1================================= 2How To Release LLVM To The Public 3================================= 4 5.. contents:: 6 :local: 7 :depth: 1 8 9Introduction 10============ 11 12This document contains information about successfully releasing LLVM --- 13including subprojects: e.g., ``clang`` and ``dragonegg`` --- to the public. It 14is the Release Manager's responsibility to ensure that a high quality build of 15LLVM is released. 16 17If you're looking for the document on how to test the release candidates and 18create the binary packages, please refer to the :doc:`ReleaseProcess` instead. 19 20.. _timeline: 21 22Release Timeline 23================ 24 25LLVM is released on a time based schedule --- with major releases roughly 26every 6 months. In between major releases there may be dot releases. 27The release manager will determine if and when to make a dot release based 28on feedback from the community. Typically, dot releases should be made if 29there are large number of bug-fixes in the stable branch or a critical bug 30has been discovered that affects a large number of users. 31 32Unless otherwise stated, dot releases will follow the same procedure as 33major releases. 34 35The 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 57The release process will be accelerated for dot releases. If the first round 58of testing finds no critical bugs and no regressions since the last major release, 59then additional rounds of testing will not be required. 60 61Release Process 62=============== 63 64.. contents:: 65 :local: 66 67Release Administrative Tasks 68---------------------------- 69 70This section describes a few administrative tasks that need to be done for the 71release 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 79Create Release Branch 80^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 81 82Branch 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 128Update LLVM Version 129^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 130 131After creating the LLVM release branch, update the release branches' 132``autoconf`` and ``configure.ac`` versions from '``X.Ysvn``' to '``X.Y``'. 133Update it on mainline as well to be the next version ('``X.Y+1svn``'). 134Regenerate the configure scripts for both ``llvm`` and the ``test-suite``. 135 136In addition, the version numbers of all the Bugzilla components must be updated 137for the next release. 138 139Build the LLVM Release Candidates 140^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 141 142Create release candidates for ``llvm``, ``clang``, ``dragonegg``, and the LLVM 143``test-suite`` by tagging the branch with the respective release candidate 144number. For instance, to create **Release Candidate 1** you would issue the 145following commands: 146 147:: 148 149 $ svn mkdir https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/tags/RELEASE_XYZ 150 $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/branches/release_XY \ 151 https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/tags/RELEASE_XYZ/rc1 152 153 $ svn mkdir https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/tags/RELEASE_XYZ 154 $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/branches/release_XY \ 155 https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/tags/RELEASE_XYZ/rc1 156 157 $ svn mkdir https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/dragonegg/tags/RELEASE_XYZ 158 $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/dragonegg/branches/release_XY \ 159 https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/dragonegg/tags/RELEASE_XYZ/rc1 160 161 $ svn mkdir https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/test-suite/tags/RELEASE_XYZ 162 $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/test-suite/branches/release_XY \ 163 https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/test-suite/tags/RELEASE_XYZ/rc1 164 165Similarly, **Release Candidate 2** would be named ``RC2`` and so on. This keeps 166a permanent copy of the release candidate around for people to export and build 167as they wish. The final released sources will be tagged in the ``RELEASE_XYZ`` 168directory as ``Final`` (c.f. :ref:`tag`). 169 170The Release Manager may supply pre-packaged source tarballs for users. This can 171be done with the following commands: 172 173:: 174 175 $ svn export https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/tags/RELEASE_XYZ/rc1 llvm-X.Yrc1 176 $ svn export https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/tags/RELEASE_XYZ/rc1 clang-X.Yrc1 177 $ svn export https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/dragonegg/tags/RELEASE_XYZ/rc1 dragonegg-X.Yrc1 178 $ svn export https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/test-suite/tags/RELEASE_XYZ/rc1 llvm-test-X.Yrc1 179 180 $ tar -cvf - llvm-X.Yrc1 | gzip > llvm-X.Yrc1.src.tar.gz 181 $ tar -cvf - clang-X.Yrc1 | gzip > clang-X.Yrc1.src.tar.gz 182 $ tar -cvf - dragonegg-X.Yrc1 | gzip > dragonegg-X.Yrc1.src.tar.gz 183 $ tar -cvf - llvm-test-X.Yrc1 | gzip > llvm-test-X.Yrc1.src.tar.gz 184 185Building the Release 186-------------------- 187 188The builds of ``llvm``, ``clang``, and ``dragonegg`` *must* be free of 189errors and warnings in Debug, Release+Asserts, and Release builds. If all 190builds are clean, then the release passes Build Qualification. 191 192The ``make`` options for building the different modes: 193 194+-----------------+---------------------------------------------+ 195| Mode | Options | 196+=================+=============================================+ 197| Debug | ``ENABLE_OPTIMIZED=0`` | 198+-----------------+---------------------------------------------+ 199| Release+Asserts | ``ENABLE_OPTIMIZED=1`` | 200+-----------------+---------------------------------------------+ 201| Release | ``ENABLE_OPTIMIZED=1 DISABLE_ASSERTIONS=1`` | 202+-----------------+---------------------------------------------+ 203 204Build LLVM 205^^^^^^^^^^ 206 207Build ``Debug``, ``Release+Asserts``, and ``Release`` versions 208of ``llvm`` on all supported platforms. Directions to build ``llvm`` 209are :doc:`here <GettingStarted>`. 210 211Build Clang Binary Distribution 212^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 213 214Creating the ``clang`` binary distribution (Debug/Release+Asserts/Release) 215requires performing the following steps for each supported platform: 216 217#. Build clang according to the directions `here 218 <http://clang.llvm.org/get_started.html>`__. 219 220#. Build both a Debug and Release version of clang. The binary will be the 221 Release build. 222 223#. Package ``clang`` (details to follow). 224 225Target Specific Build Details 226^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 227 228The table below specifies which compilers are used for each Arch/OS combination 229when qualifying the build of ``llvm``, ``clang``, and ``dragonegg``. 230 231+--------------+---------------+----------------------+ 232| Architecture | OS | compiler | 233+==============+===============+======================+ 234| x86-32 | Mac OS 10.5 | gcc 4.0.1 | 235+--------------+---------------+----------------------+ 236| x86-32 | Linux | gcc 4.2.X, gcc 4.3.X | 237+--------------+---------------+----------------------+ 238| x86-32 | FreeBSD | gcc 4.2.X | 239+--------------+---------------+----------------------+ 240| x86-32 | mingw | gcc 3.4.5 | 241+--------------+---------------+----------------------+ 242| x86-64 | Mac OS 10.5 | gcc 4.0.1 | 243+--------------+---------------+----------------------+ 244| x86-64 | Linux | gcc 4.2.X, gcc 4.3.X | 245+--------------+---------------+----------------------+ 246| x86-64 | FreeBSD | gcc 4.2.X | 247+--------------+---------------+----------------------+ 248| ARMv7 | Linux | gcc 4.6.X, gcc 4.7.X | 249+--------------+---------------+----------------------+ 250 251Release Qualification Criteria 252------------------------------ 253 254A release is qualified when it has no regressions from the previous release (or 255baseline). Regressions are related to correctness first and performance second. 256(We may tolerate some minor performance regressions if they are deemed 257necessary for the general quality of the compiler.) 258 259**Regressions are new failures in the set of tests that are used to qualify 260each product and only include things on the list. Every release will have 261some bugs in it. It is the reality of developing a complex piece of 262software. We need a very concrete and definitive release criteria that 263ensures we have monotonically improving quality on some metric. The metric we 264use is described below. This doesn't mean that we don't care about other 265criteria, but these are the criteria which we found to be most important and 266which must be satisfied before a release can go out.** 267 268Qualify LLVM 269^^^^^^^^^^^^ 270 271LLVM is qualified when it has a clean test run without a front-end. And it has 272no regressions when using either ``clang`` or ``dragonegg`` with the 273``test-suite`` from the previous release. 274 275Qualify Clang 276^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 277 278``Clang`` is qualified when front-end specific tests in the ``llvm`` regression 279test suite all pass, clang's own test suite passes cleanly, and there are no 280regressions in the ``test-suite``. 281 282Specific Target Qualification Details 283^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 284 285+--------------+-------------+----------------+-----------------------------+ 286| Architecture | OS | clang baseline | tests | 287+==============+=============+================+=============================+ 288| x86-32 | Linux | last release | llvm regression tests, | 289| | | | clang regression tests, | 290| | | | test-suite (including spec) | 291+--------------+-------------+----------------+-----------------------------+ 292| x86-32 | FreeBSD | last release | llvm regression tests, | 293| | | | clang regression tests, | 294| | | | test-suite | 295+--------------+-------------+----------------+-----------------------------+ 296| x86-32 | mingw | none | QT | 297+--------------+-------------+----------------+-----------------------------+ 298| x86-64 | Mac OS 10.X | last release | llvm regression tests, | 299| | | | clang regression tests, | 300| | | | test-suite (including spec) | 301+--------------+-------------+----------------+-----------------------------+ 302| x86-64 | Linux | last release | llvm regression tests, | 303| | | | clang regression tests, | 304| | | | test-suite (including spec) | 305+--------------+-------------+----------------+-----------------------------+ 306| x86-64 | FreeBSD | last release | llvm regression tests, | 307| | | | clang regression tests, | 308| | | | test-suite | 309+--------------+-------------+----------------+-----------------------------+ 310| ARMv7A | Linux | last release | llvm regression tests, | 311| | | | clang regression tests, | 312| | | | test-suite | 313+--------------+-------------+----------------+-----------------------------+ 314 315Community Testing 316----------------- 317 318Once all testing has been completed and appropriate bugs filed, the release 319candidate tarballs are put on the website and the LLVM community is notified. 320Ask that all LLVM developers test the release in 2 ways: 321 322#. Download ``llvm-X.Y``, ``llvm-test-X.Y``, and the appropriate ``clang`` 323 binary. Build LLVM. Run ``make check`` and the full LLVM test suite (``make 324 TEST=nightly report``). 325 326#. Download ``llvm-X.Y``, ``llvm-test-X.Y``, and the ``clang`` sources. Compile 327 everything. Run ``make check`` and the full LLVM test suite (``make 328 TEST=nightly report``). 329 330Ask LLVM developers to submit the test suite report and ``make check`` results 331to the list. Verify that there are no regressions from the previous release. 332The results are not used to qualify a release, but to spot other potential 333problems. For unsupported targets, verify that ``make check`` is at least 334clean. 335 336During the first round of testing, all regressions must be fixed before the 337second release candidate is tagged. 338 339If this is the second round of testing, the testing is only to ensure that bug 340fixes previously merged in have not created new major problems. *This is not 341the time to solve additional and unrelated bugs!* If no patches are merged in, 342the release is determined to be ready and the release manager may move onto the 343next stage. 344 345Release Patch Rules 346------------------- 347 348Below are the rules regarding patching the release branch: 349 350#. Patches applied to the release branch may only be applied by the release 351 manager. 352 353#. During the first round of testing, patches that fix regressions or that are 354 small and relatively risk free (verified by the appropriate code owner) are 355 applied to the branch. Code owners are asked to be very conservative in 356 approving patches for the branch. We reserve the right to reject any patch 357 that does not fix a regression as previously defined. 358 359#. During the remaining rounds of testing, only patches that fix critical 360 regressions may be applied. 361 362#. For dot releases all patches must mantain both API and ABI compatibility with 363 the previous major release. Only bugfixes will be accepted. 364 365Release Final Tasks 366------------------- 367 368The final stages of the release process involves tagging the "final" release 369branch, updating documentation that refers to the release, and updating the 370demo page. 371 372Update Documentation 373^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 374 375Review the documentation and ensure that it is up to date. The "Release Notes" 376must be updated to reflect new features, bug fixes, new known issues, and 377changes in the list of supported platforms. The "Getting Started Guide" should 378be updated to reflect the new release version number tag available from 379Subversion and changes in basic system requirements. Merge both changes from 380mainline into the release branch. 381 382.. _tag: 383 384Tag the LLVM Final Release 385^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 386 387Tag the final release sources using the following procedure: 388 389:: 390 391 $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/branches/release_XY \ 392 https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/tags/RELEASE_XYZ/Final 393 394 $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/branches/release_XY \ 395 https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/tags/RELEASE_XYZ/Final 396 397 $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/dragonegg/branches/release_XY \ 398 https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/dragonegg/tags/RELEASE_XYZ/Final 399 400 $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/test-suite/branches/release_XY \ 401 https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/test-suite/tags/RELEASE_XYZ/Final 402 403Update the LLVM Demo Page 404------------------------- 405 406The LLVM demo page must be updated to use the new release. This consists of 407using the new ``clang`` binary and building LLVM. 408 409Update the LLVM Website 410^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 411 412The website must be updated before the release announcement is sent out. Here 413is what to do: 414 415#. Check out the ``www`` module from Subversion. 416 417#. Create a new subdirectory ``X.Y`` in the releases directory. 418 419#. Commit the ``llvm``, ``test-suite``, ``clang`` source, ``clang binaries``, 420 ``dragonegg`` source, and ``dragonegg`` binaries in this new directory. 421 422#. Copy and commit the ``llvm/docs`` and ``LICENSE.txt`` files into this new 423 directory. The docs should be built with ``BUILD_FOR_WEBSITE=1``. 424 425#. Commit the ``index.html`` to the ``release/X.Y`` directory to redirect (use 426 from previous release). 427 428#. Update the ``releases/download.html`` file with the new release. 429 430#. Update the ``releases/index.html`` with the new release and link to release 431 documentation. 432 433#. Finally, update the main page (``index.html`` and sidebar) to point to the 434 new release and release announcement. Make sure this all gets committed back 435 into Subversion. 436 437Announce the Release 438^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 439 440Have Chris send out the release announcement when everything is finished. 441 442