1 ================================= 2 How To Release LLVM To The Public 3 ================================= 4 5 .. contents:: 6 :local: 7 :depth: 1 8 9 Introduction 10 ============ 11 12 This document contains information about successfully releasing LLVM --- 13 including subprojects: e.g., ``clang`` and ``dragonegg`` --- to the public. It 14 is the Release Manager's responsibility to ensure that a high quality build of 15 LLVM is released. 16 17 If you're looking for the document on how to test the release candidates and 18 create the binary packages, please refer to the :doc:`ReleaseProcess` instead. 19 20 .. _timeline: 21 22 Release Timeline 23 ================ 24 25 LLVM is released on a time based schedule --- with major releases roughly 26 every 6 months. In between major releases there may be dot releases. 27 The release manager will determine if and when to make a dot release based 28 on feedback from the community. Typically, dot releases should be made if 29 there are large number of bug-fixes in the stable branch or a critical bug 30 has been discovered that affects a large number of users. 31 32 Unless otherwise stated, dot releases will follow the same procedure as 33 major releases. 34 35 The release process is roughly as follows: 36 37 * Set code freeze and branch creation date for 6 months after last code freeze 38 date. Announce release schedule to the LLVM community and update the website. 39 40 * Create release branch and begin release process. 41 42 * Send out release candidate sources for first round of testing. Testing lasts 43 7-10 days. During the first round of testing, any regressions found should be 44 fixed. Patches are merged from mainline into the release branch. Also, all 45 features need to be completed during this time. Any features not completed at 46 the end of the first round of testing will be removed or disabled for the 47 release. 48 49 * Generate and send out the second release candidate sources. Only *critial* 50 bugs found during this testing phase will be fixed. Any bugs introduced by 51 merged patches will be fixed. If so a third round of testing is needed. 52 53 * The release notes are updated. 54 55 * Finally, release! 56 57 The release process will be accelerated for dot releases. If the first round 58 of testing finds no critical bugs and no regressions since the last major release, 59 then additional rounds of testing will not be required. 60 61 Release Process 62 =============== 63 64 .. contents:: 65 :local: 66 67 Release Administrative Tasks 68 ---------------------------- 69 70 This section describes a few administrative tasks that need to be done for the 71 release process to begin. Specifically, it involves: 72 73 * Creating the release branch, 74 75 * Setting version numbers, and 76 77 * Tagging release candidates for the release team to begin testing. 78 79 Create Release Branch 80 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 81 82 Branch the Subversion trunk using the following procedure: 83 84 #. Remind developers that the release branching is imminent and to refrain from 85 committing patches that might break the build. E.g., new features, large 86 patches for works in progress, an overhaul of the type system, an exciting 87 new TableGen feature, etc. 88 89 #. Verify that the current Subversion trunk is in decent shape by 90 examining nightly tester and buildbot results. 91 92 #. Create the release branch for ``llvm``, ``clang``, the ``test-suite``, and 93 ``dragonegg`` from the last known good revision. The branch's name is 94 ``release_XY``, where ``X`` is the major and ``Y`` the minor release 95 numbers. The branches should be created using the following commands: 96 97 :: 98 99 $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/trunk \ 100 https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/branches/release_XY 101 102 $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/trunk \ 103 https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/branches/release_XY 104 105 $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/dragonegg/trunk \ 106 https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/dragonegg/branches/release_XY 107 108 $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/test-suite/trunk \ 109 https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/test-suite/branches/release_XY 110 111 #. Advise developers that they may now check their patches into the Subversion 112 tree again. 113 114 #. The Release Manager should switch to the release branch, because all changes 115 to the release will now be done in the branch. The easiest way to do this is 116 to grab a working copy using the following commands: 117 118 :: 119 120 $ svn co https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/branches/release_XY llvm-X.Y 121 122 $ svn co https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/branches/release_XY clang-X.Y 123 124 $ svn co https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/dragonegg/branches/release_XY dragonegg-X.Y 125 126 $ svn co https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/test-suite/branches/release_XY test-suite-X.Y 127 128 Update LLVM Version 129 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 130 131 After creating the LLVM release branch, update the release branches' 132 ``autoconf`` and ``configure.ac`` versions from '``X.Ysvn``' to '``X.Y``'. 133 Update it on mainline as well to be the next version ('``X.Y+1svn``'). 134 Regenerate the configure scripts for both ``llvm`` and the ``test-suite``. 135 136 In addition, the version numbers of all the Bugzilla components must be updated 137 for the next release. 138 139 Tagging the LLVM Release Candidates 140 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 141 142 Tag release candidates using the tag.sh script in utils/release. 143 144 :: 145 146 $ ./tag.sh -release X.Y.Z -rc $RC 147 148 The Release Manager may supply pre-packaged source tarballs for users. This can 149 be done with the export.sh script in utils/release. 150 151 :: 152 153 $ ./export.sh -release X.Y.Z -rc $RC 154 155 This will generate source tarballs for each LLVM project being validated, which 156 can be uploaded to the website for further testing. 157 158 Building the Release 159 -------------------- 160 161 The builds of ``llvm``, ``clang``, and ``dragonegg`` *must* be free of 162 errors and warnings in Debug, Release+Asserts, and Release builds. If all 163 builds are clean, then the release passes Build Qualification. 164 165 The ``make`` options for building the different modes: 166 167 +-----------------+---------------------------------------------+ 168 | Mode | Options | 169 +=================+=============================================+ 170 | Debug | ``ENABLE_OPTIMIZED=0`` | 171 +-----------------+---------------------------------------------+ 172 | Release+Asserts | ``ENABLE_OPTIMIZED=1`` | 173 +-----------------+---------------------------------------------+ 174 | Release | ``ENABLE_OPTIMIZED=1 DISABLE_ASSERTIONS=1`` | 175 +-----------------+---------------------------------------------+ 176 177 Build LLVM 178 ^^^^^^^^^^ 179 180 Build ``Debug``, ``Release+Asserts``, and ``Release`` versions 181 of ``llvm`` on all supported platforms. Directions to build ``llvm`` 182 are :doc:`here <GettingStarted>`. 183 184 Build Clang Binary Distribution 185 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 186 187 Creating the ``clang`` binary distribution (Debug/Release+Asserts/Release) 188 requires performing the following steps for each supported platform: 189 190 #. Build clang according to the directions `here 191 <http://clang.llvm.org/get_started.html>`__. 192 193 #. Build both a Debug and Release version of clang. The binary will be the 194 Release build. 195 196 #. Package ``clang`` (details to follow). 197 198 Target Specific Build Details 199 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 200 201 The table below specifies which compilers are used for each Arch/OS combination 202 when qualifying the build of ``llvm``, ``clang``, and ``dragonegg``. 203 204 +--------------+---------------+----------------------+ 205 | Architecture | OS | compiler | 206 +==============+===============+======================+ 207 | x86-32 | Mac OS 10.5 | gcc 4.0.1 | 208 +--------------+---------------+----------------------+ 209 | x86-32 | Linux | gcc 4.2.X, gcc 4.3.X | 210 +--------------+---------------+----------------------+ 211 | x86-32 | FreeBSD | gcc 4.2.X | 212 +--------------+---------------+----------------------+ 213 | x86-32 | mingw | gcc 3.4.5 | 214 +--------------+---------------+----------------------+ 215 | x86-64 | Mac OS 10.5 | gcc 4.0.1 | 216 +--------------+---------------+----------------------+ 217 | x86-64 | Linux | gcc 4.2.X, gcc 4.3.X | 218 +--------------+---------------+----------------------+ 219 | x86-64 | FreeBSD | gcc 4.2.X | 220 +--------------+---------------+----------------------+ 221 | ARMv7 | Linux | gcc 4.6.X, gcc 4.7.X | 222 +--------------+---------------+----------------------+ 223 224 Release Qualification Criteria 225 ------------------------------ 226 227 A release is qualified when it has no regressions from the previous release (or 228 baseline). Regressions are related to correctness first and performance second. 229 (We may tolerate some minor performance regressions if they are deemed 230 necessary for the general quality of the compiler.) 231 232 **Regressions are new failures in the set of tests that are used to qualify 233 each product and only include things on the list. Every release will have 234 some bugs in it. It is the reality of developing a complex piece of 235 software. We need a very concrete and definitive release criteria that 236 ensures we have monotonically improving quality on some metric. The metric we 237 use is described below. This doesn't mean that we don't care about other 238 criteria, but these are the criteria which we found to be most important and 239 which must be satisfied before a release can go out.** 240 241 Qualify LLVM 242 ^^^^^^^^^^^^ 243 244 LLVM is qualified when it has a clean test run without a front-end. And it has 245 no regressions when using either ``clang`` or ``dragonegg`` with the 246 ``test-suite`` from the previous release. 247 248 Qualify Clang 249 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 250 251 ``Clang`` is qualified when front-end specific tests in the ``llvm`` regression 252 test suite all pass, clang's own test suite passes cleanly, and there are no 253 regressions in the ``test-suite``. 254 255 Specific Target Qualification Details 256 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 257 258 +--------------+-------------+----------------+-----------------------------+ 259 | Architecture | OS | clang baseline | tests | 260 +==============+=============+================+=============================+ 261 | x86-32 | Linux | last release | llvm regression tests, | 262 | | | | clang regression tests, | 263 | | | | test-suite (including spec) | 264 +--------------+-------------+----------------+-----------------------------+ 265 | x86-32 | FreeBSD | last release | llvm regression tests, | 266 | | | | clang regression tests, | 267 | | | | test-suite | 268 +--------------+-------------+----------------+-----------------------------+ 269 | x86-32 | mingw | none | QT | 270 +--------------+-------------+----------------+-----------------------------+ 271 | x86-64 | Mac OS 10.X | last release | llvm regression tests, | 272 | | | | clang regression tests, | 273 | | | | test-suite (including spec) | 274 +--------------+-------------+----------------+-----------------------------+ 275 | x86-64 | Linux | last release | llvm regression tests, | 276 | | | | clang regression tests, | 277 | | | | test-suite (including spec) | 278 +--------------+-------------+----------------+-----------------------------+ 279 | x86-64 | FreeBSD | last release | llvm regression tests, | 280 | | | | clang regression tests, | 281 | | | | test-suite | 282 +--------------+-------------+----------------+-----------------------------+ 283 | ARMv7A | Linux | last release | llvm regression tests, | 284 | | | | clang regression tests, | 285 | | | | test-suite | 286 +--------------+-------------+----------------+-----------------------------+ 287 288 Community Testing 289 ----------------- 290 291 Once all testing has been completed and appropriate bugs filed, the release 292 candidate tarballs are put on the website and the LLVM community is notified. 293 Ask that all LLVM developers test the release in 2 ways: 294 295 #. Download ``llvm-X.Y``, ``llvm-test-X.Y``, and the appropriate ``clang`` 296 binary. Build LLVM. Run ``make check`` and the full LLVM test suite (``make 297 TEST=nightly report``). 298 299 #. Download ``llvm-X.Y``, ``llvm-test-X.Y``, and the ``clang`` sources. Compile 300 everything. Run ``make check`` and the full LLVM test suite (``make 301 TEST=nightly report``). 302 303 Ask LLVM developers to submit the test suite report and ``make check`` results 304 to the list. Verify that there are no regressions from the previous release. 305 The results are not used to qualify a release, but to spot other potential 306 problems. For unsupported targets, verify that ``make check`` is at least 307 clean. 308 309 During the first round of testing, all regressions must be fixed before the 310 second release candidate is tagged. 311 312 If this is the second round of testing, the testing is only to ensure that bug 313 fixes previously merged in have not created new major problems. *This is not 314 the time to solve additional and unrelated bugs!* If no patches are merged in, 315 the release is determined to be ready and the release manager may move onto the 316 next stage. 317 318 Release Patch Rules 319 ------------------- 320 321 Below are the rules regarding patching the release branch: 322 323 #. Patches applied to the release branch may only be applied by the release 324 manager. 325 326 #. During the first round of testing, patches that fix regressions or that are 327 small and relatively risk free (verified by the appropriate code owner) are 328 applied to the branch. Code owners are asked to be very conservative in 329 approving patches for the branch. We reserve the right to reject any patch 330 that does not fix a regression as previously defined. 331 332 #. During the remaining rounds of testing, only patches that fix critical 333 regressions may be applied. 334 335 #. For dot releases all patches must maintain both API and ABI compatibility with 336 the previous major release. Only bugfixes will be accepted. 337 338 Merging Patches 339 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 340 341 The ``utils/release/merge.sh`` script can be used to merge individual revisions 342 into any one of the llvm projects. To merge revision ``$N`` into project 343 ``$PROJ``, do: 344 345 #. ``svn co https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/$PROJ/branches/release_XX 346 $PROJ.src`` 347 348 #. ``$PROJ.src/utils/release/merge.sh --proj $PROJ --rev $N`` 349 350 #. Run regression tests. 351 352 #. ``cd $PROJ.src``. Run the ``svn commit`` command printed out by ``merge.sh`` 353 in step 2. 354 355 Release Final Tasks 356 ------------------- 357 358 The final stages of the release process involves tagging the "final" release 359 branch, updating documentation that refers to the release, and updating the 360 demo page. 361 362 Update Documentation 363 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 364 365 Review the documentation and ensure that it is up to date. The "Release Notes" 366 must be updated to reflect new features, bug fixes, new known issues, and 367 changes in the list of supported platforms. The "Getting Started Guide" should 368 be updated to reflect the new release version number tag available from 369 Subversion and changes in basic system requirements. Merge both changes from 370 mainline into the release branch. 371 372 .. _tag: 373 374 Tag the LLVM Final Release 375 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 376 377 Tag the final release sources using the tag.sh script in utils/release. 378 379 :: 380 381 $ ./tag.sh -release X.Y.Z -final 382 383 Update the LLVM Demo Page 384 ------------------------- 385 386 The LLVM demo page must be updated to use the new release. This consists of 387 using the new ``clang`` binary and building LLVM. 388 389 Update the LLVM Website 390 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 391 392 The website must be updated before the release announcement is sent out. Here 393 is what to do: 394 395 #. Check out the ``www`` module from Subversion. 396 397 #. Create a new subdirectory ``X.Y`` in the releases directory. 398 399 #. Commit the ``llvm``, ``test-suite``, ``clang`` source, ``clang binaries``, 400 ``dragonegg`` source, and ``dragonegg`` binaries in this new directory. 401 402 #. Copy and commit the ``llvm/docs`` and ``LICENSE.txt`` files into this new 403 directory. The docs should be built with ``BUILD_FOR_WEBSITE=1``. 404 405 #. Commit the ``index.html`` to the ``release/X.Y`` directory to redirect (use 406 from previous release). 407 408 #. Update the ``releases/download.html`` file with the new release. 409 410 #. Update the ``releases/index.html`` with the new release and link to release 411 documentation. 412 413 #. Finally, update the main page (``index.html`` and sidebar) to point to the 414 new release and release announcement. Make sure this all gets committed back 415 into Subversion. 416 417 Announce the Release 418 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 419 420 Have Chris send out the release announcement when everything is finished. 421 422
