release-howto.txt

                        How to do a GIMP release
                      ----------------------------
                  a check-list for doing a GIMP release

 ( ) Announce a string freeze on the GIMP Developer mailing list.

     Mention that a release is planned, what brach will be frozen, and
     how long the string freeze is going to last. Plan for a couple of
     weeks at least. No translatable strings must be touched during
     this time. An example announcement message is:
     https://mail.gnome.org/archives/gimp-developer-list/2016-October/msg00004.html

 ( ) Announce the planned release on the GNOME I18N mailing list.

     Let them know about the planned release, what branch it's based
     on, and how many changes to expect. An example message is:
     https://mail.gnome.org/archives/gnome-i18n/2016-October/msg00035.html

 ( ) Wait until the date specified in the announcements, use this time
     to get bug fixes applied which don't modify strings.

 ( ) Check that you have working ssh access to pentagon.gnome.org and
     that you are a member of the gimpadmins group. If not, ask
     Michael Natterer or Michael Schumacher for assistance.

 ( ) Check that download.gimp.org has enough space to upload the
     release and to place it into the download area. If not, make
     place or ask Michael Natterer or Michael Schumacher to do that.

 ( ) Check that you have admin access to the GIMP product on
     bugzilla.gimp.org and commit access to the gimp-web module, or
     that someone can do the changes for you.

 ( ) Check if NEWS, authors.xml (and the generated AUTHORS), README or
     INSTALL need to be updated, as well as any release notes on
     gimp.org. Don't forget to add any "Index of new symbols in GIMP
     2.x" to the gtk-doc generated devel-docs.

 ( ) Does the splash screen need to be changed?

 ( ) Bump the version number to an even micro in configure.ac and
     commit this change. It should be the version number of the
     release you are about to make. Releases always have even micro
     numbers.

     [ ] In configure.ac, modify gimp_micro_version accordingly.

     [ ] In configure.ac, modify gimp_interface_age accordingly.

 ( ) Make dist tarballs:

     [ ] Start with a checkout of the GIMP tree. Make sure the
         checkout is up to date, clean from uncommitted changes.

     [ ] Run 'git clean -x -d -f' (Warning: you will lose any files
         that are not added).

     [ ] Run 'git diff'. This should not generate any output, or your
         tree has local modifications.

     [ ] Run ./autogen.sh --enable-gtk-doc

     [ ] Run 'make' to do a complete build of the source tree.

     [ ] Run 'make distcheck'. Avoid passing make -j since that can
         cause mysterious fails.

     [ ] If changes to generated files are made by the above command
         (run 'git diff' to find out), commit+push them and repeat
         from the beginning of this sub-section.

     [ ] If there are problems reported by 'make distcheck', fix
         them. If you made changes in the tree to get 'make distcheck'
         running, commit+push them and repeat from the beginning of
         this sub-section.

     [ ] If 'make distcheck' passed and created tarballs, go to the
         next item.

 ( ) A successful run of the 'make distcheck' would create the final
     dist tarballs. It will include a ChangeLog generated from the
     'git log'. Note that we don't bother with any release commit,
     that's what tags are for (see below).

 ( ) Tag the release (don't forget to push the tag)
       git tag -s GIMP_2_x_y
       git push origin GIMP_2_x_y

 ( ) Bump the version number (past the tagged version) in configure.ac
     to the next odd micro and commit this change. GIT versions always
     have odd micro numbers.

     [ ] In configure.ac, modify gimp_micro_version accordingly.

     [ ] In configure.ac, modify gimp_interface_age accordingly.

 ( ) Publish dist tarballs:

     [ ] Use md5sum to create a checksum of the tarball (tar.bz2).

     [ ] Upload the tarball (tar.bz2) and the .md5 file to your home
         directory on pentagon.gnome.org.  Keep a copy of the .md5
         file around.

     [ ] Copy the tarball and the .md5 file to its final destination
         in the download area (/srv/ftp/pub/gimp/v2.x).

     [ ] Update the 0.0_LATEST-IS- file in the corresponding directory
         on the download server.

     [ ] Change permissions of the new files to make them writable by
         the 'gimpadmins' group. This will allow other members of this
         group to correct mistakes and to update the 0.0_LATEST-IS-
         file next time.

 ( ) Add the new version to the GIMP product on bugzilla.gimp.org.

 ( ) Check out or update the 'gimp-web' module, check out its testing
     branch.

     [ ] Change the file content/downloads/index.md to reference the
         new source release.

     [ ] Create a news items for the release in content/news/

     [ ] Commit and push the changes, the web server should then
         update itself soon (it checks for updates every 5 minutes).
         Go to https://testing.gimp.org to verify the changes.

 ( ) Grab a properly chilled beverage and enjoy yourself.

 ( ) Give the mirrors a reasonably long time to update, then announce
     the release on gimp.org and send a release announcement to the
     gimp-user and gimp-developer mailing lists.

     [ ] Check out the gimp-web master branch and merge or cherry-pick
         the changes you did in the testing branch.

     [ ] Push the changes, the web server should then update itself
         soon (it checks for updates every 15 minutes).
         Go to https://www.gimp.org to verify the changes.

     [ ] Due to the tendency of news sites to front-run release
         articles even before actual announcements appear, publish
         everything as fast as possible.