Difference between revisions of "Dev:Release"

Latest revision as of 11:32, 8 May 2017

Preparation

Choose a release manager (RM) who will manage the release and do most of the work and co-ordination needed to get a release out.

The RM will be responsible for deciding when the code is ready to be released and which problems will block the release.

The RM must have a proper up to date copy of the sourcecode. Check out here to see how to obtain it.

The RM must be an administrative member of sourceforge and to have write access to the synfig git repository. Ask any of the current administrators about that. Also a wiki account and a forum account are necessary.

We would assume that the git local copy of the source code are in a separate folder in your local drive and they are: etl, synfig-core, and synfig-studio accordingly to the source code instructions.

Splash

• Pick a date at least 5 weeks into the future.
• Post a splash screen challenge in the forums.
• After 4 weeks, close the challenge and post a poll.
• After one week close the poll and name the winnar!
• Obtain the source of the winner file and commit it:
  • Add the new splash source file to synfig-studio/images/splash-screen-xx.xx.xx.sifz where xx.xx.xx is the released version number.
  • Disable development splash example
  • Modify synfig-studio/images/Makefile.am accordingly. example
  • Update synfig-studio/AUTHORS, synfig-studio/README, and synfig-studio/src/gtkmm/about.cpp if needed.

Freeze commits

It would be good if no one commit more changes/patches until the release is done. Mainly because at some point we need to stop polishing the current revision.

First should come the feature freeze, then the string freeze and then the final cutoff of translations & bug fixes just before the release.

There is no technical way to freeze commits with sourceforge, so the developers should be willing to play nice with the release.

Ping coders, artists and translators and advice them about the release preparation. Ask for last updates before freezing the commits. Give some time to update. Preferably no more than a week.

Copyrights

Make sure the copyrights in README, the AUTHORS file and the about dialog list of contributors are up to date.

Do a grep -r Copyright README in the three etl, synfig-core and synfig-studio folders. It would return all the people that have current copyrights. Review the list of commits and the patches authoring to update it properly. Review the AUTHORS in each folder and don't forget the artists and translators.

Release candidates

Following this instructions to create a tarball of the current git release, upload them to sourceforge and tag them as Release Candidate number 1, 2 etc. Create as many Release candidates as you need or consider. Ask people to download and test them. The forum and the IRC is a good place. When everything goes fine then continue the release.

Apply latest translations

You need to fetch translations from transifex.

1. install transifex-client ('yum install transifex-client' on Fedora)
2. cd into synfig repository
3. run 'bash ./autobuild/transifex-pull-translations.sh'
4. fix lines marked as "TODO" in synfig-studio/src/languages.inc.c (if any)
5. push edited .po files back to transifex - 'bash ./autobuild/transifex-push-translations.sh'
6. commit changes

Versioning

• Update version in save file dialog
  • synfig-core/src/synfig/releases.h
  • synfig-studio/src/gui/app.cpp
• Finalise the dates and GIT ids in NEWS.
  • You already know the release revision number and the date of the next commit. Place them correctly in the etl/NEWS, synfig-core/NEWS and synfig-studio/NEWS files. example

• Bump version numbers and ETL/synfig dependencies in the configure.ac files.
  • This would imply increase the version number in the following files:
    • etl/configure.ac: increase ETL version number
    • synfig-core/src/synfig/version.h: change SYNFIG_VERSION and SYNFIG_LIBRARY_VERSION variables
    • synfig-core/configure.ac: increase ETL version number dependence matching the previous one and the synfig version number.
    • synfig-studio/configure.ac: Increase ETL and synfig version number dependence matching the previous ones and the synfigstudio version number. example

• Double check the version numbers in configure.ac and NEWS are correct. Fix them if are wrong.

• Double check the copyright years in the README files and the about dialog are correct. Fix them if are wrong.

Create the tarball

Create a tarball to allow users to just compile and install. Run the following command from synfig source tree:

./autobuild/synfigstudio-release.sh

See script body for additional usage notes.

Test before publishing

• Test installed stuff. To run the installed synfigstudio from the tarball you've created you have to run directly from the command line:

$HOME/local-synfig/bin/synfigstudio

At this point there should be some battery of test sifz files and scripts to run various error proof tests to be sure that the release don't have nasty bugs. Share the tarball with other people that have other OS and ask them to build and run the same tests. This point is important for testing the release in different platforms, specially if there has been some changes that can have cross effects.

Make tags

• Make tags and update the unstable branch. Run the following commands in the repository with write access:

git tag ETL-0.04.12
git tag synfig-0.61.09
git tag synfigstudio-0.61.09
git tag -f stable
git push --tags

With the appropriate version number.

Upload source tarballs

• Upload the three tarballs (ETL, synfig, synfigstudio) to SF by using the online upload or following the instructions from this link. Place each tarball in the corresponding folder.
• Upload an proper release note file (ascii) to the Release Notes folder. Mark the Release Note checkbox from its properties.
• Create a single tarball file including the etl, synfig, synfigstudio and the release note text file with the name of Synfig-Studio-XXX.tar.gz, where XXX is the version. Upload it to the ETL-Synfig-SynfigStudio folder and mark it as platform downloads (linux, windows, Mac <sigh>, and other).
• For each file (etl, synfig, synfigstudio and Synfig-Studio) uploaded, select the Release Note you uploaded file as the release note for all them.

Build and upload packages

• Build binaries
• Create MD5SUM file for binary and source files. Command:

find . -type f -print0 | sort -z | xargs -0 md5sum

• Upload binaries and sources to Sourceforge
• Upload binaries to FossHub
• Update screenshots at FossHub (optional)
• Ping distros to upgrade their packages by sending a mail to each of the people maintaining packages. Suggest that they send us patches and that they might want to do translations.

Update the website

• Write release notes based on the NEWS files (example ).
• Update website pages:
  • Download Stable - change links
  • Download Development - remove dev snapshots as outdated
  • Mark Release Notes page as visible to public
  • Download Stable - change link to Release Notes
  • Update releases list in the Bug Tracker
  • Bug Tracker: For this release mark all "Ready for QA" bugs as closed.
• Post a release announcement on the forums
• Update quick URLs
  • Update http://synfig.org/VERSION_NUMBER to point to http://www.fosshub.com/Synfig.html
  • Update http://synfig.org/PREVIOUS_VERSION_NUMBER to point to https://sourceforge.net/projects/synfig/files/releases/PREVIOUS_VERSION_NUMBER/

Spread the word

• Post update to Udemy
  • Announcement
  • Update required version in description/video/link (if needed)
• Update Gumroad Package
  • Change description
  • Change video / reupload
  • Notify clients
• short writeup to the folks at LWN.net
• Synfig devl mailing list
• Synfig user mailing lint
• Sourceforge site page update & news
• IRC topic
• Update Wikipedia
• Update Facebook/synfig & Google+/synfig pages.

The rest

• Celebrate with a nice $BEVERAGE_OF_CHOICE
• Update the wiki with the new features and review the wiki with missing/uncomplete pages. <<< this is important!
• Start thinking about the Roadmap for the next release.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT STUFF BELOW IS ABOUT> ANY IDEA? --Zelgadis 11:04, 10 December 2011 (UTC)

Spread the Word

• write press release (PR) (todo: Genete)
• add PR to website (for linking)
• update all Wikipedias
  • en
  • es
  • fr
  • ru
  • de (todo: Oho)
  • it
  • ...
• send PR to all win/linux/debian/ubuntu... user groups, again: en, es, fr... (see below)
• send PR to major magazines (OS independant, Win, Linux, Artists, Designers...) in all countries...
• update websites "promoting" synfig (linux.softpedia & softpedia, alternativeto.net , ...)
• ...

Distribution packager

Contact distribution packager to have the chance of auto-update.

PR Distribution List

We want to develop a distribution list. Everyone can contribute with adresses of important magazines, user groups (see below, please add more if you have more). Please keep the alphabethical order for language and address. Thx.

English

• Animation Conversation podcast. - Weekly podcast about animation, mainly feature films: http://www.animationconversation.com/ : feedback [AT] animationconversation.com
• Libre Graphics World - Portal for open source creativity: http://www.libregraphicsworld.org/ : alexandre.prokoudine [AT] gmail.com
• Animation Magazine - Magazine for the (american) animation business: http://animationmagazine.net/ : edit [AT] animationmagazine.net
• OS Artist - Free software news for artists blog: http://osartist.com/
• Animation Reporter - Indian animation magazine: http://www.animationreporter.com/ : suresht [AT] fontandpixel.com
• Cinefex - Magazine about special effects: http://www.cinefex.com/contact/
• Frames Per Second magazine - Digital animation magazine: http://www.fpsmagazine.com/blog/index.php : news [AT] fpsmagazine.com
• Deviant art Synfig group - http://synfig.deviantart.com/

French

Webzines

• Fous d'anim Magazine en ligne sur l'actualité du cinéma d'animation avec de nombreux liens sur la majorité des sites de références.
• La gazette du loup, webzine sur le cinéma d'animation.
• objectif cinéma, cinema plutôt qu'animation, leur forum discute cependant logiciels.
• linuxgraphic, portail francophone sur l'infographie libre.

General info media

• http://www.paperblog.fr

Forums

• http://www.forum-2d.com/f/index.php
• http://www.videohelp.com/software/Synfig-Studio/version-history

Blogs

• http://www.polyloop.net/fr/
• http://www.digitalthink.fr/wordpress/

Technology

• http://www.siteduzero.com/ - IT tutorials
• Ubuntu-fr - http://www.ubuntu-fr.org/
• Linux.org (fr) - http://linuxfr.org/pub/
• http://www.korben.info/ - actualité informatique

German

Do German translation of PR: (todo: Oho) send to German email addresses (todo: Oho)

IT Magazines:

• c't Magazin: redaktion [AT] ct.de
• Linux Magazin: presse-info [AT] linux-magazin.de
• Ubuntu-user Magazin: pr [AT] ubuntu-user.de
• Linux User Magazin: redaktion [AT] linux-user.de

Portals:

• ProLinux Portal: info [AT] pro-linux.de
• ubuntuusers.de: Ikhaya Artikel Vorschlag: http://ikhaya.ubuntuusers.de/suggest/ (todo: Oho)

Maybe:

• Download Platform: freeware.de: redaktion [AT] freeware.de

Spanish

• ...