PEP: 101 Title: Doing Python Releases 101 Version: $Revision$ Last-Modified: $Date$ Author: barry@zope.com (Barry A. Warsaw), guido@python.org (Guido van Rossum) Status: Active Type: Informational Created: 22-Aug-2001 Post-History: Abstract Making a Python release is an arduous processes that takes a minimum of half a day's work even for an experienced releaser. Until recently, most -- if not all -- of that burden was borne by Guido himself. But several recent releases have been performed by other folks, so this PEP attempts to collect, in one place, all the steps needed to make a Python release. (Note: These steps were recorded during the Python 2.2a2 release done by Barry and Guido. It will be checked for accuracy with the subsequent release, to be done by Barry.) How to Make A Release Here are the steps taken to make a Python release. Some steps are more fuzzy than others because there's little that can be automated (e.g. writing the NEWS entries). Where a step is usually performed by An Expert, the name of that expert is given. Otherwise, assume the step is done by the Release Manager (RM), the designated person performing the release. Almost every place the RM is mentioned below, this step can also be done by Guido, naturally! XXX: We should include a dependency graph to illustrate the steps that can be taken in parallel, or those that depend on other steps. We use the following conventions in the examples below. Where a release number is given, it is of the form X.YaZ, e.g. 2.1a3 for Python 2.2 alpha 2, where "a" == alpha, "b" == beta, "rc" == release candidate, and "f" == final. If a micro release number is used, then we'll say X.Y.MaZ. - 3 or 4 days before the release, create a branch for X.YaZ. All Python development happens on the trunk. A few days before the release, the RM will create a branch for this release. Only the RM is authorized to make commits to this branch, but check ins can proceed as normal on the trunk. It is the responsibility of the RM to decide on a case-by-case basis which trunk modifications should be merged into the branch. To create a branch the following steps are taken: * CVS tag the trunk with the symbolic name "rXYaZ-fork", e.g. % cvs tag r2.2a3-fork * Make the branch with the symbolic name "rXYaZ-branch", e.g. % cvs tag -b r2.2a3-branch * Check out a clean version of the branch into a new directory. You'll be doing a lot of work in this directory and you want to keep it straight from your trunk working directory. E.g. % cvs -d -q co -d python-22a3 python/dist/src - For the next 3 or 4 days, selectively merge stuff from trunk into branch. For each change you see on the trunk (i.e. via the python-checkins mailing list), you need to decide whether the change should also be applied to the branch. If so, it's fairly easy to apply the change by diff'ing the file and patching it manually. You can also sometimes get away with just copying the file from the trunk directory to the branch directory, but be careful so you don't lose changes that only exist in the branch! - The night before the release, the RM updates the Misc/NEWS file, adding high level items new to this release. E.g. if we're releasing 2.2a3, there must be a section at the top of the file explaining "What's new in Python 2.2a3". It will be followed by a section entitled "What's new in Python 2.2a2". Note that you /hope/ that as developers add new features to the trunk, they've updated the NEWS file accordingly. You can't be positive, so double check. If you're a Unix weenie, it helps to verify with Tim Peters about changes on Windows, and Jack Jansen about changes on the Mac. - Also the night before the release, a freeze is put on check ins into the branch. At this point, nobody except Fred Drake or Tim Peters should make any commits to the branch. If the RM screwed up and some desperate last minute change to the branch is necessary, it can mean extra work for Fred and Tim. So try to avoid this! - Once the branch is frozen, Fred Drake needs to create the HTML from the documentation. He does this and uploads the file to www.python.org. Then he tells Tim Peters where this file is. This may generate some last minute changes on the branch. - Tim Peters grabs the HTML and uses this to build the Windows installer. Tim then creates a new "release" named X.YaZ on the SourceForge file release manager. (Diversion: SF's file manager has "packages" and "releases". We use packages to name major upcoming releases, e.g. python-2.2 or python-2.1.1. Inside each package are a number of "releases" for each new actual release -- i.e. the thing you're building. An example of a release name is 2.2a3. Once created, packages and releases are never deleted, but old ones are hidden to reduce confusion. More on this below.) If this is the first release for this major Python version, Tim will create a new package containing the major Python version number. - Tim does performs his Windows magic, generating an installer executable. He uploads this file to SourceForge under the release he just created. He then sends the RM a notice which includes the MD5 checksum of the Windows executable. Note that Tim's creation of the Windows executable may generate a few more commits on the branch. - Now, you're ready to build the source tarball. First cd to your working directory for the branch. E.g. % cd .../python-22a3 - Do a "cvs update" in this directory. You should not see any "M" files, but you may see several "P" files. I.e. you better not have any uncommitted changes in your working directory, but you may pick up some of Fred's or Tim's last minute changes. - Now tag the branch using a symbolic name like "rXYaZ", e.g. r22a3 % cvs tag r22a3 - Change to a neutral directory, i.e. one in which you can do a fresh, virgin, export of the branch. You will be creating a new directory at this location, to be named "Python-X.YaZ". Do a CVS export of the tagged branch. % cd ~ % cvs -d export -rr22a3 -d Python-2.2a3 python/dist/src - Generate the tarball. Note that we're not using the `z' option on the tar command because 1) that's only supported by GNU tar as far as we know; 2) we're going to max out the compression level, which isn't a supported option. % tar cf - Python-2.2a2 | gzip -9 > Python-2.2a2.tgz - Calculate the MD5 checksum of the tgz file you just created % md5sum Python-2.2a2.tgz Note that if you don't have the md5sum program, there is a Python replacement in the Tools/scripts/md5sum.py file. - Now you want to perform the very important step of checking the tarball you just created, to make sure a completely clean, virgin build passes the regression test. Here are the best steps to take: % cd /tmp % tar zxvf ~/Python-2.2a3.tgz % cd Python-2.2a3 % ls (Do things look reasonable?) % ./configure (Loads of configure output) % make test (Do all the expected tests pass?) If the tests pass, then you can feel good that the tarball is fine. If some of the tests pass, or anything else about the freshly unpacked directory looks weird, you better stop now and figure out what the problem is. - Start your upload to SF. You need to get Python-2.2a3.tgz into SourceForge. This can take a while both because of the time it takes to upload such a huge file, /and/ because SF has a 30 minute delay built into the file release process. The next few steps can be taken in parallel, so it's best to start the upload now and keep an eye on its progress. I've found that the `ncftpput' program is a great tool to use if you have it available. You can execute the following command to do the upload: % ncftpput -F upload.sf.net incoming Python-2.2a3.tgz If you don't have ncftpput around, you can use whatever ftp client you're comfortable with. Just be sure that you're uploading this to the "incoming" directory on upload.sf.net. - You also need to upload the tgz file to creosote.python.org. Usually Tim will have already uploaded the exe file to creosote, but if not, you'll need to do that too. These steps can take a long time depending on your network bandwidth. You have two choices: 1) Upload them to SF first, then wget them from creosote. Pros: easy to do; much friendlier to your own personal bandwidth. Cons: can take even longer because you're subject to the 30 minute SF file upload delay, and the upload rate from SF->creosote never seems to get above 20 KB/sec. 2) scp both files from your own machine to creosote. Pros: you avoid the 30 minute SF delay. Cons: you don't get much else done if you're on a small pipe. - While you're waiting, you can start twiddling the web pages to include the announcement. XXX: This section will be rewritten once we CVS-ify the web pages! It's only a rough sketch for now because only the Pythonlabs guys can do this part, and there's no need to expose our cruft. ;) % (on leroy) cd ~guido/w/X.Y % cp index.ht new-index.ht (Edit the file for content: usually you can globally replace X.Ya(Z-1) with X.YaZ. However, you'll need to think about the "What's New?" section. You also need to watch out about two specific links in the file, one which references "the full scoop" on changes -- a shownotes link, and one which references the downloads on SF -- a showfiles link. You won't be able to update either link until you've completed the steps below. For now just note what needs to change. Also, update the MD5 checksums.) - Preview the web page by doing a "make" -- NOT a "make install". View the page via a file: url. - Similarly, edit the ../index.ht file, i.e. the python.org home page. In the Big Blue Announcement Block, move the paragraph for the new version up to the top and boldify the phrase "Python X.YaZ is out". Edit for content, and preview as above. Do NOT do a "make install" yet! - Now we're waiting for the ncftpput command, and the scp to creosote to finish. Da de da, da de dum, hmm, hmm, dum de dum. - Do the SourceForge file release dance. * Go to the Python project and click on "Admin" * Click on "Edit/Release Files" * Since Tim has usually by now created the package and release we're going to use, scroll down and click on "Edit Releases" for the package we're releasing into. * Find the release named X.YaZ and click on "Edit This Release" You should now perform Step 1 of the file release dance... * The "Status" field should be "Active" not "Hidden" * In the text box that says "Paste The Notes In", paste in all the "What's New" entries from the Misc/NEWS file that describe this major version of Python, /not/ just the ones for this particular release. E.g. If we're releasing Python 2.2a3, we'd include the "What's New" sections for Python 2.2a3, 2.2a2, and 2.2a1. * Leave the "Paste The Change Log In" section blank, but click on "Preserve my pre-formatted text". * Hit the Submit/Refresh button for Step 1. This will bring you back to the file release page. DO NOT do this step until your ftp upload is complete! Once it is, you can perform Step 2 of the file release dance... * Click on the checkbox next to the file Python-X.YaZ.tgz. Be sure no other box is checked! Then click on the "Add Files and/or Refresh View" button for Step 2. And now, Step 3... * There should be exactly two files listed here, one is the tgz file you just added, and the other is the exe file that Tim added earlier. * For the tgz file, be sure that the "Processor" field says "Any" and the "File Type" field says "Source .gz". * Click on "Update/Refresh" for the .tgz file. * For the exe file, make sure that the "Processor" field says "i386" and the "File Type" field says "Other". Tim usually gets this right , but if not, make any necessary changes and click on "Update/Refresh" for the exe file. Step 4... DO NOT DO STEP 4 NOW. Wait until after you send out the email announcement to send the SF email notice. - Still on SF, click on the "Files" button at the top of the page. Find the release you've just made and click on it -- not on the tgz or exe file, but on the release link under the package name. E.g. package named python-2.2, click on the "2.2a3" link. This should be a page that says "Release Name: X.YaZ" and it should contain the "What's New" sections you pasted in earlier. Note the url of this page. Copy and paste it into the ~guido/w/X.Y/new-index.ht file you created above. This is the "shownotes" link mentioned earlier. - Now click on the "Summary" link at the top of the page and scroll down to the "Latest File Releases" section. Find the package you just made a release for (the Version should be X.YaZ, and the Date should be today's date). Click on the "Download" link. Your new release should be highlighted in pink. Note the url for this page. Copy and paste it into the ~guido/w/X.Y/new-index.ht file from above. This is the "showfiles" link mentioned earlier. - Now you need to go to creosote.python.org and move all the files in place over there. Our policy is that every Python version gets its own directory, but each directory may contain several releases. We keep all old releases, moving them into a "prev" subdirectory when we have a new release. So, there's a directory called "2.2" which contains Python-2.2a2.exe and Python-2.2a2.tgz, along with a "prev" subdirectory containing Python-2.2a1.exe and Python-2.2a1.tgz. So... * On creosote, cd to ~ftp/pub/python/X.Y creating it if necessary. * Move the previous release files to a directory called "prev" creating the directory if necessary (make sure the directory has g+ws bits on). If this is the first alpha release of a new Python version, skip this step. * Move the .tgz file and the .exe file to this directory. Make sure they are world readable. They should also be group writable. - Now preview the new-index.ht file once more. IMPORTANT: follow every link on the page to make sure it goes where you expect it to go, and that what you expect to be there is there. - If everything looks good, move new-index.ht to index.ht and do a "make install" in this directory. Go up to the parent directory (i.e. the root of the web page hierarchy) and do a "make install" there too. You're release is now live! - Now it's time to write the announcement for the mailing lists. This is the fuzzy bit because not much can be automated. You can use one of Guido's earlier announcements as a template, but please edit it for content! Once the announcement is ready, send it to the following addresses: python-list@python.org python-announce@python.org python-dev@python.org - Go back to the file releases page on SF and complete Step 4, sending out the email notification. Now it's time to do some cleanup. These steps are very important! - Go back to SF, Admin->Edit/Release Files. Click on "Edit Releases" for the package you just added to. For each old release, click on "Edit This Release" and under Step 1, change the "Status" to "Hidden". Click on the Step 1 Submit/Refresh button. - Merge the branch back into the trunk! Now that we've released this branch, we don't need it any more. We've already tagged it so we can always reproduce it. Note that merging branches is a bit of a black art, but here's what's worked for us. * Check out a completely clean, virgin working directory of the trunk, by doing this in the directory that is the parent of your branch working directory python-XYaZ: % cvs -d co -d python-clean python/dist/src * Run a diff against your branch by doing this in the common parent directory containing both python-clean and python-XYaZ: % diff -r python-clean python-22a2 | grep ^diff | grep -v CVS * Take the output of this and stick it in a file, e.g. /tmp/diffcmd.sh * Edit diffcmd.sh to get rid of files that you know don't have important changes. You're looking for files that have updates in the branch that haven't made it to the trunk. If you've been diligent about merging changes from the trunk into the branch, there shouldn't be many of these files. * Edit /tmp/diffcmd.sh, changing all the -r's into -u's. Run the /tmp/diffcmd.sh command like so: % sh /tmp/diffcmd.sh > /tmp/pydiff.txt * Attempt to patch your python-clean working directory. Do this first, noting that --dry-run does not actually apply any patches, it just makes sure that the patch command runs successfully to completion: % patch -p1 --dry-run < /tmp/pydiff.txt * If this goes well, run it again, taking out the --dry-run option. If this fails, or if it prompts you for a file to patch, try using -p0 instead of -p1. Otherwise, your diff command was messed up, so try again. * cd to python-clean and do a "cvs commit". Use as your log message something like "Merging the rXYaZ-branch tag back into the trunk". * Edit the file Include/patchlevel.h so that the PY_VERSION string says something like "X.YaZ+". Note the trailing `+' indicating that the trunk is going to be moving forward with development. E.g. the line should look like: #define PY_VERSION "2.2a2+" Commit this change. * Now test your clean, merged trunk by doing % make distclean % ./configure % make test To ensure that the regression test suite passes. If not, you screwed up somewhere! What Next? Rejoice. Drink. Be Merry. Write a PEP like this one. Or be like unto Guido and take A Vacation. You've just made a Python release! Copyright This document has been placed in the public domain. Local Variables: mode: indented-text indent-tabs-mode: nil End: