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  43   has been replaced by (ice-9 and-let-star) and/or (srfi srfi-2).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