also remove `variable-set-name-hint' completely.
  48
  49 - remove compatability module (ice-9 and-let*).  It
  50   has been replaced by (ice-9 and-let-star) and/or (srfi srfi-2).
  51
  52 - remove support for autoloading compiled-code modules:
  53     try-module-linked
  54     try-module-dynamic-link
  55     init-dynamic-module, etc.
  56     scm_register_module_xxx
  57     scm_registered_modules
  58     scm_clear_registered_modules
  59
  60 - remove deprecated variables:
  61     scm_top_level_lookup_closure_var
  62     scm_scm_system_transformer
  63     Remove all code that still sets them:
  64      `use-syntax', scm_set_current_module, ...
  65
  66 - remove deprecated functions:
  67     eval.c: scm_eval2, scm_eval_3
  68     load.c: scm_read_and_eval_x
  69     smob.c: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe
  70     gc.c: scm_remember
  71     string.c: scm_makstr, scm_makfromstr
  72 - remove deprecated procedures:
  73     boot-9.scm: eval-in-module, id, -1+, return-it, string-character-length,
  74       flags
  75 - remove deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
  76   SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
  77   SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
  78   SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR,
  79   SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING,
  80   SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH,
  81   SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH, SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET,
  82   SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR, SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING,
  83   SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX,
  84   SCM_GC8MARKP, SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR,
  85   SCM_SUBR_DOC, SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA,
  86   SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
  87   SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
  88   SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR,
  89   SCM_ARRAY_CONTIGUOUS
  90 - remove scm_vector_set_length_x
  91 - remove function scm_call_catching_errors
  92   (replaced by catch functions from throw.[ch])
  93 - remove support for "#&" reader syntax in (ice-9 optargs).
  94 - remove scm_make_shared_substring
  95 - remove scm_read_only_string_p
  96 - remove scm_strhash
  97 - remove scm_tc7_ssymbol
  98 - remove scm_tc7_msymbol
  99 - remove scm_tcs_symbols
 100 - remove scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
 101 - consider removing the automatic loading of (ice-9 rdelim) when guile
 102   starts up.  This would be a brave move, since a lot of code will
 103   assume that read-line is available by default.  However it would make
 104   it easier to use alternative implementations of this module, e.g., a
 105   strictly scsh-compatible version which uses multiple values.  For
 106   interactive use it would be easy to load the module in ~/.guile.
 107 - remove scm_close_all_ports_except
 108 - remove scm_strprint_obj
 109 - remove SCM_CONST_LONG
 110 - remove scm_wta
 111 - remove deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long, scm_sizet
 112 - remove deprecated macros: scm_contregs, scm_port_rw_active,
 113   scm_port, scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame,
 114   scm_fport, SCM_FIXNUM_BIT, scm_option, scm_subr_entry, scm_rstate,
 115   scm_rng, scm_i_rstate, scm_srcprops, scm_srcprops_chunk,
 116   scm_info_frame, scm_stack, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
 117 - remove deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
 118   scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl.
 119 - remove deprecated functions: scm_protect_object,
 120   scm_unprotect_object, scm_create_hook.
 121
 122 Modules sort.c and random.c should be factored out into separate
 123 modules (but still be distributed with guile-core) when we get a new
 124 module system.
 125
 126 Platforms for test builds:
 127 SunOS (gcc and pcc) --- galapas.ai.mit.edu
 128 Solaris (gcc and SUN cc) --- saturn.ai.mit.edu
 129 NetBSD (gcc) --- repo-man.ai.mit.edu (use /home/repo/jimb)
 130 HP/UX (gcc, HP cc) --- nutrimat.gnu.ai.mit.edu
 131
 132 These gentlemen have kindly offered to do pre-release testing:
 133
 134 Tom Tromey <tromey@cygnus.com>:
 135
 136   alphaev5-unknown-linux-gnu
 137   hppa1.1-hp-hpux10.20
 138   hppa1.1-hp-hpux11.00
 139   mips-sgi-irix5.3
 140   powerpc-ibm-aix4.2.0.0
 141   powerpc-unknown-linux-gnu
 142   sparc-sun-solaris2.6
 143   i686-pc-linux-gnu
 144   mips-sgi-irix6.3
 145   sparc-sun-sunos4.1.4
 146
 147 Ian Grant <I.A.N.Grant@damtp.cam.ac.uk>:
 148
 149   alpha-dec-osf4.0e
 150
 151 Julian Satchell <satchell@merry.dra.hmg.gb>:
 152
 153   dec-mips-ultrix
 154
 155 Perry Metzger <perry@piermont.com>
 156
 157   NetBSD
 158
 159
 160 Release Checklists ===================================================
 161
 162 There are basically two phases to doing a release:
 163
 164 * "SPIFFING": Updating NEWS, README, INSTALL.  Running tests.  Getting
 165   people to try builds on various machines.  Getting everything
 166   straightened up.
 167
 168 * "PUNTING": Updating the version numbers.  Tagging the sources.  Asking
 169   the FSF to put the disty on ftp.gnu.org.  Posting announcements.
 170
 171 The "Spiffing" phase you might go through several times as you
 172 discover problems.  The "Punting" phase you do only once.
 173
 174
 175 Spiffing checklist:
 176
 177 * Do a `cvs update -A', to get rid of any sticky tags in your working
 178   directory.
 179 * Check for files that have changed a lot, but do not have up-to-date
 180   copyright notices.  This can be as simple as doing:
 181         grep 'Copyright' * | grep -v 1999
 182   and looking for files you know you've worked on a lot.
 183 * Make sure NEWS, INSTALL, AUTHORS and THANKS and the docs are up to date:
 184   + Scan the ChangeLogs for user-visible changes, marked with an asterisk
 185     at the left margin.
 186   + Update NEWS and the Texinfo documentation as appropriate.
 187   + Remove the user-visible markers from the log entries once they're
 188     documented.
 189   + Check for any [[incomplete]] sections of NEWS.
 190   + Fact-check INSTALL.
 191   + Make sure AUTHORS and THANKS are up-to-date.
 192 * Make sure the downloading addresses and filenames in README are
 193   current.  (But don't bump the version number yet.  We do that below.)
 194 * Check that the versions of aclocal, automake, autoconf, and autoheader
 195   in your PATH match those given in HACKING.  Note that the `make
 196   dist' process always invokes these tools, even when all the
 197   generated files are up to date.
 198 * Rebuild all generated files in the source tree:
 199   + Install the .m4 files where aclocal will find them.
 200   + Run aclocal.
 201   + Run autoconf.
 202   + Run autoheader.
 203   + Run automake.
 204 * Verify that Guile builds and runs in your working directory.
 205 * Run the test suite, in guile-core/test-suite.
 206 * Commit all changes to the CVS repository.
 207 * Build a test distribution.
 208   + BEFORE doing 'make dist', configure the source tree for build
 209     in the same tree with configuration options
 210     --enable-maintainer-mode --enable-debug-malloc --with-threads.
 211   + Make sure that readline was enabled correctly.
 212   + Build the tree.
 213     (If the above steps are not done, the dependencies won't be properly
 214     included in the generated Makefile.in files.)
 215   + Then do 'make dist'.
 216   + Check that the dependencies in guile-readline/Makefile look OK.
 217     (We currently use a kludge which edits the dependencies generated
 218     by automake so that Guile can be built in a directory separate
 219     from the source tree also with non-GNU make programs.)
 220 * Give the test disty to various people to try.  Here's what you should do:
 221   + Unset GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
 222   + Remove automake and autoconf from your path, or turn off their
 223     execute bits, or something.  (Users must be able to build the
 224     disty without installing those tools.)
 225   + Configure, make, and install.
 226   + Make sure LD_LIBRARY_PATH doesn't include anything unnecessary.
 227   + Run the test suite on the installed version.
 228   + You might try the example code in the doc directory.
 229
 230 Once you've got a disty that seems pretty solid:
 231
 232 * Choose new interface numbers for shared libraries.
 233 * Update the version numbers in GUILE-VERSION and README.  (There are
 234   many places in README that need updating!)  The Guile version
 235   number should have one of the following forms:
 236     N.M                      - a major release
 237     N.M.L, where L is even   - a minor release
 238     N.M.L, where L is odd    - sources from CVS or nightly snapshot
 239 * Reformat the names in THANKS.
 240 * Do a `cvs update -A' of the whole tree, to look for any stray
 241   uncommitted or accidental changes.
 242 * Commit your changes.
 243 * Make one last test distribution.
 244
 245 Punting checklist:
 246
 247 * Add "Guile N.M released." entry to the top-level ChangeLog, and commit it.
 248 * Tag the entire source tree with a tag of the form "release_N_M"
 249   or "release_N_M_L".
 250 * Do a 'make dist'.
 251 * Put the distribution up for FTP somewhere, and send mail to
 252   ftp-upload@gnu.org, asking them to put it on prep.
 253 * Send an announcement message to gnu-announce@gnu.org.  Put a brief
 254   summary of the changes in this release first, then "Obtaining
 255   Guile", "Thanks", "About This Distribution," and "Nightly
 256   Snapshots."  If I remember correctly, the moderator will delay it
 257   until the distribution appears on ftp.gnu.org.  The announcement
 258   text should be mostly taken from Guile's README file.
 259 * Notify freshmeat.net, although they're probably watching anyway.
 260   (They got the 1.3 release just fine.)  I have no idea if
 261   www.bowerbird.com.au will be something anyone refers to, but Guile
 262   does have an entry there.
 263 * Tweak the version numbers in GUILE-VERSION, and README to indicate
 264   that the sources are a snapshot again.  Snapshots should have
 265   version numbers of the form "N.M.L", where L is odd.
 266 * Start a new section of the NEWS file.
 267 * Start a new THANKS file.