= Release Guidelines =

While preparing for the release:
 * Search previously created ticket with task about next version release (create if no these tickets found); '''All next steps described at this page should be mirrored in this ticket step-by-step'''
 * for stable: search tickets by 'stable-candidate' keyword and apply commits to stable branch from all found tickets;
 * download translations from Transifex.net by command [http://help.transifex.net/features/client/index.html tx]{{{ pull --all}}} (see before: [wiki:TxRepoSetup how to set up local tx-repository])
 * store translations in gir-repo by commands:
{{{
cp -f $TX_REPO/<master|stable>/*.po $GIT_REPO/po
cd $GIT_REPO/po
./strip-location.sh *.po
git add *.po
git commit -s -m Updated translations from Transifex''
}}}
 * update NEWS file in repo and Wiki;
 * create new tag in git by command (see before: [wiki:GpgSetUpForSigningReleases how to set up your gpg-key for signing releases])
{{{
git tag -s <version>
git push origin <version>
}}}
 * new version in Trac;
 * new milestone in Trac (no needed for stable branch);
 * create tar.(bz2|xz) package files:
{{{
 mkdir dist; cd dist; ../configure && make dist-bzip2 && make dist-xz
}}}
 * make checksums for archives:
{{{
sha256sum mc-*tar.* >sha256.sum
}}}
 * upload source packages and checksums to the special upload area;
 * developers should download tarballs, verify checksums, compile and locally install. If everything is ok than developers keep votes in ticket;
 * upload source packages and checksums to http://www.midnight-commander.org/downloads;
 * update Wiki start page with latest release number;
 * write an announcement: list user visible changes (bugs and features);
 * close current milestone (no needed for stable branch);
 * create new ticket (type=task, component=adm) for the next release;
 * close ticket for release.

=== Notes: ===
 * Cleanup branch should be named as XXXX_cleanup; where XXXX it's a number of current release ticket.
 * The cleanup branch should be created by demand and should be voted and merged to main branch ASAP. Don't keep the cleanup branch in development stage longer that this needed.
 * Activity around cleanup branch should occur in release ticket.
 * Cleanup branch should be deleted after merging to main branch. Cleanup branch may be recreated with same name in any count of times.
 * Cleanup branch shouldn't be merged to main branch in a week before release