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# Apache™ FOP Development: Release Mechanics

- Introduction
- Checklist
- Resources
- Announcing the release

## Introduction

This page documents the process of creating a Apache™ FOP release. FOP releases are coordinated by some designated member of the team. The purpose of documenting it here is to facilitate consistency, ensure that the process is captured, and to allow others to comment on the process.

The checklist below is based on a combination of input from from Christian Geisert and Simon Pepping.

## Checklist

- Determine which open bugs must be solved before a release can take place (release critical bugs). Make this bug depend on each release critical bug and write a short argument why the bug is release critical.
- Determine whether this is a Release Candidate or a Release.
- Determine whether further testing is required.
- Commit any outstanding changes
- Create a branch called branches/fop-v_vv
- Edit release notes (README and status.xml in the root).
- Add the release to news-data.xml; remove links to release notes of older versions from this file.
- Update the FAQ (faq.xml) to the new release, e.g., update the answer for "When is the next release planned?".
- Check and update the copyright year in NOTICE and build.xml.
- Update the file doap.rdf, and the files index.xml, site.xml, download.xml, fo.xml, maillist.xml, and quickstartguide.xml in directory xdocs for the new version.
- Update the version numbers in the release column on the compliance page (compliance.xml); update the compliance in the release column to the current state (development column).
- Update version number in build.xml (not to be merged back into trunk).
- Copy trunk documentation directory to a new directory with the new version number, and update the .htaccess file for redirections.
- Copy test/fotree/disabled-testcases.xml and test/layoutengine/disabled-testcases.xml to the new version directory <version>/fotree/disabled-testcases.xml and <version>/layoutengine/disabled-testcases.xml. Copy known-issues.xml to the new version directory. Copy knownissues-overview.xml from the current to the new version directory, and update the xi:include links in it.
- Update the tab names and directories in tabs.xml
- Delete the previous version directory.
- Update index.xml in the new version directory.
- Update compiling.xml in the new version directory: change the introduction for trunk to that for a release.
- Build the dist files (build[.sh] dist) and upload them to your web directory on people.apache.org
- Ask on fop-dev ML to check the branch and the generated dist files for errors.
- Tag the source tree with the release ID. For example, if the release is 1.0: svn copy https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/xmlgraphics/fop/branches/fop-1_0 https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/xmlgraphics/fop/tags/fop-1_0
- Make a fresh checkout with the just created tag: svn co https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/xmlgraphics/fop/tags/fop-1_0
- Copy the hyphenation patterns jar file fop-hyph.jar to lib (e.g. from http://sourceforge.net/projects/offo
- Alternatively, create a build-local.properties file that points to the above libraries.
- Run build[.sh] dist. Do this using Sun JDK 1.5 or later. A Forrest installation is needed.
- Create signatures. Don't forget to upload your KEY: gpg -a -b --force-v3-sigs fop-1.0-src.tar.gz etc.
- Upload the dist and signature files to your web directory on people.apache.org (An account on minotaur is needed): scp fop-1.0*.tar.gz* chrisg@people.apache.org:public_html/
- Check permissions: chmod 664 ... ; chgrp xmlgraphics ...
- Add MD5 sums: md5 fop-1.0-src.tar.gz > fop-1.0-src.tar.gz.md5 etc.
- Make a test download.
- Start a vote for the release on general@xmlgraphics.apache.org. The message should point to the release files and list the MD5 sums (cat *.md5). The vote should remain open for 72hrs.
- When the release is accepted, copy the release files, their md5 sum files and the signature files to /www/www.apache.org/dist/xmlgraphics/fop/ in the subdirectories source and binaries. Create links to all files in the fop directory. Remove the links to the files of the previous version.
- Update HEADER.html and README.html in people.apache.org:/www/www.apache.org/dist/xmlgraphics/fop/.
- Wait 24 hours (for the mirrors to catch up).
- Merge the changes of the subversion release branch back into trunk (not the version number in the build file) and delete the branch.
- Deploy the updated documentation to the FOP website.
- Post announcements on fop-dev and fop-user and other related mailing lists.
- Ask an FOP bugzilla admin to add a bugzilla entry for the new release id, or create an issue at https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/INFRA.
- Deploy the maven bundle.

## Resources

The following is a sample of some other project release checklists, which might be consulted for ideas:

- Apache Batik
- Apache Ant
- Apache Cactus

Following are links with information about mirroring:

- Apache Mirroring
- Stefan Bodewig's Making your Downloads Mirrorable

## Announcing the release

Here's a suggested list of places where to announce new FOP releases:

- fop-dev@xmlgraphics.apache.org
- fop-users@xmlgraphics.apache.org
- general@xmlgraphics.apache.org
- general@xml.apache.org
- announce@apache.org (from your apache.org address)
- xsl-list@lists.mulberrytech.com (subscriber-only)
- xsl-fo@yahoogroups.com (subscriber-only)
- www-xsl-fo@w3.org
- docbook-apps@lists.oasis-open.org (subscriber-only)
- dita-users@yahoogroups.com (subscriber-only) (http://dita-ot.sourceforge.net/)
- http://xslfo-zone.com/news/index.jsp
- http://www.w3.org/Style/XSL/
- http://freshmeat.net/projects/fop/

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