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		README for MAKING BINUTILS RELEASES

This is a collection of notes on how to perform a binutils release.  A
lot of this information can also be found in the maintain.texi file in
the gnulib project:

  https://www.gnu.org/software/gnulib/

It is useful to have a cloned copy of the sources of this project as
it also contains an upload script used to install tarballs on the GNU
FTP server.

Make sure that you have upload authority on sourceware and fencepost.
Beware - this is an involved process and can take weeks to complete.
See the maintain.texi file for details on how to obtain these
permissions.

-------------------------------------------------
How to perform a release.
-------------------------------------------------

  1. Send an email out warning contributors about the forthcoming
     branch.  Set a date for the branch (weekends are better because
     they are less busy).

  2. When the branch date is near:  Update the libiberty and config
     directories and the top level configure files.

  3. When branch day arrives add markers for the upcoming release to
     gas, ld, gold and binutils NEWS files.
       [If using the make-prerelease.sh script, check that
        common.sh has the right values].
       [make-prelease.sh command i]
       [make-prelease.sh command C]
     Likewise for all of the ChangeLog files.
     Add a note of the name of the new branch to binutils/BRANCHES.
     Commit these changes.
       [make-prerelease.sh command C]

  4. Create the release branch using:

	git tag -a binutils-2_30-branch   [e.g. for the 2.30 branch...]
        git push --tags origin binutils-2_30-branch

  5. Update "BINUTILS_BRANCH" in gdbadmin's crontab:

     Log in as gdbadmin on sourceware.org, and then:

        $ cd crontab
        $ vi crontab
        [change BINUTILS_BRANCH]
        $ cvs ci crontab
        $ crontab crontab

     If you do not have access to this account, please feel free to
     ask Joel Brobecker <brobecker AT adacore DOT com>.

  6. Update bfd/configure and bfd/configure.ac on HEAD to indicate
     snapshot of the following release.
       [make-prerelease.sh command hv + C]

  7. Rename the current HEAD version entry in Bugzilla, and create a
     new one.  E.g. rename "2.30 (HEAD)" to 2.30, and create "2.31
     (HEAD)":
     
        https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/editversions.cgi?product=binutils

  8. Update the release number in bfd/version.m4 for the mainline and
     the branch.  The mainline should have the minor number
     incremented, but the branch only needs the point value set to 90
     as the release has not actually happened yet.

     Regenerate various files on both branch and HEAD by configuring
     with --enable-maintainer-mode.  NB/ Remember to build gold and
     gprof.  Commit the changes.  Make sure that this includes the
     .pot files as well as the configure and makefiles.

  9. Create an initial prerelease:

     a. Change the version on the branch (bfd/version.m4), regenerate
        the files, and check this in.

     b. Create a source tarball of the branch sources:

           ./src-release -x binutils

     c. Build a test target using this tarball.

     d. Upload the prerelease snapshot to the FTP:

          scp ../binutils-$version.tar.xz sourceware.org:~ftp/pub/binutils/snapshots
          ssh sourceware.org md5sum ~ftp/pub/binutils/snapshots/binutils-$version.tar.xz

  10. Send it to the Translation Project:

        http://translationproject.org/html/maintainers.html

      Sending mail for one of the POT files is sufficient.

  11. Announce the availability of the snapshot and the branch on the
      binutils mailing list.  Set a date for when the release will
      actually happen.  Something like:
        ------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Hi Everyone, 
       
          The 2.XX branch has now been created:

             git clone git://sourceware.org/git/binutils-gdb.git -b binutils-2_XX-branch 2.XX

          A snapshot of the sources is also available here:

            ftp://sourceware.org/pub/binutils/snapshots/binutils-2.XX.0.tar.xz

          Please could all patches for the branch be run by me.
          The rules for the branch are:
        
            * No new features.
            * Target specific bug fixes are OK.
            * Generic bug fixes are OK if they are important and widely tested.
            * Documentation updates/fixes are OK.
            * Translation updates are OK.
            * Fixes for testsuite failures are OK.
        
          Ideally I would like to make the release happen in two weeks time,
          i.e. Saturday 27th Jan.  Which I hope will be enough time for everyone
          to get their final fixes in.
        ------------------------------------------------------------------------

  12. Build various different toolchains, test them and nag
      maintainers to fix any testsuite failures for their
      architectures...


When the time comes to actually make the release....


  20. Update the release number in bfd/version.m4 on the release
      branch to a whole new minor version number, without a point
      value.  Eg "2.29.90" becomes "2.30".  Change bfd/development.sh
      to set the value to "false".
   

xxx -- fill in stuff here -- xxx




-------------------------------------------------
How to perform a point release.
-------------------------------------------------

A point release is easier than a normal release since a lot of the
work has already been done.  The branch has been created, the
translations updated and the documentation uploaded.  So the procedure
looks like this:

  0. Decide that a point release is necessary.

     Usually this only happens when a sufficient number of serious
     bugs have been found and fixed since the previous release, and a
     new official release is not imminent.

  1. Tell the community that a point release is happening.  Ask
     maintainers to ensure that their ports are up to date on the
     release branch.  Ask the community if there are any bug fixes
     which are missing from the branch.  Allow some time for the
     responses to this step.

  2. Make sure that the branch sources build, test and install
     correctly.

  2.5 Prepare a list of the bugs which have been fixed.  This
      will be needed for step 8.

  3. In the branch sources:

       a. Update the minor release number in bfd/version.m4.
       b. Edit bfd/development.sh and set "development=false".
       c. Regenerate the configure files.
       d. Commit the updates along with a "this-is-the-2.XX.X-release"
          note in all of the changelogs.
       e. Tag the branch with the new release number:

            git tag -a binutils-2_XX_X
	      [optional: add "-u XXXXX" to sign with a gpg key]
	    git push origin binutils-2_XX_X

       f. Check that your file creation mask will create the
          correct file permissions.  Eg:

	    umask 022

       g. Create the release tarballs:
            ./src-release -b -g -l -x binutils

       h. Check that the files in the tarballs have the correct
          permissions.

       i. Edit bfd/development.sh and set "development=true".
       j. Commit this change into the git repository.
       k. Clean up the source tree.  (Use "git status" to find new
           files, and remove them).

     FIXME: The tarballs will contain spurious autom4te.cache
     directories which could be removed to reduce their size.

  4. [If paranoid - upload the tarballs to one of the FTP servers and
      ask people to test it before going on to step 5].

  5. Upload the tarballs to ftp.gnu.org.

       gnupload --to ftp.gnu.org:binutils binutils-X.XX.X.tar.*

     The gnupload script is in the gnulib/build-aux directory.

  6. Upload the tarballs to sourceware.org:

       sftp sourceware.org
         cd /ftp/pub/binutils/releases
 	 put binutils-X.XX.X.tar.*
 	 chmod 644 binutils-X.XX.X.tar.*
	 quit

    FIXME: Should the signatures (created by the gnupload script in
    step 5) be uploaded as well ?

  7. Update web pages.  For sourceware.org:

      * Log on to sourceware.org
      * Go /www/htdocs/binutils
      * Edit index.html

      For the www.gnu.org site you have to email webmasters@gnu.org
      and ask them to make the change(s).

  8. Send an emails to the binutils list, info-gnu@gnu.org and
     David Edelsohn <dje.gcc@gmail.com> announcing the new release.
     (The email to Davis is so that he can update the GNU Toolchain
     social media).  Something like this:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Everyone,

  We are pleased to announce that version 2.XX.X of the Binutils project
  sources have been released and are now available for download at:

    https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/binutils
    https://sourceware.org/pub/binutils/releases/

  This is a point release over the previous 2.XX version, containing bug
  fixes but no new features.

  Our thanks go out to all of the binutils contributors, past and
  present, for helping to make this release possible.

  Here is a list of the bugs that have been fixed:
    xx
    xx
    xx
    xx
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

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