From 3fe1007ec155f3c16b747499c42e5427ade2f477 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Bob Friesenhahn Date: Thu, 17 Sep 2026 14:27:27 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] Resolve "Update HOWTO-RELEASE for 2026 including optional adjacent gnulib" --- HOWTO-RELEASE | 70 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++------------------ 1 file changed, 46 insertions(+), 24 deletions(-) diff --git a/HOWTO-RELEASE b/HOWTO-RELEASE index 02455e99..4aaba109 100644 --- a/HOWTO-RELEASE +++ b/HOWTO-RELEASE @@ -2,21 +2,25 @@ HOWTO-RELEASE: Notes on releasing. -0. Make sure that you have current FSF releases of autoconf, automake, - and libtool packages installed under a common installation prefix - and that these tools are in your executable search path prior to - any other installed versions. Versions delivered with Linux may be - altered so it is best to install official FSF releases. GNU 'm4' - 1.4.16 is needed in order to avoid bugs in m4. These packages may - be downloaded from the following ftp locations: +0. Make sure that you have current stable FSF releases of autoconf, + automake, and libtool packages installed under a common + installation prefix and that these tools are in your executable + search path prior to any other installed versions. Versions + delivered with Linux may be altered (or very stale) so it is best + to install official FSF releases. GNU 'm4' 1.4.16 or later is + needed in order to avoid bugs in m4. These packages may be + downloaded from the following ftp locations: - m4 - ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/m4 - autoconf - ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/autoconf - automake - ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/automake - libtool - ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/libtool + m4 - https://ftpmirror.gnu.org/m4 + autoconf - https://ftpmirror.gnu.org/autoconf + automake - https://ftpmirror.gnu.org/automake + libtool - https://ftpmirror.gnu.org/libtool - It is recommended to install m4 before autoconf, since the later - requires the former. + It is recommended to install m4 (if necessary) before autoconf, + since the later requires the former. + + At the time this is last updated, the current versions are Autoconf + 2.73, Automake 1.19, Libtool 2.6.2, and m4 1.4.21. Release builds should only be done on a system with a functioning and correctly set system clock and on a filesystem which accurately @@ -24,16 +28,21 @@ Notes on releasing. 1. Commit any unsaved changes. -2. Use gnulib's gitlog-to-changelog script to add new (since the last - release) entries to the traditional ChangeLog file. +2. Use gnulib's 'gitlog-to-changelog' script to add new (since the + last release) entries to the traditional ChangeLog file. This + script may be retrieved similar to: - http://git.savannah.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=gnulib.git;a=blob_plain;f=build-aux/gitlog-to-changelog + git clone https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/gnulib.git + cd gnulib/build-aux/ + cp gitlog-to-changelog myscriptdir/ - Take note of - the most recent change note time stamp and use that as the starting - point. Concatenate the old logs to the new logs. The added logs - may be used to help produce the release notes (in next step). For - example: + where 'myscriptdir' is where you put useful scripts and is in your + executable search path. + + Take note of the most recent change note time stamp and use that as + the starting point. Concatenate the old logs to the new logs. The + added logs may be used to help produce the release notes (in next + step). For example: gitlog-to-changelog --since=`head -n 1 ChangeLog | sed -e 's/ .*//g'` --append-dot > ChangeLog.added printf "\n" >> ChangeLog.added @@ -80,8 +89,21 @@ Notes on releasing. ./autogen.sh This step may be skipped if you have already been using a - maintainer build with current autoconf, automake, and libtool - packages. It is only needed when updating tool versions. + maintainer build with current stable autoconf, automake, and + libtool packages. It is only needed when updating tool versions + and should really be performed far in advance of producing a + release for adequate verification. + + The 'autogen.sh' script may optionally update the + config/config.guess and config/config.sub files in the source + tree. In order for this happen, use + + git clone https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/gnulib.git + + in the parent of the libtiff directory so that 'gnulib' is adjacent + to 'libtiff'. Given that hardware/system permutations are + often updated, it is worth ensuring that the files updated by + 'autogen.sh' are current by updating from the gnulib versions. 10. It is recommended (but not required) to build outside of the source tree so that the source tree is kept in a pristine state. This @@ -100,7 +122,7 @@ Notes on releasing. make release - This will update "RELEASE-DATE", "VERSION" in the source tree, + This will update "RELEASE-DATE", "VERSION" in the source tree, and libtiff/tiffvers.h in the build tree. 12. In the source tree, verify that the version info in RELEASE-DATE,