1 README for MAKING BINUTILS RELEASES 2 3This is a collection of notes on how to perform a binutils release. A 4lot of this information can also be found in the maintain.texi file in 5the gnulib project: 6 7 https://www.gnu.org/software/gnulib/ 8 9It is useful to have a cloned copy of the sources of this project as 10it also contains an upload script used to install tarballs on the GNU 11FTP server. 12 13Make sure that you have upload authority on sourceware and fencepost. 14Beware - this is an involved process and can take weeks to complete. 15See the maintain.texi file for details on how to obtain these 16permissions. 17 18------------------------------------------------- 19How to perform a release. 20------------------------------------------------- 21 22 1. Send an email out warning contributors about the forthcoming 23 branch. Set a date for the branch (weekends are better because 24 they are less busy). 25 26 2. When the branch date is near: Update the libiberty and config 27 directories and the top level Makefile and configure files. Also 28 consider updating the toplevel libtool files. 29 30 31Approx time to complete from here: 2 hours .... 32 33 3. When branch day arrives add markers for the upcoming release to 34 the NEWS files in gas, ld, and binutils. No need to update NEWS 35 in the gold directory - it has its own release numbering. 36 37 Likewise for the ChangeLog files in: bfd, binutils, config, cpu, 38 elfcpp, gas, gold, gprof, include, ld, libctf, libiberty, opcodes 39 and toplevel. 40 41 Add a note of the name of the new branch to binutils/BRANCHES. 42 43 Commit these changes. 44 45 4. Create the release branch using: 46 47 git branch binutils-2_39-branch 48 git push origin binutils-2_39-branch 49 50 If you get a message like: 51 52 remote: fatal: Invalid revision range 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..f974f26cb16cc6fe3946f163c787a05e713fb77b 53 54 It appears that this can be ignored... 55 56 5. Make sure that the branch is there. IE check out the branch sources: 57 58 git clone ssh://sourceware.org/git/binutils-gdb.git -b binutils-2_39-branch 2.39 59 60 If you get a message about being in a "detached head" state, something 61 has gone wrong... 62 63 Keep the checked out sources - they are going to be needed in future 64 steps. 65 66 6. Update "BINUTILS_BRANCH" in gdbadmin's crontab: 67 68 Log in as gdbadmin on sourceware.org, and then: 69 70 $ cd crontab 71 $ vi crontab 72 [change BINUTILS_BRANCH] 73 $ cvs ci crontab 74 $ crontab crontab 75 76 If you do not have access to this account, please feel free to 77 ask Joel Brobecker <brobecker AT adacore DOT com>. 78 79 7. Rename the current HEAD version entry in Bugzilla, and create a 80 new one. E.g. rename "2.38 (HEAD)" to 2.38, and create 81 "2.39 (HEAD)": 82 83 https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/editversions.cgi?product=binutils 84 85 8. Update bfd/version.m4 on HEAD to indicate that is now a snapshot 86 of the next release. Note if the release is going to be 2.39 then 87 the version number on the branch is set to 2.38.90 - ie almost, but 88 not quite at 2.39, and the version number on the mainline is set to 89 2.39.50 - ie half way to the next release after 2.39. 90 91 So the branch bfd/version.m4 has: 92 93 m4_define([BFD_VERSION], [2.38.90]) 94 95 and the mainline has: 96 97 m4_define([BFD_VERSION], [2.39.50]) 98 99 Regenerate various files on both branch and HEAD by configuring 100 with "--enable-maintainer-mode --enable-gold --enable-shared" and then building 101 with "make all-binutils all-gas all-gold all-gprof all-gprofng all-ld" 102 103 Add ChangeLog entries for the updated files. Commit the changes. 104 Make sure that this includes the .pot files as well as the 105 configure and makefiles. 106 107 9. Create an initial pre-release: 108 109 a. Remove any auto-generated files, in order to force the 110 src-release script to rebuild them. 111 112 cd <branch-sources> 113 git clean -fdx 114 115 b. Create a source tarball of the BRANCH sources: 116 117 ./src-release.sh -x binutils 118 119 c. Build a test target using this tarball. 120 121 cp binutils-2.38.90.tar.xz /dev/shm 122 pushd /dev/shm 123 tar xvf binutils-2.38.90.tar.xz 124 mkdir build 125 cd build 126 ../binutils-2.38.90/configure --quiet --enable-gold 127 make 128 popd 129 130 If there are problems, fix them. 131 132 d. Upload the pre-release snapshot to the sourceware FTP site: 133 134 scp binutils-2.38.90.tar.xz sourceware.org:~ftp/pub/binutils/snapshots 135 ssh sourceware.org sha256sum ~ftp/pub/binutils/snapshots/binutils-2.38.90.tar.xz 136 137 e. Clean up the source directory again. 138 139 git clean -fdx 140 141 10. Tell the Translation Project where to find the new tarball. 142 <coordinator@translationproject.org> 143 qv: https://translationproject.org/html/maintainers.html 144 145------------------------------------------------------------------------ 146Dear Translation Project 147 148 The 2.39 release branch has been created for the GNU Binutils project. 149 150 A snapshot of the branch sources can be found here: 151 152 https://sourceware.org/pub/binutils/snapshots/binutils-2.38.90.tar.xz 153 154 We hope to make the official release of the sources on the <DATE> 155 although that could change if there are important bugs that need to 156 be fixed before the release. 157------------------------------------------------------------------------ 158 159 11. Announce the availability of the snapshot and the branch on the 160 binutils mailing list. Set a date for when the release will 161 actually happen. Something like: 162 163------------------------------------------------------------------------ 164Hi Everyone, 165 166 The <NEW_VERSION> branch has now been created: 167 168 git clone git://sourceware.org/git/binutils-gdb.git -b binutils-<NEW_VERSION>-branch 169 170 A snapshot of the sources is also available here: 171 172 https://sourceware.org/pub/binutils/snapshots/binutils-<OLD_VERSION>.90.tar.xz 173 174 Please could all patches for the branch be run by me. 175 The rules for the branch are: 176 177 * No new features. 178 * Target specific bug fixes are OK. 179 * Generic bug fixes are OK if they are important and widely tested. 180 * Documentation updates/fixes are OK. 181 * Translation updates are OK. 182 * Fixes for testsuite failures are OK. 183 184 Ideally I would like to make the release happen in two weeks time, 185 i.e. <DATE>. Which I hope will be enough time for everyone 186 to get their final fixes in. 187------------------------------------------------------------------------ 188 189 12. Build various different toolchains, test them and nag 190 maintainers to fix any testsuite failures for their 191 architectures... 192 193============================================================================== 194 195When the time comes to actually make the release.... 196 197 198 20. Make sure that the branch sources still build, test and install 199 correctly. Make sure that the sources are clean, without any 200 patch files (.reg .orig *~) left over. 201 202 cd <branch> 203 git clean -fdx 204 205 21. a. Update the release number in bfd/version.m4 on the release 206 branch to a whole new minor version number, without a point 207 value. Eg "2.38.90" becomes "2.39". 208 209 b. Change bfd/development.sh to set all values to "false". 210 211 c. Regenerate the configure and makefiles. And *info* files. 212 213 d. Create a ChangeLog from the git refs for all of the commits 214 from when changelog entries were no longer required: 215 216 gitlog-to-changelog --since=2021-07-03 > ChangeLog.git 217 218 The gitlog-to-changelog script is part of the sources 219 of the "config" project. 220 221 e. Add ChangeLog entries for all of the updates and add a 222 "this-is-the-2.38-release" comment and commit. 223 224 22. Check that your file creation mask will create the 225 correct file permissions. Eg: 226 227 % umask 228 22 229 230 Remove any spurious autom4te.cache files left over from the 231 reconfiguring: 232 233 git clean -fdx 234 235 23. Note - check to see if any new files have been added to the top 236 level of the source directory, but which are not in the 237 DEVO_SUPPORT variable in the src-release.sh script. If they are 238 needed then add them. NB/ Add the new ChangeLog.git file. 239 240 Create the release tarballs: 241 242 ./src-release.sh -b -g -l -x binutils 243 244 24. Check that the files in the tarballs have the correct 245 permissions. 246 247 tar tvf binutils-2.39.tar.bz2 | grep -e "---" 248 249 Also check that the man files are not empty. (cf PR 28144). 250 251 tar tvf binutils-2.39.tar.xz | grep -e "\.1" 252 253 25. Sanity check the release on x86_64-pc-linux-gnu by building and 254 running the testsuites (gas, gold, binutils and ld). Make the 255 source directory read-only before building. Also test 256 "make install". If necessary fix any problems. 257 258 pushd /dev/shm 259 mkdir delme 260 cd delme 261 tar xvf <path-to-sources>/binutils-2.*.tar.lz 262 chmod -R -w binutils-2.* 263 mkdir build 264 cd build 265 ../binutils-2.*/configure --quiet --enable-gold --prefix=`pwd`/install --enable-plugins --enable-shared 266 make all-gas all-gold all-ld all-binutils all-gprof all-gprofng 267 make check-gas check-binutils check-ld check-gold 268 make install-gas install-gold install-ld install-binutils 269 270 # Needed for step 29... 271 make html pdf 272 273 popd 274 275 26. Tag the branch with the new release number: 276 [optional: add "-u XXXXX" to sign with a gpg key] 277 enter a tag message such as: "Official GNU Binutils 2.3x release" 278 279 git tag -a binutils-2_38 -u DD9E3C4F <=== Be careful to get the tag right 280 281 NB/ If you do sign the binaries make sure to use a key 282 that has been published with the FSF. 283 284 Then push the release: 285 286 git push origin binutils-2_3x 287 288 If you get an error message along the lines of: 289 "Invalid revision range ..." you can ignore it. 290 291 27. Upload the tarballs to ftp.gnu.org. 292 293 gnupload --to ftp.gnu.org:binutils binutils-2.3*.tar.* 294 295 Be prepared to provide the password for the key, if you 296 signed the binaries. 297 298 The gnupload script is in the gnulib/build-aux directory. 299 300 Check for an email response from the upload. If necessary 301 fix any problems. 302 303 28. Upload the tarballs (and signatures) to sourceware.org: 304 305 sftp sourceware.org 306 cd /sourceware/ftp/pub/binutils/releases 307 put binutils-2.3*.tar.* 308 chmod 644 binutils-2.3x.tar.* 309 quit 310 311 FIXME: Are the signatures (created by the gnupload script in step 27) 312 needed ? [The above commands upload them and nobody has complained, 313 so suggest that they are retained]. 314 315 29. Update web pages. For sourceware.org: 316 317 Create a new documentation folder on the sourceware.org web 318 pages as /sourceware/www/sourceware/htdocs/binutils/docs-2.3x. 319 320 sftp sourceware.org 321 cd /sourceware/www/sourceware/htdocs/binutils 322 mkdir docs-2.3x 323 cd docs-2.3x 324 mkdir as 325 mkdir bfd 326 mkdir binutils 327 mkdir gprof 328 mkdir ld 329 cd ../docs-2.3(x-1) 330 get index.html 331 332 Update the (local copy of the) index.html file to point to the 333 new documentation and mention the new version and then upload it. 334 335 cd ../docs-2.3x 336 put index.html 337 338 Make the html documentation locally with the "make html" command 339 (see step 25 above). Then upload and rename the directories as 340 needed. (sftp does not appear to support recursive uploads 341 however, so the directories had to be made by hand, as shown above). 342 343 cd as 344 lcd <build-dir>/gas/doc/as 345 put * {be patient - this takes a long time...} 346 lcd .. 347 cd .. 348 put as.html 349 put as.pdf 350 cd bfd 351 lcd ../../bfd/doc/bfd 352 put * 353 cd .. 354 lcd .. 355 put bfd.html 356 put bfd.pdf 357 cd binutils 358 lcd ../../binutils/binutils <=== NB/ Path not like others 359 put * 360 cd .. 361 lcd ../doc 362 put binutils.html 363 put binutils.pdf 364 cd gprof 365 lcd ../../gprof/doc/gprof 366 put * 367 cd .. 368 lcd ../.. 369 put gprof.html 370 put gprof.pdf 371 cd ld 372 lcd ../ld/doc/ld 373 put * 374 cd .. 375 lcd ../.. 376 put ld.html 377 put ld.pdf 378 379 Edit the top level binutils index.html file to change the links 380 to point to the new documentation. 381 382 cd ../.. 383 get index.html 384 [edit] 385 put index.html 386 rm docs 387 ln -s docs-2.3x docs 388 quit 389 390 Check that the new web page is correct: 391 392 https://sourceware.org/binutils/ 393 394 For the www.gnu.org site you have to email webmasters@gnu.org 395 and ask them to make the change(s): 396--------------------------------------- 397Hi FSF Webmasters, 398 399 Please could the GNU Binutils webpage at: 400 401https://www.gnu.org/software/binutils/binutils.html 402 403 be updated to indicate that there is now a newer version available 404 (2.3x). I have already updated the related page on the sourceware 405 website so this might be useful as a template: 406 407https://sourceware.org/binutils/ 408 409 Thanks very much. 410 411Cheers 412-------------------------------------- 413 414 30. Send emails to binutils@sourceware.org, info-gnu@gnu.org and 415 David Edelsohn <dje.gcc@gmail.com> announcing the new release. 416 Sign the email and include the checksum: 417 418 sha256sum binutils-2.3*.tar.* 419 420 (The email to Davis is so that he can update the GNU Toolchain 421 social media). Something like this: 422 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 423 Hi Everyone, 424 425 We are pleased to announce that version 2.3x of the GNU Binutils project 426 sources have been released and are now available for download at: 427 428 https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/binutils 429 https://sourceware.org/pub/binutils/releases/ 430 431 checksums: xxxx 432 433 This release contains numerous bug fixes, and also the 434 following new features: 435 436 <extract info from the NEWS files> 437 438 Our thanks go out to all of the binutils contributors, past and 439 present, for helping to make this release possible. 440 441 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 442 443 31. Clean up the source tree: 444 445 git clean -fdx . 446 447 32. Edit bfd/development.sh on the branch and set the development flag 448 to "true". (Leave the experimental flag set to "false"). Also bump 449 the version in bfd/version.m4 by adding a trailing .0, so that the 450 date suffix keeps the version lower than the trunk version. 451 Regenerate files. Commit these changes. 452 453 33. Email the binutils list telling everyone that the 2.3x branch 454 is now open for business as usual and that patches no longer 455 need special approval. 456 457 34. Examine the bfd/config.bfd file in the mainline sources and move 458 any pending obsolete targets into the definitely obsolete 459 section. Create a changelog entry and commit. 460 461 462 463 464-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 465How to perform a POINT release. 466-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 467 468A point release is easier than a normal release since a lot of the 469work has already been done. The branch has been created, the 470translations updated and the documentation uploaded. So the procedure 471looks like this: 472 473 0. Decide that a point release is necessary. 474 475 Usually this only happens when a sufficient number of serious 476 bugs have been found and fixed since the previous release, and a 477 new official release is not imminent. 478 479 1. Tell the community that a point release is happening. Ask 480 maintainers to ensure that their ports are up to date on the 481 release branch. Ask the community if there are any bug fixes 482 which are missing from the branch. Allow some time for the 483 responses to this step. 484 485 2. Make sure that the branch sources build, test and install 486 correctly. 487 488 2.5 Prepare a list of the bugs which have been fixed. This 489 will be needed for step 8. 490 491 3. In the branch sources: 492 493 a. Update the minor release number in bfd/version.m4. 494 b. Edit bfd/development.sh, set "development=false". 495 c. Regenerate the configure files. 496 d. Remove spurious autom4te.cache files: 497 498 git clean -fdx 499 500 e. Commit the updates along with a "this-is-the-2.3x.y-release" 501 note in all of the changelogs. 502 f. Tag the branch with the new release number: 503 504 git tag -a binutils-2_3x_y 505 [optional: add "-u XXXXX" to sign with a gpg key] 506 git push origin binutils-2_3x_y 507 508 g. Check that your file creation mask will create the 509 correct file permissions. Ie: 510 511 umask 022 512 513 h. Create the release tarballs: 514 515 ./src-release -b -g -l -x binutils 516 517 i. Check that the files in the tarballs have the correct 518 permissions. 519 520 j. Clean the source tree again 521 522 git clean -fdx 523 524 k. Edit bfd/development.sh and set "development=true". 525 l. Commit this change. 526 527 4. [If paranoid - upload the tarballs to one of the FTP servers and 528 ask people to test it before going on to step 5]. 529 530 5. Upload the tarballs to ftp.gnu.org. 531 532 gnupload --to ftp.gnu.org:binutils binutils-*.tar.* 533 534 The gnupload script is in the gnulib/build-aux directory. 535 536 6. Upload the tarballs to sourceware.org: 537 538 sftp sourceware.org 539 cd /sourceware/ftp/pub/binutils/releases 540 put binutils-*.tar.* 541 chmod 644 binutils-*.tar.* 542 quit 543 544 It is OK to upload the signatures as well. 545 546 7. Update web pages. For sourceware.org: 547 548 * Log on to sourceware.org 549 * Go to /sourceware/www/sourceware/htdocs/binutils 550 * Edit index.html and update the latest release number (if this is a latest release) 551 552 For the www.gnu.org site you have to email webmasters@gnu.org 553 and ask them to make the change(s). 554 555 8. Send an emails to the binutils list, info-gnu@gnu.org and 556 David Edelsohn <dje.gcc@gmail.com> announcing the new release. 557 (The email to Davis is so that he can update the GNU Toolchain 558 social media). Something like this: 559 560------------------------------------------------------------------------ 561Hi Everyone, 562 563 We are pleased to announce that version 2.3x.y of the GNU Binutils 564 project sources have been released and are now available for download at: 565 566 https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/binutils 567 https://sourceware.org/pub/binutils/releases/ 568 569 This is a point release over the previous 2.3x version, containing bug 570 fixes but no new features. 571 572 Our thanks go out to all of the binutils contributors, past and 573 present, for helping to make this release possible. 574 575 Here is a list of the bugs that have been fixed: 576 xx 577 xx 578 xx 579 xx 580-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 581 582 9. Create a new Bugzilla entry for the point release. 583 584 https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/editversions.cgi?product=binutils 585 586 And a new milestone too: 587 588 https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/editmilestones.cgi?product=binutils 589 590Copyright (C) 2017-2022 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 591 592Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification, 593are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright 594notice and this notice are preserved. 595