This is the new release process for Apache Felix, based on the updated Maven process

Prerequisites

To prepare or perform a release you MUST BE at least an Apache Felix Committer.

• each and every release must be SIGNED; your public key should be added to http://www.apache.org/dist/felix/KEYS (see Appendix A)
• your public key should also be cross-signed by other Apache committers (not required, but suggested)
• when preparing the release on Mac OS X, make sure you read Appendix B before continuing
• make sure you have all Apache servers defined in your settings.xml
• use Maven 2.0.x (or 2.2.x), as Maven 2.1.x is known to produce wrong gpg pom signatures (MGPG-14)

Note: Listing the Apache servers in the settings.xml file also requires adding the password to that file. Starting with Maven 2.1 this password may be encrypted and needs not be give in plaintext. Please refer to Password Encryption for more information.

In the past we staged release candidates on our local machines using a semi-manual process. Now that we inherit from the Apache parent POM version 5, a repository manager will automatically handle staging for you. This means you now only need to specify your GPG passphrase in the release profile of your ${user.home}/.m2/settings.xml:

<settings>
  ...
  <profiles>
    <profile>
      <id>release</id>
      <properties>
        <gpg.passphrase> <!-- YOUR KEY PASSPHRASE --> </gpg.passphrase>
      </properties>
    </profile>
  </profiles>
  ...
</settings>

Everything else has been configured in the latest Felix parent POM:

<parent>
  <groupId>org.apache.felix</groupId>
  <artifactId>felix-parent</artifactId>
  <version>1.2.0</version>
  <relativePath>../pom/pom.xml</relativePath>
</parent>

Staging the Release Candidates

First prepare your POMs for release:

1. Make sure you have correct NOTICE, DEPENDENCIES, and LICENSE files. Remember to update the copyright year.
2. Make sure you have an updated change log file, typically in doc/changelog.txt but in the project root is also acceptable.
3. make sure there are no snapshots in the POMs to be released
4. check that your POMs will not lose content when they are rewritten during the release process
   • mvn release:prepare -DdryRun=true
   • diff the original pom.xml with the one called pom.xml.tag to see if the license or any other info has been removed. This has been known to happen if the starting <project> tag is not on a single line. The only things that should be different between these files are the <version> and <scm> elements. If there are any other changes, you must fix the original pom.xml file and commit before proceeding with the release
5. publish a snapshot

   $ mvn deploy ... [INFO] [deploy:deploy] [INFO] Retrieving previous build number from apache.snapshots.https ...

   • if you experience an error during deployment like a HTTP 401 check your settings for the required server entries as outlined in the Prerequisites
   • be sure that the generated artifacts respect the Apache release rules: NOTICE and LICENSE files should be present in the META-INF directory within the jar. For -sources artifacts, be sure that your POM does not use the maven-source-plugin:2.0.3 which is broken. The recommended version at this time is 2.0.4
   • you should verify the deployment under the snapshot repository on Apache
6. prepare the release

   mvn release:clean mvn release:prepare

   • preparing the release will create the new tag in SVN, automatically checking in on your behalf
7. stage the release for a vote

   mvn release:perform

   • the release will automatically be inserted into a temporary staging repository for you, see the Nexus staging documentation for full details
   • you can continue to use mvn release:prepare and mvn release:perform on other sub-projects as necessary on the same machine and they will be combined in the same staging repository - this is useful when making a release of the Felix framework and its associated bundles.
8. close the staging repository
   • login to https://repository.apache.org using your Apache SVN credentials. Click on Staging on the left. Then click on org.apache.felix in the list of repositories. In the panel below you should see an open repository that is linked to your username and IP. Right click on this repository and select Close. This will close the repository from future deployments and make it available for others to view. If you are staging multiple releases together, skip this step until you have staged everything
9. verify the staged artifacts
   • if you click on your repository, a tree view will appear below. You can then browse the contents to ensure the artifacts are as you expect them. Pay particular attention to the existence of *.asc (signature) files. If you don't like the content of the repository, right click your repository and choose Drop. You can then rollback your release (see Canceling the Release) and repeat the process
   • note the staging repository URL (especially the number at the end of the URL) you will need this in your vote email

Starting the Vote

Propose a vote on the dev list with the closed issues, the issues left, and the staging repository - for example:

To: "Felix Developers List" <dev@felix.apache.org>
Subject: [VOTE] Release Felix XXX version Y.Z

Hi,

We solved N issues in this release:
http://issues.apache.org/jira/...

There are still some outstanding issues:
http://issues.apache.org/jira/...

Staging repository:
https://repository.apache.org/content/repositories/orgapachefelix-[YOUR REPOSITORY ID]/

You can use this UNIX script to download the release and verify the signatures:
http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/felix/trunk/check_staged_release.sh

Usage:
sh check_staged_release.sh [YOUR REPOSITORY ID] /tmp/felix-staging

Please vote to approve this release:

[ ] +1 Approve the release
[ ] -1 Veto the release (please provide specific comments)

This vote will be open for 72 hours.

• to get the JIRA release notes link, browse to the FELIX JIRA page, select Release Notes and choose the relevant sub-project release and format (HTML)
• to get the list of issues left in JIRA, select the Open Issues tab on the main FELIX page, and select the relevant sub-project.

Wait for the Results

From Votes on Package Releases:

Votes on whether a package is ready to be released follow a format similar to majority approval – except that the decision is officially determined solely by whether at least three +1 votes were registered. Releases may not be vetoed. Generally the community will table the vote to release if anyone identifies serious problems, but in most cases the ultimate decision, once three or more positive votes have been garnered, lies with the individual serving as release manager. The specifics of the process may vary from project to project, but the 'minimum of three +1 votes' rule is universal.

The list of binding voters is available at http://felix.apache.org/site/project-management-committee-pmc.html

If the vote is successful, post the result to the dev list - for example:

To: "Felix Developers List" <dev@felix.apache.org>
Subject: [RESULT] [VOTE] Release Felix XXX version Y.Z

Hi,

The vote has passed with the following result :

  +1 (binding): <<list of names>>
  +1 (non binding): <<list of names>>

I will copy this release to the Felix dist directory and
promote the artifacts to the central Maven repository.

If the vote is unsuccessful, you need to fix the issues and restart the process - see Canceling the Release.
If the vote is successful, you need to promote and distribute the release - see Promoting the Release.

Canceling the Release

If the vote fails, or you decide to redo the release:

1. remove the release tag from Subversion (svn del ...)
2. login to https://repository.apache.org using your Apache SVN credentials. Click on Staging on the left. Then click on org.apache.felix in the list of repositories. In the panel below you should see a closed repository that is linked to your username and IP (if it's not yet closed you need to right click and select Close). Right click on this repository and select Drop.
3. rollback the version in the pom.xml and commit any fixes you need to make

Promoting the Release

If the vote passes:

1. copy the released artifacts to the Felix dist directory (/x1/www/www.apache.org/dist/felix) on people.apache.org
2. delete the old release from the Felix dist directory (it's archived)
3. login to https://repository.apache.org with your Apache SVN credentials. Click on Staging. Find your closed staging repository, select it, and click the Release button.
4. next click on Repositories, select the Releases repository and validate that your artifacts are all there
5. if you're releasing bundles, you can also add them to the Felix Release OBR (see Appendix C).
6. update the news section on the website at news
7. update the download page on the website at downloads to point to the new release.

For the last two tasks, it's better to give the mirrors some time to distribute the uploaded artifacts (one day should be fine). This ensures that once the website (news and download page) is updated, people can actually download the artifacts.

Update JIRA

Go to Admin section on the FELIX JIRA and mark the Y.Z version as released - create version Y.Z+1, if that hasn't already been done.

Create an Announcement

To: "Felix Users List" <users@felix.apache.org>
Subject: [ANN] Felix XXX version Y.Z Released

The Felix team is pleased to announce the release of Felix XXX version Y.Z

<<insert short description of the sub-project>>

  http://felix.apache.org/site/apache-felix-XXX.html

This release is available from http://felix.apache.org/site/downloads.cgi and Maven:

  <dependency>
    <groupId>org.apache.felix</groupId>
    <artifactId>org.apache.felix.XXX</artifactId>
    <version>Y.Z</version>
  </dependency>

Release Notes:

<<insert release notes in text format from JIRA>>

Enjoy!

-The Felix team

Remember to forward this announcement to users@felix.apache.org - try not to cross-post (CC:) announcements to both user and dev lists.

Remind Richard about this release when he writes the next board report

Appendix A: create and add your key to http://www.apache.org/dist/felix/KEYS

If you are using a *nix system with a working OpenSSH, GnuPG, and bash you can create and add your own key with the following command:

1. Create a public/private pair key:

   gpg --gen-key

   When gpg asks for e-mail linked the key you MUST USE the <committer>@apache.org one
   When gpg asks for comment linked the key you SHOULD USE "CODE SIGNING KEY"
2. Add the key to http://www.apache.org/dist/felix/KEYS: type the following command replacing the word e-mail with your Apache's one (<committer>@apache.org).

   (gpg --list-sigs e-mail && gpg --export --armor e-mail) > toadd.key scp toadd.key people.apache.org: ssh people.apache.org "cat toadd.key >> /x1/www/www.apache.org/dist/felix/KEYS"

3. You are now DONE, but to see the changes on http://www.apache.org/dist/felix/KEYS you must wait 2 hours

Appendix B: preparing releases on Mac OS X

When running the mvn release:prepare command on Mac OS X, you might see the following error:

[INFO] Executing: svn --non-interactive commit --file /tmp/maven-scm-802409492.commit --targets /tmp/maven-scm-18804-targets
[INFO] Working directory: /homedir/dev/felix/dependencymanager
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ERROR] BUILD FAILURE
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Unable to commit files
Provider message:
The svn command failed.
Command output:
svn: Commit failed (details follow):
svn: MKACTIVITY of '/repos/asf/!svn/act/4f11ad5d-9161-0410-b4dd-cb727141ea8c': authorization failed (https://svn.apache.org)

This is due to a bug in Subversion on the Mac, as described by Brett Porter in his blog. He proposes putting an "svn" script at the head of your path to fix the issue.

Appendix C: deploying bundles to the Felix OBR

If you're releasing bundles, you can also add them to the Felix Release OBR. To do this, execute the following command:

mvn clean install \
    org.apache.felix:maven-bundle-plugin:deploy \
    -DprefixUrl=http://repo1.maven.org/maven2 \
    -DremoteOBR=releases.xml \
    -DaltDeploymentRepository=apache.website::default::scp://people.apache.org/www/felix.apache.org/obr

The http://felix.apache.org/obr/releases.xml page is automatically updated during the web site synchronization.
Note: the project building the bundle must use the maven-bundle-plugin and use a version superior or equal to 1.4.2.
Note: with Maven 3, you must add an extension to your <build> providing the SCP/SSH protocol:

<build>
...
  <extensions>
   <extension>
     <groupId>org.apache.maven.wagon</groupId>
     <artifactId>wagon-ssh</artifactId>
     <version>1.0-beta-6</version>
   </extension>
   </extensions>  
</build>