This page lists the numerous actions required to make an Apache OpenOffice release happen. Initially, it will cover a simple point release, without major user interface changes. It can be expanded later to cover more cases.
Describe the actions in detail, so that everybody should be able to take over and not specific project committers and members.
The actions are sorted in specific sections and not in chronological order. This should be done in the release schedule on a separate Wiki webpage.
Create a SVN branch from a previous branch or from trunk. This has to be discussed and agreed on the dev@ mailing list.
From anywhere on a machine with SVN access, just run:
$ svn copy https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/openoffice/branches/AOO415/ https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/openoffice/branches/AOO416/ \
-m "Branch off 4.1.6 from HEAD of 4.1.5"
IMPORTANT
Make sure that your BZ user account has the permissions for the groups "relman", "qa-team", "editbugs", and "canconfirm" to be able to edit the issues as it is needed. Ask your BZ admin to get these permissions set.
The SVN usage is described in some more details here: https://openoffice.apache.org/source.html. So, just "svn checkout" the relevant branch. Starting with 4.1.3 we have been using dedicated branches, so naming is now obvious (we had been reusing branches in precedence, like AOO410 was used for 4.1.0, 4.1.1 and 4.1.2). Branches are listed at https://svn.apache.org/viewvc/openoffice/branches/
$ svn checkout https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/openoffice/branches/AOO416
Note: we now have tools that will take care of this step automatically. If you can't find them, please e-mail the dev list and ask for information.
Make sure that the source files contain the correct version numbers (this should have been done when creating the new branch). In particular, check these files:
Use the scripts at https://svn.apache.org/viewvc/openoffice/devtools/build-scripts/. The 4.1.6 scripts are correct.
Even when the created build files are Release Candidates (RC), they still belong to the Dev area. Only final releases will be uploaded to SourceForge. See the mailing list post on dev@ for more information.
See https://archive.apache.org/dist/openoffice/4.1.6/ for an example. Note in particular that we have:
NOTE
The structure must not be changed since the scripting on the download pages assume it is identical to any former release.
https://www.apache.org/legal/release-policy.html#release-signing
All files need
Release scripts can be found at: https://svn.apache.org/viewvc/openoffice/devtools/release-scripts/
It is not obtained via SVN export as one could imagine. You get it in a source tree by running:
$ cd instsetoo_native/util
$ dmake aoo_srcrelease
Be sure to source the required env file first. If you get an error about not finding settings.mk, that's the problem. We still get the three formats (zip, gz, bz2). This will probably change with newer release branches than 4.1.x as discussed a long time ago, but for now we should still use the three of them.
It is going to be a huge SVN commit to the dev area (https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/openoffice/). Experience from a couple years ago:
When going from, for example, RC1 to RC2, be sure to bump the build numbers in main/solenv/inc/minor.mk :
RSCREVISION BUILD LAST_MINOR
QA
Before uploading to any non-development location, the release must pass a vote. Almost all users depend on the binary builds, so those must be tested as extensively as possible. Anyone can do testing, and cast an advisory vote. Non-binding, advisory votes and their comments can and should influence the Release Manager's final decision on whether to turn a release candidate into a release.
PMC members can cast a binding vote, but each PMC member casting a binding +1 vote must have personally built from source and tested on a computer controlled by the PMC member. ASF rules require at least three binding +1 votes for a release. See http://www.apache.org/legal/release-policy.html#release-approval for the full requirements.
Upload builds using svn mv to ASF Dist server (release area) - the target SVN URL has the pattern https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/release/openoffice/4.1.8 and this can be done before or after the copy to SourceForge (Example: svn mv https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/openoffice/4.1.8-RC3 https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/release/openoffice/4.1.8)
Since 2017, OpenOffice is not on the Apache mirrors anymore. It it unlikely that the Infrastructure team will change that. But when OpenOffice is back on the Apache mirrors, then the Infrastructure team needs to know about the new release and the following notification is becoming a MUST DO again:
IMPORTANT
The Infrastructure team needs to know about an upcoming release to be able to prepare servers and resources and to make sure they are up and running. Write a mail to infrastructure@apache.org and tell them what can be expected (number of files, total file size, directory structure, etc.). See http://www.apache.org/legal/release-policy.html#heads-up for further details. You have to do this before executing svn move !
Upload to SourceForge mirrors (copy requires just a few hours, with the normal rsync instructions shown; note: project name has changed since 4.1.2 and now the rsync target must be written as, e.g., username@frs.sourceforge.net:/home/frs/mirror/openofficeorg/4.1.8/.
IMPORTANT
Make sure it's going into a "staged" directory.
STEP BY STEP (assuming you updated the ASF dist server first)
1) Open https://sourceforge.net/projects/openofficeorg.mirror/files - Add Folder, name: 4.1.8 and mark it as staged (this will automatically apply to all contents)
2) svn export https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/release/openoffice/4.1.8 (in case you don't already have a local checkout)
3) Remove all checksums/hashes/SVN internal files since we don't want them on third-party servers:
$ rsync -avz --exclude '*.asc' --exclude '*.sha256' --exclude '*.sha512' --exclude '*.svn' 4.1.6/ username@frs.sourceforge.net:/home/frs/mirror/openofficeorg/4.1.6/
Make sure builds are on the ASF Archive server
NOTE
Hash files must not be stored on public servers but only on ASF servers. The files get copied automatically when the files get uploaded to the ASF Dist server (dist area).
Update Feed: New check.Update for the aoo<version> area. The update notification will create a high load on the SourceForge mirror servers as a lot of users will then update their AOO installation. This must be avoided. Therefore this task has to be done always some days after the release.
Do we want to notify the world that a new release is cooking:
If yes, write first status update and call for volunteers on dev@ mailing list and on the AOO Blog: https://blogs.apache.org/ooo/
Requires a Confluence account that can edit OpenOffice pages. Create a page for the release as a child of Releases. Select that page, click "Create" in the Confluence menu bar, and create a blank page. Copy the planning for a previous release. Under that page, create a release notes page that can also start as a copy of prior release notes. Edit to reflect reality.
TODO
Create templates for the release planning and release notes pages.
A template for the Release Notes has been available since 2016-08-03.
Coordinate with the ASF VP, Marketing & Publicity
Currently Sally Khudairi is responsible for press releases and general publicity help. Write a mail to press@apache.org and ask for help. Then she will answer with further steps.
English Release Notes : AOO <version> Release Notes
English Press Release : https://blogs.apache.org/foundation/
English Press Release to the AOO Blog : https://blogs.apache.org/ooo/
Announce mail : Write to announce@ (every mail needs to be moderated, so don't expect to arrive immediately)
The following documents should be made available for translation, and :
Press Release
IMPORTANT
Give translators a heads-up of 48 hours before the release should happen. This should enable a parallel press release.
https://www.openoffice.org/download/index.html
TBD
https://www.openoffice.org/index.html
TBD
TBD
IMPORTANT
Every language has its own website area that needs to be updated.
Example:
https://www.openoffice.org/xx/download/index.html
Of course the languages depend on the release. The most important languages - with its ISO codes are the following (ordered by download popularity):
en-US, fr, de, it, es, ja, ru, pl, nl, zh-TW, cs, zh-CN, el, pt, da, no
Do not forget the template files with code "xx".
TBD
https://www.openoffice.org/xx/index.html
https://openoffice.apache.org/index.html
TBD
https://openoffice.apache.org/downloads.html
TBD
https://projects.apache.org/project.html?openoffice
Update the data of the following file: https://github.com/apache/openoffice-project/blob/main/content/doap_openoffice.rdf
This file is located on the project website, which is self-publishing. Just make sure you do the changes in one commit.
IMPORTANT
The new data is not shown after it was published. There is a delay due to a cron job that runs maybe every 24h.
https://reporter.apache.org/addrelease.html?openoffice
Add the new release with exact version number and full date.
In order to get also the downloads for the new release counted the following changes have to be done:
https://www.openoffice.org/stats/downloads.html
columns = [ ... , "count_416" , ... ]
IMPORTANT
The webpage itself does not need to be changed. The download numbers are taken from https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/openoffice/ooo-site/trunk/content/stats/aoo-downloads.txt
The file just needs to be updated with new numbers. As soon as the file is then committed and the website published, the new download numbers are shown in the chart.
Please see https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/openoffice/devtools/aoo-stats/README.txt for instructions how to get new download numbers.
IMPORTANT
Do not create any SVN tag as long as the release is not officially announced and public available. Otherwise the created build files cannot be published when a late show stopper will be found. This must be avoided in any case.
The best time to do it is when the press announcement is published and the installed files are available on the download webpage.
Double-check what version was built (for 4.1.6 it is revision 1844436, you find it even in the About Box). Of course, if this happens during the release process, the Release Manager knows it.
$ svn copy https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/openoffice/branches/AOO416 https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/openoffice/tags/AOO416 -m "AOO revision \
1844436 from branch AOO416 was voted to be released as Apache OpenOffice 4.1.6 on November, 18th, 2018"
Committed revision 1844437.
This results in the new tag appearing at https://svn.apache.org/viewvc/openoffice/tags/.
This requires admin privileges on Bugzilla
IMPORTANT
Add new revision to available list.
After the new release is published and announced, the Release Manager should have a look at the project checker to make sure that there are no problems:
https://checker.apache.org/projs/openoffice.html
In general, all data listed on the webpage should make sense and does not point to a problem.
It depends on the following:
All together, doing this after the release is announced should be enough.
OpenOffice is using a lot of space for each release. To keep it at a minimum it was agreed with the Infrastructure team to delete the previous release when the new one is published and no problems arose in a short time frame.
Make sure that on https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/release/openoffice/ is only the new release. Delete the older release
Example:
svn delete https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/release/openoffice/4.1.5
Also here, doing this after the release is announced should be enough.
Change update script so users are notified of new version when they start AOO:
https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/openoffice/devtools/genUpdateFeed/
IMPORTANT
Usually done 1 - 3 weeks after the formal announcement to avoid a high traffic load on the SourceForge mirror servers which must be avoided.