mc/maint/RELEASE_PROCEDURE

This document describes step by step the release procedure of GNU
Midnight Commander.


Announce the intention to release the next version in both mailing lists
at least 3 days before the release date, unless it's a security release.

Update the working directory from CVS, review last-minute changes.

Review the English version of the manual and fix it if necessary.  Check
the date in the .TH macro of the English manual and update it if
significant changes have been done since the previous release.

Make sure that all significant user-visible changes are in the NEWS
file.  Group changes by topics to improve readability.

Update configure.ac with the new version.

Make sure that maint/mctest covers most features of the current code and
run it in a clean working directory.

Review files with stdout and stderr from every build.  Make sure that
all warnings (if any) are caused by other software and cannot be avoided
without significant damage to the code.

Regenerate and commit po-files.

Tag CVS tree.

Upload the resulting tarball and binary packages to login.ibiblio.org.

Change the homepage to mention the new version.

Announce the release in both mailing lists.

Bump the version in configure.ac.