x.md

How to make a release

Ideally these instructions are in line with the GNOME releasing process.

We make two types of releases:

• regular releases, when we have new features or improvements, and
• "smaller" bug-fix releases, when a regular relese needs patching.

The regular releases have the version number X.YY, and the bug-fix releases have the version number X.YY.Z, where Z is hopefully a relatively small number (1, 2, 3...).

Most of the steps below should be done in the development environment: $ source bin/pitivi-env -> (ptv-flatpak) $

1. Check Phabricator

   • Make sure there is no open 'blocker' task against the current milestone.
   • Move the other open tasks somewhere else, for example to the next milestone.
   • Archive the current milestone. Open the milestone's workboard, click Manage, then Archive Project.

2. Make sure we depend on the latest GStreamer. This should be done as soon as GStreamer makes a release.

   • Find the latest tag in https://cgit.freedesktop.org/gstreamer/gstreamer/
   • See our current requirement for Gst at the bottom in check.py
   • If they are different, update the files which contain the old version, for example: $ git grep "1\.8\.2" and $ git commit -a -m "Use GStreamer <gstreamer-version>"

3. Check your local repository:

   • Make sure your sandbox is using the latest GStreamer release: $ ptvenv --update --gst-version=<gst-version>
   • Check $ git status does not show any change

4. Make sure the tests pass:

   $ ninja -C mesonbuild/ test
   

5. Update the following files:

   • meson.build: If doing a bugfix release, add or increase the micro. If doing a regular release, bump YY up and remove the micro from the version number, for example: 0.97.1 -> 0.98. Normally this is the same as the name of the Phabricator milestone you just archived.
   • RELEASE: Update the short version of the release notes. To get the list of contributors: $ git shortlog -s -n <previous-tag>.. To get the list of translators: $ for i in po/*.po help/*; do echo $i; git shortlog -s <previous-tag>.. $i; done
   • NEWS: A shorter version of RELEASE, with the exec summary of changes.
   • AUTHORS: If there are new maintainers.

6. Commit the changes: $ git commit -a -m "Release <version-number>"

7. Create the distribution archive and check it can be used:

   $ ninja -C mesonbuild/ dist
   $ ls mesonbuild/meson-dist/*.tar.xz
   

   Install it on a real system, and try to use it. For Archlinux:

   $ cd /tmp
   $ asp checkout pitivi
   $ cd /tmp/pitivi/repos/community-x86_64/
   $ cp .../pitivi-X.YY.Z.tar.xz .
   $ vim PKGBUILD
   ... Update "pkgver",
   ... Make sure "source" ends in .tar.xz
   ... Update "sha256sums"
   $ makepkg
   $ makepkg -i
   $ pitivi
   

8. Create a tag and push it to the official repository. The TAG must always include the micro. This means when doing a regular release with version number X.YY, the TAG is X.YY.0. When doing a bug-fix release, the version number already includes a micro, so it's all fine.

   $ git tag -a <TAG> -m "Release <version-number>"
   $ git push origin <TAG>
   

   We use tag X.YY.0 instead of X.YY because we want to have the option of later creating the X.YY branch to the official repository, since it's not possible to have both a tag and a branch with the same name. This branch would gather backported fixes and be used for doing future X.YY.Z bug-fix releases.

9. Publish the archive on Gnome:

   $ scp mesonbuild/meson-dist/pitivi-X.YY.Z.tar.xz GNOME-USER@master.gnome.org:
   $ ssh GNOME-USER@master.gnome.org -t ftpadmin install pitivi-X.YY.Z.tar.xz
   

   The tarball will appear on https://download.gnome.org/sources/pitivi/X.YY/pitivi-X.YY.Z.tar.xz

10. Send out an announcement mail to:

    • gstreamer-devel@lists.freedesktop.org
    • gnome-i18n@gnome.org (thanking translators)

11. On pitivi.org, update "releases.txt" for the app's update notification feature

12. Bump the Z in the version number in meson.build, for example if it was a regular release: 0.98 -> 0.98.1 or if it was a bug-fix release: 0.97.1 -> 0.97.2, and $ commit -a -m "Back to development"