emacs/admin/make-tarball.txt

Instructions to create pretest or release tarballs. -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
-- originally written by Gerd Moellmann, amended by Francesco Potortì
   with the initial help of Eli Zaretskii


Steps to take before starting on the first pretest in any release sequence:

0.  The release branch (e.g. emacs-26) should already have been made
    and you should use it for all that follows.  Diffs from this
    branch should be going to the emacs-diffs mailing list.

1.  Decide on versions of m4 and autoconf, and ensure you will
    have them available for the duration of the release process.

2.  Consider increasing the value of the variable
    'customize-changed-options-previous-release' in cus-edit.el to
    refer to a newer version of Emacs.  (This is probably needed only
    when preparing the first pretest for a major Emacs release.)
    Commit cus-edit.el if changed.

3.  Remove any old pretests from https://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/pretest.
    You can use 'gnupload --delete' (see below for more gnupload details).

General steps (for each step, check for possible errors):

1.   git pull     # fetch from the repository
     git status   # check for locally modified files

    Ensure that you have a clean, unmodified state.
    If you switched in-place from another branch to the release branch,
    there could be inappropriate generated ignored files left over.
    You might want to use "git status --ignored" to check for such files,
    or some form of "git clean -x".  It's probably simpler and safer to
    make a new working directory exclusively for the release branch.

2.  Regenerate the etc/AUTHORS file:
      M-: (require 'authors) RET
      M-x authors RET

    (This first updates the current versioned ChangeLog.N)

    If there is an "*Authors Errors*" buffer, address the issues.
    If there was a ChangeLog typo, fix the relevant entry.
    If a file was deleted or renamed, consider adding an appropriate
    entry to authors-ignored-files, authors-valid-file-names, or
    authors-renamed-files-alist.

    If necessary, repeat 'C-u M-x authors' after making those changes.
    Save the "*Authors*" buffer as etc/AUTHORS.
    Check the diff looks reasonable.  Maybe add entries to
    authors-ambiguous-files or authors-aliases, and repeat.
    Commit any fixes to authors.el.

3.  Set the version number (M-x load-file RET admin/admin.el RET, then
    M-x set-version RET).  For a pretest, start at version .90.  After
    .99, use .990 (so that it sorts).

    The final pretest should be a release candidate.
    Before a release candidate is made, the tasks listed in
    admin/release-process must be completed.

    Set the version number to that of the actual release.  Pick a date
    about a week from now when you intend to make the release.  Use M-x
    add-release-logs to add entries to etc/HISTORY and the ChangeLog
    file.  It's best not to commit these files until the release is
    actually made.  Merge the entries from (unversioned) ChangeLog
    into the top of the current versioned ChangeLog.N and commit that
    along with etc/HISTORY.  Then you can tag that commit as the
    release.

    Name the tar file as emacs-XX.Y-rc1.tar.  If all goes well in the
    following week, you can simply rename the file and use it for the
    actual release.  If you need another release candidate, remember
    to adjust the ChangeLog and etc/HISTORY entries.

    If you need to change only a file(s) that cannot possibly affect
    the build (README, ChangeLog, NEWS, etc.) then rather than doing
    an entirely new build, it is better to unpack the existing
    tarfile, modify the file(s), and tar it back up again.

    Never replace an existing tarfile!  If you need to fix something,
    always upload it with a different name.

4.   autoreconf -i -I m4 --force
     make bootstrap

     make -C etc/refcards
     make -C etc/refcards clean

    If some of the non-English etc/refcards fail to build, you
    probably need to install some TeX foreign language packages.
    For more information, search for the string "refcard" in the file
    admin/release-process.

5.  Copy lisp/loaddefs.el to lisp/ldefs-boot.el.

    Commit ChangeLog.N, etc/AUTHORS, lisp/ldefs-boot.el, and the
    files changed by M-x set-version.

    If someone else made a commit between step 1 and now,
    you need to repeat from step 4 onwards.  (You can commit the files
    from step 2 and 3 earlier to reduce the chance of this.)

6.  ./make-dist --snapshot --no-compress

    Check the contents of the new tar with admin/diff-tar-files
    against the previous release (if this is the first pretest) or the
    previous pretest.  If you did not make the previous pretest
    yourself, find it at <https://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/pretest>.
    Releases are of course at <https://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/emacs/>.

    If this is the first pretest of a major release, just comparing
    with the previous release may overlook many new files.  You can try
    something like 'find . | sort' in a clean repository, and compare the
    results against the new tar contents.

7.   tar -xf emacs-NEW.tar; cd emacs-NEW
     ./configure --prefix=/tmp/emacs && make check && make install
    Use 'script' or M-x compile to save the compilation log in
    compile-NEW.log and compare it against an old one.  The easiest way
    to do that is to visit the old log in Emacs, change the version
    number of the old Emacs to __, do the same with the new log and do
    M-x ediff.  Especially check that Info files aren't built, and that
    no autotools (autoconf etc) run.

8.  cd EMACS_ROOT_DIR && git tag -a TAG && git push origin tag TAG
    TAG is emacs-XX.Y.ZZ for a pretest, emacs-XX.Y for a release.

9. Decide what compression schemes to offer.
    For a release, at least gz and xz:
      gzip --best --no-name -c emacs-NEW.tar > emacs-NEW.tar.gz
      xz -c emacs-NEW.tar > emacs-NEW.tar.xz
    For pretests, just xz is probably fine (saves bandwidth).

    Now you should upload the files to the GNU ftp server.  In order to
    do that, you must be registered as an Emacs maintainer and have your
    GPG key acknowledged by the ftp people.  For instructions, see
    https://www.gnu.org/prep/maintain/html_node/Automated-Upload-Registration.html
    The simplest method to upload is to use the gnulib
    <https://www.gnu.org/s/gnulib/> script "build-aux/gnupload":

    For a pretest:
     gnupload [--user your@gpg.key.email] --to alpha.gnu.org:emacs/pretest \
       FILE.gz FILE.xz ...

    For a release:
     gnupload [--user your@gpg.key.email] --to ftp.gnu.org:emacs \
       FILE.gz FILE.xz ...

    You only need the --user part if you have multiple GPG keys and do
    not want to use the default.
    Obviously, if you do not have a fast uplink, be prepared for the
    upload to take a while.


    If you prefer to do it yourself rather than use gnupload:

    For each FILE, create a detached GPG binary signature and a
    clearsigned directive file like this:

     gpg -b FILE
     echo directory: emacs/pretest > FILE.directive      (for a pretest)
     echo directory: emacs > FILE.directive              (for a release)
     gpg --clearsign FILE.directive
    Upload by anonymous ftp to ftp://ftp-upload.gnu.org/ the files FILE,
    FILE.sig, FILE.directive.asc.
    For a release, place the files in the /incoming/ftp directory.
    For a pretest, place the files in /incoming/alpha instead, so that
    they appear on https://alpha.gnu.org/.

10. After five minutes, verify that the files are visible at
    https://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/pretest/ for a pretest, or
    https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/ for a release.

    Download them and check the signatures.  Check they build.

11. Send an announcement to: emacs-devel, and bcc: info-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
    For a pretest, also bcc: platform-testers@gnu.org.
    For a release, also bcc: info-gnu@gnu.org.
    (The reason for using bcc: is to make it less likely that people
    will followup on the wrong list.)
    See the info-gnu-emacs mailing list archives for the form
    of past announcements.  The first pretest announcement, and the
    release announcement, should have more detail.
    Use the emacs-devel topic 'emacs-announce'.  The best way to do
    this is to add a header "Keywords: emacs-announce" to your mail.
    (You can also put it in the Subject, but this is not as good
    because replies that invariably are not announcements also get
    sent out as if they were.)

12. After a release, update the Emacs pages as below.


UPDATING THE EMACS WEB PAGES AFTER A RELEASE

As soon as possible after a release, the Emacs web pages should be updated.
(See admin/notes/www for general information.)

The pages to update are:

emacs.html (for a new major release, a more thorough update is needed)
history.html
add the new NEWS file as news/NEWS.xx.y

For every new release, a banner is displayed on top of the emacs.html
page.  Uncomment and the release banner in emacs.html.  Keep it on the
page for about a month, then comment it again.

Regenerate the various manuals in manual/.
The scripts admin/make-manuals and admin/upload-manuals summarize the process.

Browsing <https://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/?root=emacs> is one
way to check for any files that still need updating.