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 139Tagging the LLVM Release Candidates 140^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 141 142Tag release candidates using the tag.sh script in utils/release. 143 144:: 145 146 $ ./tag.sh -release X.Y.Z -rc $RC 147 148The Release Manager may supply pre-packaged source tarballs for users. This can 149be done with the export.sh script in utils/release. 150 151:: 152 153 $ ./export.sh -release X.Y.Z -rc $RC 154 155This will generate source tarballs for each LLVM project being validated, which 156can be uploaded to the website for further testing. 157 158Building the Release 159-------------------- 160 161The builds of ``llvm``, ``clang``, and ``dragonegg`` *must* be free of 162errors and warnings in Debug, Release+Asserts, and Release builds. If all 163builds are clean, then the release passes Build Qualification. 164 165The ``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 177Build LLVM 178^^^^^^^^^^ 179 180Build ``Debug``, ``Release+Asserts``, and ``Release`` versions 181of ``llvm`` on all supported platforms. Directions to build ``llvm`` 182are :doc:`here <GettingStarted>`. 183 184Build Clang Binary Distribution 185^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 186 187Creating the ``clang`` binary distribution (Debug/Release+Asserts/Release) 188requires 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 198Target Specific Build Details 199^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 200 201The table below specifies which compilers are used for each Arch/OS combination 202when 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 224Release Qualification Criteria 225------------------------------ 226 227A release is qualified when it has no regressions from the previous release (or 228baseline). Regressions are related to correctness first and performance second. 229(We may tolerate some minor performance regressions if they are deemed 230necessary for the general quality of the compiler.) 231 232**Regressions are new failures in the set of tests that are used to qualify 233each product and only include things on the list. Every release will have 234some bugs in it. It is the reality of developing a complex piece of 235software. We need a very concrete and definitive release criteria that 236ensures we have monotonically improving quality on some metric. The metric we 237use is described below. This doesn't mean that we don't care about other 238criteria, but these are the criteria which we found to be most important and 239which must be satisfied before a release can go out.** 240 241Qualify LLVM 242^^^^^^^^^^^^ 243 244LLVM is qualified when it has a clean test run without a front-end. And it has 245no regressions when using either ``clang`` or ``dragonegg`` with the 246``test-suite`` from the previous release. 247 248Qualify Clang 249^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 250 251``Clang`` is qualified when front-end specific tests in the ``llvm`` regression 252test suite all pass, clang's own test suite passes cleanly, and there are no 253regressions in the ``test-suite``. 254 255Specific 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 288Community Testing 289----------------- 290 291Once all testing has been completed and appropriate bugs filed, the release 292candidate tarballs are put on the website and the LLVM community is notified. 293Ask 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 303Ask LLVM developers to submit the test suite report and ``make check`` results 304to the list. Verify that there are no regressions from the previous release. 305The results are not used to qualify a release, but to spot other potential 306problems. For unsupported targets, verify that ``make check`` is at least 307clean. 308 309During the first round of testing, all regressions must be fixed before the 310second release candidate is tagged. 311 312If this is the second round of testing, the testing is only to ensure that bug 313fixes previously merged in have not created new major problems. *This is not 314the time to solve additional and unrelated bugs!* If no patches are merged in, 315the release is determined to be ready and the release manager may move onto the 316next stage. 317 318Release Patch Rules 319------------------- 320 321Below 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 mantain both API and ABI compatibility with 336 the previous major release. Only bugfixes will be accepted. 337 338Release Final Tasks 339------------------- 340 341The final stages of the release process involves tagging the "final" release 342branch, updating documentation that refers to the release, and updating the 343demo page. 344 345Update Documentation 346^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 347 348Review the documentation and ensure that it is up to date. The "Release Notes" 349must be updated to reflect new features, bug fixes, new known issues, and 350changes in the list of supported platforms. The "Getting Started Guide" should 351be updated to reflect the new release version number tag available from 352Subversion and changes in basic system requirements. Merge both changes from 353mainline into the release branch. 354 355.. _tag: 356 357Tag the LLVM Final Release 358^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 359 360Tag the final release sources using the tag.sh script in utils/release. 361 362:: 363 364 $ ./tag.sh -release X.Y.Z -final 365 366Update the LLVM Demo Page 367------------------------- 368 369The LLVM demo page must be updated to use the new release. This consists of 370using the new ``clang`` binary and building LLVM. 371 372Update the LLVM Website 373^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 374 375The website must be updated before the release announcement is sent out. Here 376is what to do: 377 378#. Check out the ``www`` module from Subversion. 379 380#. Create a new subdirectory ``X.Y`` in the releases directory. 381 382#. Commit the ``llvm``, ``test-suite``, ``clang`` source, ``clang binaries``, 383 ``dragonegg`` source, and ``dragonegg`` binaries in this new directory. 384 385#. Copy and commit the ``llvm/docs`` and ``LICENSE.txt`` files into this new 386 directory. The docs should be built with ``BUILD_FOR_WEBSITE=1``. 387 388#. Commit the ``index.html`` to the ``release/X.Y`` directory to redirect (use 389 from previous release). 390 391#. Update the ``releases/download.html`` file with the new release. 392 393#. Update the ``releases/index.html`` with the new release and link to release 394 documentation. 395 396#. Finally, update the main page (``index.html`` and sidebar) to point to the 397 new release and release announcement. Make sure this all gets committed back 398 into Subversion. 399 400Announce the Release 401^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 402 403Have Chris send out the release announcement when everything is finished. 404 405