1 README for MAKING BINUTILS RELEASES
3 This is a collection of notes on how to perform a binutils release. A
4 lot of this information can also be found in the maintain.texi file in
7 https://www.gnu.org/software/gnulib/
9 It is useful to have a cloned copy of the sources of this project as
10 it also contains an upload script used to install tarballs on the GNU
13 Make sure that you have upload authority on sourceware and fencepost.
14 Beware - this is an involved process and can take weeks to complete.
15 See the maintain.texi file for details on how to obtain these
18 -------------------------------------------------
19 How to perform a release.
20 -------------------------------------------------
22 1. Send an email out warning contributors about the forthcoming
23 branch. Set a date for the branch (weekends are better because
26 2. When the branch date is near: Update the libiberty and config
27 directories and the top level configure files.
29 3. When branch day arrives add markers for the upcoming release to
30 gas, ld, gold and binutils NEWS files.
31 [If using the make-prerelease.sh script, check that
32 common.sh has the right values].
33 [make-prelease.sh command i]
34 [make-prelease.sh command C]
35 Likewise for all of the ChangeLog files.
36 Add a note of the name of the new branch to binutils/BRANCHES.
38 [make-prerelease.sh command C]
40 4. Create the release branch using:
42 git tag -a binutils-2_30-branch [e.g. for the 2.30 branch...]
43 git push --tags origin binutils-2_30-branch
45 5. Update "BINUTILS_BRANCH" in gdbadmin's crontab:
47 Log in as gdbadmin on sourceware.org, and then:
51 [change BINUTILS_BRANCH]
55 If you do not have access to this account, please feel free to
56 ask Joel Brobecker <brobecker AT adacore DOT com>.
58 6. Update bfd/configure and bfd/configure.ac on HEAD to indicate
59 snapshot of the following release.
60 [make-prerelease.sh command hv + C]
62 7. Rename the current HEAD version entry in Bugzilla, and create a
63 new one. E.g. rename "2.30 (HEAD)" to 2.30, and create "2.31
66 https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/editversions.cgi?product=binutils
68 8. Update the release number in bfd/version.m4 for the mainline and
69 the branch. The mainline should have the minor number
70 incremented, but the branch only needs the point value set to 90
71 as the release has not actually happened yet.
73 Regenerate various files on both branch and HEAD by configuring
74 with --enable-maintainer-mode. NB/ Remember to build gold and
75 gprof. Commit the changes. Make sure that this includes the
76 .pot files as well as the configure and makefiles.
78 9. Create an initial prerelease:
80 a. Change the version on the branch (bfd/version.m4), regenerate
81 the files, and check this in.
83 b. Create a source tarball of the branch sources:
85 ./src-release -x binutils
87 c. Build a test target using this tarball.
89 d. Upload the prerelease snapshot to the FTP:
91 scp ../binutils-$version.tar.xz sourceware.org:~ftp/pub/binutils/snapshots
92 ssh sourceware.org md5sum ~ftp/pub/binutils/snapshots/binutils-$version.tar.xz
94 10. Send it to the Translation Project:
96 http://translationproject.org/html/maintainers.html
98 Sending mail for one of the POT files is sufficient.
100 11. Announce the availability of the snapshot and the branch on the
101 binutils mailing list. Set a date for when the release will
102 actually happen. Something like:
103 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
106 The 2.XX branch has now been created:
108 git clone git://sourceware.org/git/binutils-gdb.git -b binutils-2_XX-branch 2.XX
110 A snapshot of the sources is also available here:
112 ftp://sourceware.org/pub/binutils/snapshots/binutils-2.XX.0.tar.xz
114 Please could all patches for the branch be run by me.
115 The rules for the branch are:
118 * Target specific bug fixes are OK.
119 * Generic bug fixes are OK if they are important and widely tested.
120 * Documentation updates/fixes are OK.
121 * Translation updates are OK.
122 * Fixes for testsuite failures are OK.
124 Ideally I would like to make the release happen in two weeks time,
125 i.e. Saturday 27th Jan. Which I hope will be enough time for everyone
126 to get their final fixes in.
127 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
129 12. Build various different toolchains, test them and nag
130 maintainers to fix any testsuite failures for their
134 When the time comes to actually make the release....
137 20. Update the release number in bfd/version.m4 on the release
138 branch to a whole new minor version number, without a point
139 value. Eg "2.29.90" becomes "2.30". Change bfd/development.sh
140 to set the value to "false".
143 xxx -- fill in stuff here -- xxx
148 -------------------------------------------------
149 How to perform a point release.
150 -------------------------------------------------
152 A point release is easier than a normal release since a lot of the
153 work has already been done. The branch has been created, the
154 translations updated and the documentation uploaded. So the procedure
157 0. Decide that a point release is necessary.
159 Usually this only happens when a sufficient number of serious
160 bugs have been found and fixed since the previous release, and a
161 new official release is not imminent.
163 1. Tell the community that a point release is happening. Ask
164 maintainers to ensure that their ports are up to date on the
165 release branch. Ask the community if there are any bug fixes
166 which are missing from the branch. Allow some time for the
167 responses to this step.
169 2. Make sure that the branch sources build, test and install
172 2.5 Prepare a list of the bugs which have been fixed. This
173 will be needed for step 8.
175 3. In the branch sources:
177 a. Update the minor release number in bfd/version.m4.
178 b. Edit bfd/development.sh and set "development=false".
179 c. Regenerate the configure files.
180 d. Commit the updates along with a "this-is-the-2.XX.X-release"
181 note in all of the changelogs.
182 e. Tag the branch with the new release number:
184 git tag -a binutils-2_XX_X
185 [optional: add "-u XXXXX" to sign with a gpg key]
186 git push origin binutils-2_XX_X
188 f. Check that your file creation mask will create the
189 correct file permissions. Eg:
193 g. Create the release tarballs:
194 ./src-release -b -g -l -x binutils
196 h. Check that the files in the tarballs have the correct
199 i. Edit bfd/development.sh and set "development=true".
200 j. Commit this change into the git repository.
201 k. Clean up the source tree. (Use "git status" to find new
202 files, and remove them).
204 FIXME: The tarballs will contain spurious autom4te.cache
205 directories which could be removed to reduce their size.
207 4. [If paranoid - upload the tarballs to one of the FTP servers and
208 ask people to test it before going on to step 5].
210 5. Upload the tarballs to ftp.gnu.org.
212 gnupload --to ftp.gnu.org:binutils binutils-X.XX.X.tar.*
214 The gnupload script is in the gnulib/build-aux directory.
216 6. Upload the tarballs to sourceware.org:
219 cd /ftp/pub/binutils/releases
220 put binutils-X.XX.X.tar.*
221 chmod 644 binutils-X.XX.X.tar.*
224 FIXME: Should the signatures (created by the gnupload script in
225 step 5) be uploaded as well ?
227 7. Update web pages. For sourceware.org:
229 * Log on to sourceware.org
230 * Go /www/htdocs/binutils
233 For the www.gnu.org site you have to email webmasters@gnu.org
234 and ask them to make the change(s).
236 8. Send an emails to the binutils list, info-gnu@gnu.org and
237 David Edelsohn <dje.gcc@gmail.com> announcing the new release.
238 (The email to Davis is so that he can update the GNU Toolchain
239 social media). Something like this:
240 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
243 We are pleased to announce that version 2.XX.X of the Binutils project
244 sources have been released and are now available for download at:
246 https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/binutils
247 https://sourceware.org/pub/binutils/releases/
249 This is a point release over the previous 2.XX version, containing bug
250 fixes but no new features.
252 Our thanks go out to all of the binutils contributors, past and
253 present, for helping to make this release possible.
255 Here is a list of the bugs that have been fixed:
260 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
263 Copyright (C) 2017-2018 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
265 Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
266 are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
267 notice and this notice are preserved.