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) $

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.
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>"
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
Make sure the tests pass:
```
$ ninja -C mesonbuild/ test
```

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

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

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.

Publish the archive on Gnome:

$ scp mesonbuild/meson-dist/pitivi-X.YY.Z.tar.xz [email protected]:
$ ssh [email protected] -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

Send out an announcement mail to:
- [email protected]
- [email protected] (thanking translators)
On pitivi.org, update "releases.txt" for the app's update notification feature
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"

aleb/x.md

How to make a release