ant/ReleaseInstructions

Instructions for making a Release:

Author: Conor MacNeill

Note: This document was created in the context of releasing Ant 1.5.
      Please interpret the branch names, tags, etc. according to
      your context.

1.  Propose a release plan for vote.  This should set out the timetable for
    the release under ideal circumstances.  The level of bugs reported 
    can delay things. Generally, give a few weeks to "close" the source tree 
    to further changes so people can finalise contributions, etc. At this time,
    the first beta will be cut and there will be then a period of beta testing,
    usually 1 month but this should be flexible.

2.  Note that any mention of a deadline causes a flood of bug fixes, new tasks, 
    etc.  This needs to be managed as best it can. Some fixes will be applied, 
    others held over. Make this clear in the release plan. The committers and 
    particularly the release manager will need to make judgement calls here. 
    Anything too "big" is likely to be held over.
    
3.  Once the freeze date arrives, create a branch for the release builds. You 
    will need to be comfortable in handling CVS branches with mutliple 
    merge-backs to the main branch and even selected merges from the the main 
    branch to the release branch.  
    
    [[ TODO: More information on multiple merge-backs needed ]]

    Label such branches ANT_15_BRANCH.
    
4.  Once the branch is setup, the version numbers in CVS are changed. On the 
    branch, the build.xml version becomes 1.5Beta1 while the main branch is 
    updated to 1.6alpha. 
    
    [[ TODO: Check if the documentation files also need to be updated to point 
    to the right areas of Ant's website. ]]

5.  Ensure you have all the external libraries that Ant uses in your
    lib/optional directory.  To find out what libraries you need, execute
    the build with -verbose option and scan for lines beginning with 
    "Unable to load...".

6.  Next bootstrap, build and run the tests.  Then build the distribution 
    on the branch. It is important that this be a clean build. Label this with 
    a tag ANT_15_B1.
    
7.  Sign the distribution files using the following simple script
    #!/bin/sh
    for i in distribution/*
    do
         echo "Signing " $i
         gpg -a -b $i
    done

    Try to do this on Linux since the gpg signatures generated on Windows may 
    cause some PGP users problems verifying signatures even though they seem 
    OK.

8.  The beta distribution is now ready to go. Bundle it up into a tar.gz file and 
    scp to your apache account.
    
9.  Meanwhile, convert the WHATSNEW file into HTML for the README file on the 
    website. See the previous release directories for examples of these files. 
    Add instructions and warnings (GNU tar format issues, etc).
    
    [[ TODO: Any tool to automatically convert from text to html? ]]

10. Once this is uploaded, unpack things, create the release directory, 
    something like v1.5Beta1, push the release and README files into this 
    directory.

11. Address the available release tags in BugZilla. Create a new tag 1.5Beta1 
    and a 1.6alpha. Assign all existing 1.5 alpha bugs to one of these release 
    labels.
    
12. Once that is done, do a test download to make sure everything is OK. If it 
    looks OK, announce it on ant-dev and ant-user. After a few days pass and 
    there are no major problems, a wider announcement is made (main jakarta 
    website, general and announce lists, etc).

13. As problems in the beta are discovered, there may be a need for one or more 
    subsequent betas. The release manager makes this call. Each time, the 
    versions are updated and the above process is repeated. Try not to have 
    too many betas.

14. Try to advertise the need for testing of the betas as much as possible.
    This would eliminate the need to release minor patch versions like
    we had to do when releasing Ant 1.4.  
    
    [[TODO: Document how to monitor the number of downloads ]]

15. When the final beta is considered OK, propose a vote on ant-dev to 
    officially adopt the latest beta as the Ant 1.5 release. If it is passed, 
    (it usually does,) this would be labelled ANT_15 and built in a similar 
    fashion to the above process.

16. Now and perhaps during previous betas any changes on the branch must 
    be merged back into the tree.

17. At this point in time, the release is done and announcements are made. 

    [[TODO: Identify the mailing lists where announcements are to be made.
      Also identify the webpages to which the announcements must go. ]]

18. You can now reacquaint yourself with your family and friends.