= Release Guidelines =

'''All next steps described at this page should be mirrored in release tickets step-by-step'''

Search previously created ticket with task about next version release (create if ticket not found) and follow by steps while preparing for the release:

 * for stable: [https://www.midnight-commander.org/report/18 search] tickets with 'stable-candidate' keyword and in 'testing' stage, then 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 git repo by following 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'
git push origin <master|*-stable>
}}}
 * create new NEWS wiki page for next version with empty template. Template may be copied from current NEWS wiki page (without list of tasks and bugreports);
 * add content of current NEWS wiki page to the doc/NEWS file in git repo. Save it in git by following commands:
{{{
git add doc/NEWS
git ci -s -m 'Updated doc/NEWS file'
git push origin <master|*-stable>
}}}
 * 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>
# for master branch keep 'Release' comment; for stable keep 'Stable release' comment
git push origin <version>
}}}
 * new version in Trac;
 * new milestone in Trac (not needed for stable branch);
 * create tar.(bz2|xz) package files:
{{{
./autogen.sh stop
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 (not 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 it 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 with any count of times.
 * Cleanup branch shouldn't be merged to main branch in a week before release