| ================================= |
| How To Release LLVM To The Public |
| ================================= |
| |
| .. contents:: |
| :local: |
| :depth: 1 |
| |
| Introduction |
| ============ |
| |
| This document contains information about successfully releasing LLVM --- |
| including subprojects: e.g., ``clang`` and ``dragonegg`` --- to the public. It |
| is the Release Manager's responsibility to ensure that a high quality build of |
| LLVM is released. |
| |
| .. _timeline: |
| |
| Release Timeline |
| ================ |
| |
| LLVM is released on a time based schedule --- roughly every 6 months. We do |
| not normally have dot releases because of the nature of LLVM's incremental |
| development philosophy. That said, the only thing preventing dot releases for |
| critical bug fixes from happening is a lack of resources --- testers, |
| machines, time, etc. And, because of the high quality we desire for LLVM |
| releases, we cannot allow for a truncated form of release qualification. |
| |
| The release process is roughly as follows: |
| |
| * Set code freeze and branch creation date for 6 months after last code freeze |
| date. Announce release schedule to the LLVM community and update the website. |
| |
| * Create release branch and begin release process. |
| |
| * Send out release candidate sources for first round of testing. Testing lasts |
| 7-10 days. During the first round of testing, any regressions found should be |
| fixed. Patches are merged from mainline into the release branch. Also, all |
| features need to be completed during this time. Any features not completed at |
| the end of the first round of testing will be removed or disabled for the |
| release. |
| |
| * Generate and send out the second release candidate sources. Only *critial* |
| bugs found during this testing phase will be fixed. Any bugs introduced by |
| merged patches will be fixed. If so a third round of testing is needed. |
| |
| * The release notes are updated. |
| |
| * Finally, release! |
| |
| Release Process |
| =============== |
| |
| .. contents:: |
| :local: |
| |
| Release Administrative Tasks |
| ---------------------------- |
| |
| This section describes a few administrative tasks that need to be done for the |
| release process to begin. Specifically, it involves: |
| |
| * Creating the release branch, |
| |
| * Setting version numbers, and |
| |
| * Tagging release candidates for the release team to begin testing. |
| |
| Create Release Branch |
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ |
| |
| Branch the Subversion trunk using the following procedure: |
| |
| #. Remind developers that the release branching is imminent and to refrain from |
| committing patches that might break the build. E.g., new features, large |
| patches for works in progress, an overhaul of the type system, an exciting |
| new TableGen feature, etc. |
| |
| #. Verify that the current Subversion trunk is in decent shape by |
| examining nightly tester and buildbot results. |
| |
| #. Create the release branch for ``llvm``, ``clang``, the ``test-suite``, and |
| ``dragonegg`` from the last known good revision. The branch's name is |
| ``release_XY``, where ``X`` is the major and ``Y`` the minor release |
| numbers. The branches should be created using the following commands: |
| |
| :: |
| |
| $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/trunk \ |
| https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/branches/release_XY |
| |
| $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/trunk \ |
| https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/branches/release_XY |
| |
| $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/dragonegg/trunk \ |
| https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/dragonegg/branches/release_XY |
| |
| $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/test-suite/trunk \ |
| https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/test-suite/branches/release_XY |
| |
| #. Advise developers that they may now check their patches into the Subversion |
| tree again. |
| |
| #. The Release Manager should switch to the release branch, because all changes |
| to the release will now be done in the branch. The easiest way to do this is |
| to grab a working copy using the following commands: |
| |
| :: |
| |
| $ svn co https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/branches/release_XY llvm-X.Y |
| |
| $ svn co https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/branches/release_XY clang-X.Y |
| |
| $ svn co https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/dragonegg/branches/release_XY dragonegg-X.Y |
| |
| $ svn co https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/test-suite/branches/release_XY test-suite-X.Y |
| |
| Update LLVM Version |
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ |
| |
| After creating the LLVM release branch, update the release branches' |
| ``autoconf`` and ``configure.ac`` versions from '``X.Ysvn``' to '``X.Y``'. |
| Update it on mainline as well to be the next version ('``X.Y+1svn``'). |
| Regenerate the configure scripts for both ``llvm`` and the ``test-suite``. |
| |
| In addition, the version numbers of all the Bugzilla components must be updated |
| for the next release. |
| |
| Build the LLVM Release Candidates |
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ |
| |
| Create release candidates for ``llvm``, ``clang``, ``dragonegg``, and the LLVM |
| ``test-suite`` by tagging the branch with the respective release candidate |
| number. For instance, to create **Release Candidate 1** you would issue the |
| following commands: |
| |
| :: |
| |
| $ svn mkdir https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/tags/RELEASE_XY |
| $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/branches/release_XY \ |
| https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/tags/RELEASE_XY/rc1 |
| |
| $ svn mkdir https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/tags/RELEASE_XY |
| $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/branches/release_XY \ |
| https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/tags/RELEASE_XY/rc1 |
| |
| $ svn mkdir https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/dragonegg/tags/RELEASE_XY |
| $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/dragonegg/branches/release_XY \ |
| https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/dragonegg/tags/RELEASE_XY/rc1 |
| |
| $ svn mkdir https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/test-suite/tags/RELEASE_XY |
| $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/test-suite/branches/release_XY \ |
| https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/test-suite/tags/RELEASE_XY/rc1 |
| |
| Similarly, **Release Candidate 2** would be named ``RC2`` and so on. This keeps |
| a permanent copy of the release candidate around for people to export and build |
| as they wish. The final released sources will be tagged in the ``RELEASE_XY`` |
| directory as ``Final`` (c.f. :ref:`tag`). |
| |
| The Release Manager may supply pre-packaged source tarballs for users. This can |
| be done with the following commands: |
| |
| :: |
| |
| $ svn export https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/tags/RELEASE_XY/rc1 llvm-X.Yrc1 |
| $ svn export https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/tags/RELEASE_XY/rc1 clang-X.Yrc1 |
| $ svn export https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/dragonegg/tags/RELEASE_XY/rc1 dragonegg-X.Yrc1 |
| $ svn export https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/test-suite/tags/RELEASE_XY/rc1 llvm-test-X.Yrc1 |
| |
| $ tar -cvf - llvm-X.Yrc1 | gzip > llvm-X.Yrc1.src.tar.gz |
| $ tar -cvf - clang-X.Yrc1 | gzip > clang-X.Yrc1.src.tar.gz |
| $ tar -cvf - dragonegg-X.Yrc1 | gzip > dragonegg-X.Yrc1.src.tar.gz |
| $ tar -cvf - llvm-test-X.Yrc1 | gzip > llvm-test-X.Yrc1.src.tar.gz |
| |
| Building the Release |
| -------------------- |
| |
| The builds of ``llvm``, ``clang``, and ``dragonegg`` *must* be free of |
| errors and warnings in Debug, Release+Asserts, and Release builds. If all |
| builds are clean, then the release passes Build Qualification. |
| |
| The ``make`` options for building the different modes: |
| |
| +-----------------+---------------------------------------------+ |
| | Mode | Options | |
| +=================+=============================================+ |
| | Debug | ``ENABLE_OPTIMIZED=0`` | |
| +-----------------+---------------------------------------------+ |
| | Release+Asserts | ``ENABLE_OPTIMIZED=1`` | |
| +-----------------+---------------------------------------------+ |
| | Release | ``ENABLE_OPTIMIZED=1 DISABLE_ASSERTIONS=1`` | |
| +-----------------+---------------------------------------------+ |
| |
| Build LLVM |
| ^^^^^^^^^^ |
| |
| Build ``Debug``, ``Release+Asserts``, and ``Release`` versions |
| of ``llvm`` on all supported platforms. Directions to build ``llvm`` |
| are :doc:`here <GettingStarted>`. |
| |
| Build Clang Binary Distribution |
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ |
| |
| Creating the ``clang`` binary distribution (Debug/Release+Asserts/Release) |
| requires performing the following steps for each supported platform: |
| |
| #. Build clang according to the directions `here |
| <http://clang.llvm.org/get_started.html>`__. |
| |
| #. Build both a Debug and Release version of clang. The binary will be the |
| Release build. |
| |
| #. Package ``clang`` (details to follow). |
| |
| Target Specific Build Details |
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ |
| |
| The table below specifies which compilers are used for each Arch/OS combination |
| when qualifying the build of ``llvm``, ``clang``, and ``dragonegg``. |
| |
| +--------------+---------------+----------------------+ |
| | Architecture | OS | compiler | |
| +==============+===============+======================+ |
| | x86-32 | Mac OS 10.5 | gcc 4.0.1 | |
| +--------------+---------------+----------------------+ |
| | x86-32 | Linux | gcc 4.2.X, gcc 4.3.X | |
| +--------------+---------------+----------------------+ |
| | x86-32 | FreeBSD | gcc 4.2.X | |
| +--------------+---------------+----------------------+ |
| | x86-32 | mingw | gcc 3.4.5 | |
| +--------------+---------------+----------------------+ |
| | x86-64 | Mac OS 10.5 | gcc 4.0.1 | |
| +--------------+---------------+----------------------+ |
| | x86-64 | Linux | gcc 4.2.X, gcc 4.3.X | |
| +--------------+---------------+----------------------+ |
| | x86-64 | FreeBSD | gcc 4.2.X | |
| +--------------+---------------+----------------------+ |
| |
| Release Qualification Criteria |
| ------------------------------ |
| |
| A release is qualified when it has no regressions from the previous release (or |
| baseline). Regressions are related to correctness first and performance second. |
| (We may tolerate some minor performance regressions if they are deemed |
| necessary for the general quality of the compiler.) |
| |
| **Regressions are new failures in the set of tests that are used to qualify |
| each product and only include things on the list. Every release will have |
| some bugs in it. It is the reality of developing a complex piece of |
| software. We need a very concrete and definitive release criteria that |
| ensures we have monotonically improving quality on some metric. The metric we |
| use is described below. This doesn't mean that we don't care about other |
| criteria, but these are the criteria which we found to be most important and |
| which must be satisfied before a release can go out.** |
| |
| Qualify LLVM |
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^ |
| |
| LLVM is qualified when it has a clean test run without a front-end. And it has |
| no regressions when using either ``clang`` or ``dragonegg`` with the |
| ``test-suite`` from the previous release. |
| |
| Qualify Clang |
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ |
| |
| ``Clang`` is qualified when front-end specific tests in the ``llvm`` regression |
| test suite all pass, clang's own test suite passes cleanly, and there are no |
| regressions in the ``test-suite``. |
| |
| Specific Target Qualification Details |
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ |
| |
| +--------------+-------------+----------------+-----------------------------+ |
| | Architecture | OS | clang baseline | tests | |
| +==============+=============+================+=============================+ |
| | x86-32 | Linux | last release | llvm regression tests, | |
| | | | | clang regression tests, | |
| | | | | test-suite (including spec) | |
| +--------------+-------------+----------------+-----------------------------+ |
| | x86-32 | FreeBSD | last release | llvm regression tests, | |
| | | | | clang regression tests, | |
| | | | | test-suite | |
| +--------------+-------------+----------------+-----------------------------+ |
| | x86-32 | mingw | none | QT | |
| +--------------+-------------+----------------+-----------------------------+ |
| | x86-64 | Mac OS 10.X | last release | llvm regression tests, | |
| | | | | clang regression tests, | |
| | | | | test-suite (including spec) | |
| +--------------+-------------+----------------+-----------------------------+ |
| | x86-64 | Linux | last release | llvm regression tests, | |
| | | | | clang regression tests, | |
| | | | | test-suite (including spec) | |
| +--------------+-------------+----------------+-----------------------------+ |
| | x86-64 | FreeBSD | last release | llvm regression tests, | |
| | | | | clang regression tests, | |
| | | | | test-suite | |
| +--------------+-------------+----------------+-----------------------------+ |
| |
| Community Testing |
| ----------------- |
| |
| Once all testing has been completed and appropriate bugs filed, the release |
| candidate tarballs are put on the website and the LLVM community is notified. |
| Ask that all LLVM developers test the release in 2 ways: |
| |
| #. Download ``llvm-X.Y``, ``llvm-test-X.Y``, and the appropriate ``clang`` |
| binary. Build LLVM. Run ``make check`` and the full LLVM test suite (``make |
| TEST=nightly report``). |
| |
| #. Download ``llvm-X.Y``, ``llvm-test-X.Y``, and the ``clang`` sources. Compile |
| everything. Run ``make check`` and the full LLVM test suite (``make |
| TEST=nightly report``). |
| |
| Ask LLVM developers to submit the test suite report and ``make check`` results |
| to the list. Verify that there are no regressions from the previous release. |
| The results are not used to qualify a release, but to spot other potential |
| problems. For unsupported targets, verify that ``make check`` is at least |
| clean. |
| |
| During the first round of testing, all regressions must be fixed before the |
| second release candidate is tagged. |
| |
| If this is the second round of testing, the testing is only to ensure that bug |
| fixes previously merged in have not created new major problems. *This is not |
| the time to solve additional and unrelated bugs!* If no patches are merged in, |
| the release is determined to be ready and the release manager may move onto the |
| next stage. |
| |
| Release Patch Rules |
| ------------------- |
| |
| Below are the rules regarding patching the release branch: |
| |
| #. Patches applied to the release branch may only be applied by the release |
| manager. |
| |
| #. During the first round of testing, patches that fix regressions or that are |
| small and relatively risk free (verified by the appropriate code owner) are |
| applied to the branch. Code owners are asked to be very conservative in |
| approving patches for the branch. We reserve the right to reject any patch |
| that does not fix a regression as previously defined. |
| |
| #. During the remaining rounds of testing, only patches that fix critical |
| regressions may be applied. |
| |
| Release Final Tasks |
| ------------------- |
| |
| The final stages of the release process involves tagging the "final" release |
| branch, updating documentation that refers to the release, and updating the |
| demo page. |
| |
| Update Documentation |
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ |
| |
| Review the documentation and ensure that it is up to date. The "Release Notes" |
| must be updated to reflect new features, bug fixes, new known issues, and |
| changes in the list of supported platforms. The "Getting Started Guide" should |
| be updated to reflect the new release version number tag available from |
| Subversion and changes in basic system requirements. Merge both changes from |
| mainline into the release branch. |
| |
| .. _tag: |
| |
| Tag the LLVM Final Release |
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ |
| |
| Tag the final release sources using the following procedure: |
| |
| :: |
| |
| $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/branches/release_XY \ |
| https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/tags/RELEASE_XY/Final |
| |
| $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/branches/release_XY \ |
| https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/tags/RELEASE_XY/Final |
| |
| $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/dragonegg/branches/release_XY \ |
| https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/dragonegg/tags/RELEASE_XY/Final |
| |
| $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/test-suite/branches/release_XY \ |
| https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/test-suite/tags/RELEASE_XY/Final |
| |
| Update the LLVM Demo Page |
| ------------------------- |
| |
| The LLVM demo page must be updated to use the new release. This consists of |
| using the new ``clang`` binary and building LLVM. |
| |
| Update the LLVM Website |
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ |
| |
| The website must be updated before the release announcement is sent out. Here |
| is what to do: |
| |
| #. Check out the ``www`` module from Subversion. |
| |
| #. Create a new subdirectory ``X.Y`` in the releases directory. |
| |
| #. Commit the ``llvm``, ``test-suite``, ``clang`` source, ``clang binaries``, |
| ``dragonegg`` source, and ``dragonegg`` binaries in this new directory. |
| |
| #. Copy and commit the ``llvm/docs`` and ``LICENSE.txt`` files into this new |
| directory. The docs should be built with ``BUILD_FOR_WEBSITE=1``. |
| |
| #. Commit the ``index.html`` to the ``release/X.Y`` directory to redirect (use |
| from previous release). |
| |
| #. Update the ``releases/download.html`` file with the new release. |
| |
| #. Update the ``releases/index.html`` with the new release and link to release |
| documentation. |
| |
| #. Finally, update the main page (``index.html`` and sidebar) to point to the |
| new release and release announcement. Make sure this all gets committed back |
| into Subversion. |
| |
| Announce the Release |
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ |
| |
| Have Chris send out the release announcement when everything is finished. |
| |