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] 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 branch binutils-2_31-branch git push origin binutils-2_31-branch 5. Make sure that the branch is there. IE check out the branch sources: git clone ssh://sourceware.org/git/binutils-gdb.git -b binutils-2_31-branch 2.31 If you get a message about being in a "detached head" state, something has gone wrong... 6. 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 . 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 bfd/version.m4 on HEAD to indicate that is now a snapshot of the next release: m4_define([BFD_VERSION], [2.31.51]) Update the release number in bfd/version.m4 for the branch. The branch only needs the point value set to 90 as the release has not actually happened yet. m4_define([BFD_VERSION], [2.30.90]) Regenerate various files on both branch and HEAD by configuring with --enable-maintainer-mode. NB/ Remember to build gold and gprof. Add ChangeLog entries. Commit the changes. Make sure that this includes the .pot files as well as the configure and makefiles. 8. Create an initial prerelease: a. Create a source tarball of the BRANCH sources: ./src-release -x binutils b. Build a test target using this tarball. c. 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 d. Clean up the source directory. 9. Tell the Translation Project where to find the new tarball. qv: http://translationproject.org/html/maintainers.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dear Translation Project The 2.31 release branch has been created for the FSF binutils. A snapshot of the branch sources can be found here: https://sourceware.org/pub/binutils/snapshots/binutils-2.30.90.tar.xz We hope to make the official release of the sources on the 8th July although that could change if there are important bugs that need to be fixed before the release. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 10. 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: https://sourceware.org/pub/binutils/snapshots/binutils-2.XX.90.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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 11. 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. Make sure that the branch sources still build, test and install correctly. 21. 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". Regenerate the configure and makefiles. Add changelog entries for the updates and add a "this-is-the-2.XX-release" commit and commit. Make sure to include the .gmo files. 22. Check that your file creation mask will create the correct file permissions. Eg: umask 022 23. Create the release tarballs: ./src-release -b -g -l -x binutils 24. Check that the files in the tarballs have the correct permissions. FIXME: The tarballs will contain spurious autom4te.cache directories which could be removed to reduce their size. 25. Sanity check the release on x86_64-pc-linux-gnu by building and running the testsuite. Make the source directory read-only before building. Also test "make install". If necessary fix any problems. 26. Tag the branch with the new release number: git tag -a binutils-2_XX [optional: add "-u XXXXX" to sign with a gpg key] git push origin binutils-2_XX NB/ If you do sign the binaries make sure to use a key that has been published with the FSF. 27. Clean up the source tree. (Use "git status" to find new files, and remove them). 28. Edit bfd/development.sh on the branch and set "development=true". Also bump the version by adding a trailing .0, so that the date suffix keeps the version lower than the trunk version. Regenerate files. Commit these changes. 29. Upload the tarballs to ftp.gnu.org. gnupload --to ftp.gnu.org:binutils binutils-X.XX.tar.* The gnupload script is in the gnulib/build-aux directory. Check for an email response from the upload. If necessary fix any problems. 30. Upload the tarballs (and signatures) to sourceware.org: sftp sourceware.org cd /sourceware/ftp/pub/binutils/releases put binutils-X.XX.tar.* chmod 644 binutils-X.XX.tar.* quit FIXME: Should the signatures (created by the gnupload script in step 29) be uploaded as well ? 31. Update web pages. For sourceware.org: Create a new documentation folder on the sourceware.org web pages as /sourceware/www/sourceware/htdocs/binutils/docs-X.XX. Make the html documentation locally with the "make html" command and then upload and rename the directories as needed. Create an index.html file and then edit the docs link to point to the new docs-X.XX directory. Update the sourceware.org site to point to the new documentation and mention the new version. For the www.gnu.org site you have to email webmasters@gnu.org and ask them to make the change(s). 32. Send emails to binutils@sourceware.org, info-gnu@gnu.org and David Edelsohn announcing the new release. Sign the email and include the checksum. (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 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/ checksums: xxxx This release contains numerous bug fixes, and also the following new features: Our thanks go out to all of the binutils contributors, past and present, for helping to make this release possible. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- 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 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 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright (C) 2017-2018 Free Software Foundation, Inc. Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification, are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright notice and this notice are preserved.