Release Process
From Audacity Wiki
This page summarises our release process. It also (now) serves as a checklist.
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Contents
Release Manager
- Each release has a designated Release Manager (RM), one of the Audacity Team. The Release Manager
- Manages the whole process, announcing dates, managing freezes, etc.
- Makes stop/go decisions on the release, and other decisions responding to release issues.
- RM will probably use a page on wiki such as Next Release for more detailed tracking of what is going into the release, and the schedule.
RM is God
This phrase is a slightly tongue in cheek reference to the fact that the RM decides what is in and what is out for each release. This is a mechanism to reduce argument when there are differences in opinion. The RM is of course expected to be reasonable, and would not have been trusted with the role if they were thought not to be.
This phrase is a slightly tongue in cheek reference to the fact that the RM decides what is in and what is out for each release. This is a mechanism to reduce argument when there are differences in opinion. The RM is of course expected to be reasonable, and would not have been trusted with the role if they were thought not to be.
Policies
- P1s, including P1s in the manual, block release. P2s are 'Release Manager decides'.
- New files provided for download always need a new name, so a "hotfix" to an installer will have a new name.
- Release Manager can override policies, even releasing with a known P1 bug (though they are very unlikely to do that).
How Tos
The final section of many of the 'Building On' pages have instructions for building release versions.
- Building The Manual - For the manual obviously
- Building On Windows - We produce both an installer and a zip file
- Building On Mac - We just produce a .dmg
- Building On Linux - We produce a minimal tarball
Other tables etc...
- Online Checksum Calculator - For SHA-256's
- Version Checking Scriptlet - For our website downloads page
- Dynamic Bug List - For release notes pages
Process (James)
TheError creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination
and Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination
tick boxes are for 3.0.0
Some of the steps have been reduced here through improved scripts. For example, there is no longer a need to modify the alpha manual before fetching a final version, as the changes are made as it is downloaded.
Early Stages
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationCandidates for RM step forward.
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationTeam designate a Release Manager.
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationRelease Manager announces he/she is RM.
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationRM announces proposed timeline and proposed scope
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationRM increments the version number in:
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationsrc/Audacity.h
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationwin/build.txt
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationaudacity.dox
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationAlpha Manual front page.
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationBugzilla front page.
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationAdd to Bugzilla "Version" field.
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationIf needed, increase Copyright year in source code for src/AboutDialog.cpp
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- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationAgreed big/dangerous changes go in, such as new libraries, updating compilers or a switch to 64 bit. This is to allow maximum time for issues with these to be worked out
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationRM checks codesigning certs, to ensure validity at planned time of use.
Middle Stage
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationLots of development happens here.
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationLots of bug fixing happens here.
The RM has considerable latitude as to exactly what 'String Freeze' and 'Code Freeze' mean.
- In String Freeze changes which will affect translation should not be made.
- A consequence is that many features that might need tweaked text as they develop should not be modified during 'String Freeze'.
- P1 and P2 fixes are OK in 'String Freeze', and RM may welcome any bug fixes.
- Code Freeze is generally stricter, and generally all changes must be pre-approved.
String Freeze
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationProposed string freeze data announced.
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationActive work on strings to get them ready for translation.
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationLast minute tweaks to parameters, error messages and features where names/strings will be affected.
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationLast minute changes to manual.
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationSpot tests on alpha manual. (in the past, we've been caught by mediawiki upgrades breaking the script)
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- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationString Freeze announced. (one or two week's duration).
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationTranslators given .pot files to work on.
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationTranslations updated in Audacity.
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationEnd of translation announced.
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationWrite http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Release_Notes_3.0.0 - a brief user-friendly overview of 3.0.0 (checksums will come later)
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationWrite http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Release_Notes_3.0.0/Issues - a dynamic complete list of known issues OR fixed issues.
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationFinal tweaks to the above, taking account of last minute P1s and P2s.
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- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationRM updates README.txt, creating new "Changes in version" text and moving the old text to the top of CHANGELOG.TXT.
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationSanity check installer on Win
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationSanity check .dmg on Mac.
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationSanity check tarball on Linux
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationCode Freeze announced.
RCs
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationCheck with manual team that there are no P1s in manual.
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationRM Reviews all P2s
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationRM Prepares release announcement on WordPress website (but do not make live)
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationFreeze manual
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationIn Audacity.h, set AUDACITY_BUILD_LEVEL to 2.
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationMake RCs (e.g. RC1) and place on FossHub audacity-devel (or drop box if unavailable) [x=05]
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationRCx Win exe
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationRCx Win zip
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationRCx Mac dmg
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationRCx Linux tarball
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationRCx Manual zip
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- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationGenerate the checksums and post at Release Notes 3.0.0
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationPost the links to the RCs on audacity-devel and the Forum.
We may need to repeat with RC2, RC3, if showstoppers are found.
Gale's notes on testing:
- Ensure that installers are tested as well as the zips.
- Test installers installing over an existing install.
- Test on non-developer machines (in case it relies on features found only on developer machines).
Release
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationRM: Post final builds/installers (including manual.zip) to FossHub.
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationPush the updated copy of the manual to https://github.com/audacity/audacity-manual
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationTag the release in GitHub.
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationCheck whether any of the version numbers mentioned in 'Early Stages' can already be updated for the next version.
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationIn Audacity.h, set AUDACITY_BUILD_LEVEL to 0.
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationLift Code Freeze, String Freeze and Manual Freeze.
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationIn Bugzilla add the new alpha version to the "Version" field.
Release is complete!
Release Announcements
Website Changes
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationNew release announcement on WordPress made live.
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationAdd link to the new post at http://www.audacityteam.org/about/news/
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationUpdate mentions of SHA checksums (for installers, .zips, source code, and manual):
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationUpdate mentions of program versions, copyright dates, (for installers, .zips, source code, and manual) at:
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationhttp://www.audacityteam.org/about/citations-screenshots-and-permissions/
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationhttp://www.audacityteam.org/copyright/
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationhttp://www.audacityteam.org/download/online-safety-when-downloading/
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationhttp://www.audacityteam.org/download/windows/
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationhttp://www.audacityteam.org/download/mac/
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationhttp://www.audacityteam.org/download/source/
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationThe version number on the front page (via theme edits).
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationThe version numbers on download pages (via widget edits).
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- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationAsk James to update version checker script at WordPress website.
- The above is struck out, since we no longer have the scriptlet plug-in on our site.
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationAsk Buanzo to make an offsite backup of the WordPress database.
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationBuanzo to do the offsite backup.
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Wiki
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationUpdate the Audacity Versions page at https://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Audacity_Versions
Social Media etc
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationRM: Announce the release to audacity-* mailing lists, SourceForge
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationPeter: Announce to Facebook (and top pin?)
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationPeter: Update Audacity Wikipedia page
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationSteve: Make the Forum announcement.
- Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destinationSteve: Update on KVR