org-mode/README_maintainer

# -*- mode:org -*-

#+title: Maintainer tasks
#+startup: indent

This document describes the tasks the Org-mode maintainer has to do
and how they are performed.

* Releases

** Main releases

The release number for main releases look like this:  =7.13=

Main releases are made whenever Org is in a state where the feature
set is consistent and we feel that the features that are implemented
is something we want to support in the future.

A major release turns the current state of the master branch into a
release.  The release process is a single make command:

: make release TAG=7.13

Before issuing this command, you should make sure that everything
during the process will work right, you can do so my running

: make testrelease TAG=7.13

When this fails, make sure to clean up.  =git reset --hard= if
necessary, and check if there are unwanted files, directories, or
branches left over from the testing.

** Minor releases

The release number for minor releases look like this:  =7.13.01=

Minor releases are small amends to main releases.  Usually they fix
bugs discovered in a main release.  Only the fix to the bug is
bundled into a release, without the main development work going on in
the master branch.  Since the big fix will also be needed in the
master branch, usually the fix is made in master and then
cherry-picked into maint.  When this is done, a release is made from
maint with this command:

: make fixrelease TAG=7.13.01

** Between releases

While working on master between releases, I use something like
7.02trans as the version string.  To set this version string in all
relevant files, use

: UTILITIES/set_version 7.02trans

and commit the result.  Note that the above command does not change
the version string in the file from which Org's homepage is
generated.  To change that as well, you would use a =--all= flag.  TO
change only this file, use =--only=.

* Synchonization with Emacs

This is still a significant headache.  Some hand work is needed here.

Emacs uses bzr, and while I see all the advantages thiswould have, I
cannot bring myself to switch away from git for my day-to-day work.
So the way I have been doing things with Emacs is this:

1. I do not update the version in Emacs too often.  Just once every
   few month - this is frequently enough for the Emacs release cycle.

2. I watch the Emacs diffs for changes made by the maintainers of
   Emacs in the org-mode files in Emacs.  Any changes that come up
   there, I merge into the development version of Org-mode.
   Occasionally I do not do this, if I do not agree with a change.
   The changes go into Org /without/ a ChangeLog-like entry in the
   commit message.  The reason for this is that we will later generate
   a ChangeLog file from our commit messages, and I do not want double
   ChangeLog entries in the Emacs ChangeLog file.

3. When I have made a release (usually I wait for the minor releases
   to stabilize), I *copy* org files into the Emacs repository.  Yes,
   I do not merge, I copy.  This has been the source of some problems
   in the past - but I have not had the patience to work out a better
   mechanism, and I really dislike the idea that the version in Emacs
   starts diverging from my own.

   Careful: Copy /org.texi/ and /orgcard.tex/ into the right places,
   and also copy the lisp files with *two exceptions*: Do *not* copy
   /org-colview-xemacs.el/ and /org-install.el/.  The former does not
   belong in Emacs.  And the latter would actually be harmful because
   Emacs generates its own autoloads.  The Emacs distribution contains
   an empty org-install.el, so that users can have =(require
   'org-install)= in .emacs with no ill effects.  So if you were to
   copy org-install.el, you would overwrite that empty placeholder
   file.

4. Generate the ChangeLog entries

   For this, I do in the org-mode git repository

   : UTILITIES/make_emacs_changelog release_7.02.05..release_7.03.02

   This will spit out ChangeLog entries (for the given commit range)
   that need to go into the ChangeLog files in Emacs.  Org-mode
   contributes to 3 different ChangeLog files in Emacs:

   : lisp/org/ChangeLog    (for lisp changes)
   : doc/misc/ChangeLog    (for org.texi changes)
   : etc/ChangeLog         (for refcard changes)

   When you run the =make_emacs_changelog= program, you will be
   prompted for a date in ISO format YYYY-MM-DD, this date will be
   used in the ChangeLog entries - Emacs wants these dates to be the
   time when the change has been installed into Emacs, not the time
   when we made the change in our own repository.  You will also be
   prompted for the kind of ChangeLog you want to make, possible
   answers are =lisp=, =texi=, and =card=.  The program will then
   select the correct entries for the specified ChangeLog file.  If
   you don't like being prompted, you can give the date and type as
   second and third command line arguments to =make_emacs_changelog=.

   These entries need to be added to the ChangeLog files in Emacs.
   You should, in the ChangeLog file, select the inserted region of
   new entries and do =M-x fill-region=, so that the entries are
   formatted correctly.  I then do look through the entries quickly to
   make sure they are formatted properly, that the email addresses
   look right etc.

5. Commit the changes into the bzr repository and you are done.  Emacs
   developers often look throught the commit and make minor changes -
   these need to be merged back into our own repo.