* README.git: Update and clarify release operations

1 files changed, 92 insertions, 65 deletions

diff --git a/README.git b/README.git
index 579bcb57..55a545bf 100644
--- a/README.git
+++ b/README.git
@@ -48,8 +48,8 @@ your commit messages (sans the leading TAB of course).
 
 Rule #1: Don't rewrite pushed history on master (no "git push --force").
 Rule #2: Feel free to rewrite pushed history on personal branches.
-Rule #3: Prefer to squash-merge or rebase + merge --ff-only, rather than
-         merging from personal branches into master.
+Rule #3: Squash-merge or rebase + merge --ff-only, rather than merging from
+         personal branches into master.
 
 Typical simple workflow might be:
 
@@ -178,6 +178,9 @@ Note, neither of these methods are tested regularly by the GNU Make
 maintainers.  Building for Windows from a distribution tarball IS tested
 regularly.
 
+NOTE! "Maintainer mode" (see above) IS ENABLED when building from Git using
+      the build_w32.bat file.
+
 
 Debugging and Testing
 ---------------------
@@ -203,7 +206,7 @@ work on non-GNU systems (Windows, MacOS, etc.)
 
     make clean
     make -j8 CFLAGS='-ggdb3 -fsanitize=address' LDFLAGS='-ggdb3 -fsanitize=address'
-    (cd tests && ./run_make_tests -make ../make)
+    make check
 
   Note that ASAN is reporting many more errors than valgrind.  I don't know
   which one is wrong: I haven't looked at them closely.
@@ -250,99 +253,123 @@ consistent (that's why we don't finalize the Git tag, etc. until the end).
     "Fixed Release" ID number.
   * Run "make distcheck" to be sure it all works.
   * Run "make check-alt-config" to be sure alternative configurations work
-  * Run "make update-makeweb" to get a copy of the GNU Make web pages
-  * Run "make update-gnuweb" to get a copy of the GNU website boilerplate pages
-  * Update the web page boilerplate if necessary:
-      ../gnu-www/www/server/standards/patch-from-parent ../make-web/make.html \
-            ../gnu-www/www/server/standards/boilerplate.html
-  * Run "make gendocs" (requires gnulib) to generate the manual files for
-    the GNU Make web pages.
-  * Follow the directions from gendocs for the web page repository
   * run "make tag-release" to create a Git tag for the release
   * Push everything:
     git push --tags origin master
 
-Manage the Savannah project for GNU Make:
+The safest thing is to create an entirely new repository and build the final
+package from there:
 
-  >>> This is only for real releases, not release candidate builds <<<
+  git clone git://git.savannah.gnu.org/make.git make-release
+  cd make-release
 
-  * In Savannah modify the "Value", "Rank", and "Description" values for the
-    current "SCM" entry in both "Component Version" and "Fix Release" fields
-    to refer to the new release.  The "Rank" field should be 10 less than the
-    previous release so it orders properly.
-  * In Savannah create a new entry for the "Component Version" and "Fix
-    Release" fields:
-      - Value: SCM
-      - Rank:  20
-      - Descr: Issues found in code retrieved from Source Code Management (Git), rather than a distributed version. Please include the SHA you are working with.
+If you don't want to create a new repository then run "git clean -fdx".
+Then:
 
-      - Descr: Fixed in Source Code Management (Git). The fix will be included in the next release of GNU Make.
+  ./bootstrap.sh
+  ./configure
+  make distcheck
 
-Start the next release:
+Perform test builds on whichever systems you have access to.
 
-  * Update configure.ac and add a ".90" to the release number.
-  * Update the NEWS file with a new section for the release / date.
-  * Update the Savannah URL for the bugs fixed in the NEWS section.
+Use a previous announcement as a template to create an announcement in a text
+file then sign it with GPG:
 
+  gpg --clearsign <announcement.txt>
 
-Publishing a Package
---------------------
+Or, use your mail client's PGP/GPG signing capabilities.
 
-In order to publish a package on the FSF FTP site, either the release
-site ftp://ftp.gnu.org, or the prerelease site ftp://alpha.gnu.org, you
-first need to have my GPG private key and my passphrase to unlock it.
-And, you can't have them!  So there!  But, just so I remember here's
-what to do:
+NOTE! In order to publish a package on the FSF FTP site you need to have my
+      GPG private key, and my passphrase to unlock it.
 
-  Make sure the "Steps to Release" are complete and committed and tagged.
+      Depending on your distribution (whether GnuPG is integrated with your
+      keyring etc.) the upload operation will either pop up a window asking
+      for the GPG key passphrase one time, or else it will use the CLI to ask
+      for the GPG passphrase _THREE_ times.  Sigh.
 
-  git clone git://git.savannah.gnu.org/make.git make-release
 
-  cd make-release
+Publishing a Release Candidate
+------------------------------
 
-  <run the commands above to build the release>
+Usually I publish one or two release candidates for people to test before
+making an official release.  Release candidates use a GNU numbering scheme,
+which add a ".9x" release number to the PREVIOUS major release.  So the first
+release candidate for GNU Make 4.4 would be GNU Make 4.3.90, the second
+release candidate would be 4.3.91, etc.
 
-  make upload-alpha             # for alpha.gnu.org (pre-releases)
-       -OR-
-  make upload-ftp               # for ftp.gnu.org (official releases)
+Upload a release candidate using:
 
-Depending on your distribution (whether GnuPG is integrated with your keyring
-etc.) it will either pop up a window asking for your GPG key passphrase one
-time, or else it will use the CLI to ask for the GPG passphrase _THREE_ times.
-Sigh.
+  make upload-alpha
 
+Announce a release candidate to these mailing lists:
 
-For both final releases and pre-releases, send an email with the URL of
-the package to the GNU translation robot to allow the translators to
-work on it:
+    To:  bug-make@gnu.org
+    BCC: help-make@gnu.org, make-w32@gnu.org, make-alpha@gnu.org
 
-     <coordinator@translationproject.org>
+You will have to approve the BCC's on the mailing list admin sites.  Send
+separate copies to (don't use CC as replies will go to these lists):
 
+  * coordinator@translationproject.org
+  * platform-testers@gnu.org
 
-Where to Announce
------------------
 
-Create the announcement in a text file, using 'git shortlog',
-then sign it with GPG:
+Publishing a Release
+--------------------
 
-  gpg --clearsign <announcement.txt>
+When publishing a final release there are extra steps that need to be taken:
 
-Or, use your mail client's PGP/GPG signing capabilities.
+  * Run "make update-makeweb" to get a copy of the GNU Make web pages
+  * Run "make update-gnuweb" to get a copy of the GNU website boilerplate pages
+  * Update the web page boilerplate if necessary:
+      ( cd ~/src/make/make-web \
+         && ~/src/gnu-www/www/server/standards/patch-from-parent \
+                make.html \
+                ~/src/gnu-www/www/server/standards/boilerplate.html )
+  * Run "make gendocs" (requires gnulib) to generate the manual files for
+    the GNU Make web pages.
+  * Follow the directions from gendocs for the web page repository
 
-Announce the release:
+Manage the Savannah project for GNU Make:
 
-  * For release candidate builds:
-    To:  bug-make@gnu.org
-    CC:  coordinator@translationproject.org, platform-testers@gnu.org
-    BCC: help-make@gnu.org, make-w32@gnu.org, make-alpha@gnu.org
+  * In Savannah modify the "Value", "Rank", and "Description" values for the
+    current "SCM" entry in both "Component Version" and "Fix Release" fields
+    to refer to the new release.  The "Rank" field should be 10 less than the
+    previous release so it orders properly.
+
+  * In Savannah create a new entry for the "Component Version" field:
+      - Value: SCM
+      - Rank:  20
+      - Descr: Issues found in code retrieved from Source Code Management (Git), rather than a distributed version. Please include the SHA you are working with.
+
+  * In Savannah create a new entry for the "Fix Release" field:
+      - Value: SCM
+      - Rank:  20
+      - Descr: Fixed in Source Code Management (Git). The fix will be included in the next release of GNU Make.
+
+Upload a release using:
+
+  make upload-ftp
+
+Announce a release to these mailing lists:
 
-  * For release builds
     To:  info-gnu@gnu.org, bug-make@gnu.org
-    CC:  coordinator@translationproject.org
     BCC: help-make@gnu.org, make-w32@gnu.org, make-alpha@gnu.org
 
-    * Add a news item to the Savannah project site.
-    * Add an update to freecode.com (nee freshmeat.net)
+You will have to approve the BCC's on the mailing list admin sites.  Send
+separate copies to (don't use CC as replies will go to these lists):
+
+  * coordinator@translationproject.org
+  * platform-testers@gnu.org
+
+Announce on Savannah:
+
+  * Add a news item to the Savannah project site.
+
+Start the next release:
+
+  * Update configure.ac and add a ".90" to the release number.
+  * Update the NEWS file with a new section for the release / date.
+  * Update the Savannah URL for the bugs fixed in the NEWS section.
 
 
 Appendix A - For The Brave
@@ -360,6 +387,6 @@ For a debugging version:
 
 ./bootstrap && ./configure CFLAGS=-g && make check
 
-For a release version
+For an optimized version
 
 ./bootstrap && ./configure && make check