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5 <title>How To Release LLVM To The Public</title>
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10 <h1>How To Release LLVM To The Public</h1>
12 <li><a href="#introduction">Introduction</a></li>
13 <li><a href="#criteria">Qualification Criteria</a></li>
14 <li><a href="#introduction">Release Timeline</a></li>
15 <li><a href="#process">Release Process</a></li>
17 <div class="doc_author">
18 <p>Written by <a href="mailto:tonic@nondot.org">Tanya Lattner</a>,
19 <a href="mailto:rspencer@x10sys.com">Reid Spencer</a>,
20 <a href="mailto:criswell@cs.uiuc.edu">John Criswell</a>, &
21 <a href="mailto:wendling@apple.com">Bill Wendling</a>
25 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
26 <h2><a name="introduction">Introduction</a></h2>
27 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
31 <p>This document contains information about successfully releasing LLVM —
32 including subprojects: e.g., <tt>clang</tt> and <tt>dragonegg</tt> — to
33 the public. It is the Release Manager's responsibility to ensure that a high
34 quality build of LLVM is released.</p>
38 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
39 <h2><a name="process">Release Timeline</a></h2>
40 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
43 <p>LLVM is released on a time based schedule — roughly every 6 months. We
44 do not normally have dot releases because of the nature of LLVM's incremental
45 development philosophy. That said, the only thing preventing dot releases for
46 critical bug fixes from happening is a lack of resources — testers,
47 machines, time, etc. And, because of the high quality we desire for LLVM
48 releases, we cannot allow for a truncated form of release qualification.</p>
50 <p>The release process is roughly as follows:</p>
53 <li><p>Set code freeze and branch creation date for 6 months after last code
54 freeze date. Announce release schedule to the LLVM community and update
57 <li><p>Create release branch and begin release process.</p></li>
59 <li><p>Send out release candidate sources for first round of testing. Testing
60 lasts 7-10 days. During the first round of testing, any regressions found
61 should be fixed. Patches are merged from mainline into the release
62 branch. Also, all features need to be completed during this time. Any
63 features not completed at the end of the first round of testing will be
64 removed or disabled for the release.</p></li>
66 <li><p>Generate and send out the second release candidate sources. Only
67 <em>critial</em> bugs found during this testing phase will be fixed. Any
68 bugs introduced by merged patches will be fixed. If so a third round of
69 testing is needed.</p></li>
71 <li><p>The release notes are updated.</p></li>
73 <li><p>Finally, release!</p></li>
78 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
79 <h2><a name="process">Release Process</a></h2>
80 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
85 <li><a href="#release-admin">Release Administrative Tasks</a>
87 <li><a href="#branch">Create Release Branch</a></li>
88 <li><a href="#verchanges">Update Version Numbers</a></li>
91 <li><a href="#release-build">Building the Release</a>
93 <li><a href="#dist">Build the LLVM Source Distributions</a></li>
94 <li><a href="#build">Build LLVM</a></li>
95 <li><a href="#clangbin">Build the Clang Binary Distribution</a></li>
96 <li><a href="#target-build">Target Specific Build Details</a></li>
99 <li><a href="#release-qualify">Release Qualification Criteria</a>
101 <li><a href="#llvm-qualify">Qualify LLVM</a></li>
102 <li><a href="#clang-qualify">Qualify Clang</a></li>
103 <li><a href="#targets">Specific Target Qualification Details</a></li>
107 <li><a href="#commTest">Community Testing</a></li>
108 <li><a href="#release-patch">Release Patch Rules</a></li>
109 <li><a href="#release-final">Release final tasks</a>
111 <li><a href="#updocs">Update Documentation</a></li>
112 <li><a href="#tag">Tag the LLVM Final Release</a></li>
113 <li><a href="#updemo">Update the LLVM Demo Page</a></li>
114 <li><a href="#webupdates">Update the LLVM Website</a></li>
115 <li><a href="#announce">Announce the Release</a></li>
120 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
121 <h3><a name="release-admin">Release Administrative Tasks</a></h3>
125 <p>This section describes a few administrative tasks that need to be done for
126 the release process to begin. Specifically, it involves:</p>
129 <li>Creating the release branch,</li>
130 <li>Setting version numbers, and</li>
131 <li>Tagging release candidates for the release team to begin testing</li>
134 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
135 <h4><a name="branch">Create Release Branch</a></h4>
139 <p>Branch the Subversion trunk using the following procedure:</p>
142 <li><p>Remind developers that the release branching is imminent and to refrain
143 from committing patches that might break the build. E.g., new features,
144 large patches for works in progress, an overhaul of the type system, an
145 exciting new TableGen feature, etc.</p></li>
147 <li><p>Verify that the current Subversion trunk is in decent shape by
148 examining nightly tester and buildbot results.</p></li>
150 <li><p>Create the release branch for <tt>llvm</tt>, <tt>clang</tt>,
151 the <tt>test-suite</tt>, and <tt>dragonegg</tt> from the last known good
152 revision. The branch's name is <tt>release_<i>XY</i></tt>,
153 where <tt>X</tt> is the major and <tt>Y</tt> the minor release
154 numbers. The branches should be created using the following commands:</p>
156 <div class="doc_code">
158 $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/trunk \
159 https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/branches/release_<i>XY</i>
161 $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/trunk \
162 https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/branches/release_<i>XY</i>
164 $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/dragonegg/trunk \
165 https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/dragonegg/branches/release_<i>XY</i>
167 $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/test-suite/trunk \
168 https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/test-suite/branches/release_<i>XY</i>
172 <li><p>Advise developers that they may now check their patches into the
173 Subversion tree again.</p></li>
175 <li><p>The Release Manager should switch to the release branch, because all
176 changes to the release will now be done in the branch. The easiest way to
177 do this is to grab a working copy using the following commands:</p>
179 <div class="doc_code">
181 $ svn co https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/branches/release_<i>XY</i> llvm-<i>X.Y</i>
183 $ svn co https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/branches/release_<i>XY</i> clang-<i>X.Y</i>
185 $ svn co https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/dragonegg/branches/release_<i>XY</i> dragonegg-<i>X.Y</i>
187 $ svn co https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/test-suite/branches/release_<i>XY</i> test-suite-<i>X.Y</i>
194 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
195 <h4><a name="verchanges">Update LLVM Version</a></h4>
199 <p>After creating the LLVM release branch, update the release branches'
200 <tt>autoconf</tt> and <tt>configure.ac</tt> versions from '<tt>X.Ysvn</tt>'
201 to '<tt>X.Y</tt>'. Update it on mainline as well to be the next version
202 ('<tt>X.Y+1svn</tt>'). Regenerate the configure scripts for both
203 <tt>llvm</tt> and the <tt>test-suite</tt>.</p>
205 <p>In addition, the version numbers of all the Bugzilla components must be
206 updated for the next release.</p>
210 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
211 <h4><a name="dist">Build the LLVM Release Candidates</a></h4>
215 <p>Create release candidates for <tt>llvm</tt>, <tt>clang</tt>,
216 <tt>dragonegg</tt>, and the LLVM <tt>test-suite</tt> by tagging the branch
217 with the respective release candidate number. For instance, to
218 create <b>Release Candidate 1</b> you would issue the following commands:</p>
220 <div class="doc_code">
222 $ svn mkdir https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/tags/RELEASE_<i>XY</i>
223 $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/branches/release_<i>XY</i> \
224 https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/tags/RELEASE_<i>XY</i>/rc1
226 $ svn mkdir https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/tags/RELEASE_<i>XY</i>
227 $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/branches/release_<i>XY</i> \
228 https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/tags/RELEASE_<i>XY</i>/rc1
230 $ svn mkdir https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/dragonegg/tags/RELEASE_<i>XY</i>
231 $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/dragonegg/branches/release_<i>XY</i> \
232 https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/dragonegg/tags/RELEASE_<i>XY</i>/rc1
234 $ svn mkdir https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/test-suite/tags/RELEASE_<i>XY</i>
235 $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/test-suite/branches/release_<i>XY</i> \
236 https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/test-suite/tags/RELEASE_<i>XY</i>/rc1
240 <p>Similarly, <b>Release Candidate 2</b> would be named <tt>RC2</tt> and so
241 on. This keeps a permanent copy of the release candidate around for people to
242 export and build as they wish. The final released sources will be tagged in
243 the <tt>RELEASE_<i>XY</i></tt> directory as <tt>Final</tt>
244 (c.f. <a href="#tag">Tag the LLVM Final Release</a>).</p>
246 <p>The Release Manager may supply pre-packaged source tarballs for users. This
247 can be done with the following commands:</p>
249 <div class="doc_code">
251 $ svn export https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/tags/RELEASE_<i>XY</i>/rc1 llvm-<i>X.Y</i>rc1
252 $ svn export https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/tags/RELEASE_<i>XY</i>/rc1 clang-<i>X.Y</i>rc1
253 $ svn export https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/dragonegg/tags/RELEASE_<i>XY</i>/rc1 dragonegg-<i>X.Y</i>rc1
254 $ svn export https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/test-suite/tags/RELEASE_<i>XY</i>/rc1 llvm-test-<i>X.Y</i>rc1
256 $ tar -cvf - llvm-<i>X.Y</i>rc1 | gzip > llvm-<i>X.Y</i>rc1.src.tar.gz
257 $ tar -cvf - clang-<i>X.Y</i>rc1 | gzip > clang-<i>X.Y</i>rc1.src.tar.gz
258 $ tar -cvf - dragonegg-<i>X.Y</i>rc1 | gzip > dragonegg-<i>X.Y</i>rc1.src.tar.gz
259 $ tar -cvf - llvm-test-<i>X.Y</i>rc1 | gzip > llvm-test-<i>X.Y</i>rc1.src.tar.gz
267 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
268 <h3><a name="release-build">Building the Release</a></h3>
272 <p>The builds of <tt>llvm</tt>, <tt>clang</tt>, and <tt>dragonegg</tt>
273 <em>must</em> be free of errors and warnings in Debug, Release+Asserts, and
274 Release builds. If all builds are clean, then the release passes Build
277 <p>The <tt>make</tt> options for building the different modes:</p>
280 <tr><th>Mode</th><th>Options</th></tr>
281 <tr align="left"><td>Debug</td><td><tt>ENABLE_OPTIMIZED=0</tt></td></tr>
282 <tr align="left"><td>Release+Asserts</td><td><tt>ENABLE_OPTIMIZED=1</tt></td></tr>
283 <tr align="left"><td>Release</td><td><tt>ENABLE_OPTIMIZED=1 DISABLE_ASSERTIONS=1</tt></td></tr>
286 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
287 <h4><a name="build">Build LLVM</a></h4>
291 <p>Build <tt>Debug</tt>, <tt>Release+Asserts</tt>, and <tt>Release</tt> versions
292 of <tt>llvm</tt> on all supported platforms. Directions to build
293 <tt>llvm</tt> are <a href="GettingStarted.html#quickstart">here</a>.</p>
297 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
298 <h4><a name="clangbin">Build Clang Binary Distribution</a></h4>
302 <p>Creating the <tt>clang</tt> binary distribution
303 (Debug/Release+Asserts/Release) requires performing the following steps for
304 each supported platform:</p>
307 <li>Build clang according to the directions
308 <a href="http://clang.llvm.org/get_started.html">here</a>.</li>
310 <li>Build both a Debug and Release version of clang. The binary will be the
313 <li>Package <tt>clang</tt> (details to follow).</li>
318 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
319 <h4><a name="target-build">Target Specific Build Details</a></h4>
323 <p>The table below specifies which compilers are used for each Arch/OS
324 combination when qualifying the build of <tt>llvm</tt>, <tt>clang</tt>,
325 and <tt>dragonegg</tt>.</p>
328 <tr><th>Architecture</th> <th>OS</th> <th>compiler</th></tr>
329 <tr><td>x86-32</td> <td>Mac OS 10.5</td> <td>gcc 4.0.1</td></tr>
330 <tr><td>x86-32</td> <td>Linux</td> <td>gcc 4.2.X, gcc 4.3.X</td></tr>
331 <tr><td>x86-32</td> <td>FreeBSD</td> <td>gcc 4.2.X</td></tr>
332 <tr><td>x86-32</td> <td>mingw</td> <td>gcc 3.4.5</td></tr>
333 <tr><td>x86-64</td> <td>Mac OS 10.5</td> <td>gcc 4.0.1</td></tr>
334 <tr><td>x86-64</td> <td>Linux</td> <td>gcc 4.2.X, gcc 4.3.X</td></tr>
335 <tr><td>x86-64</td> <td>FreeBSD</td> <td>gcc 4.2.X</td></tr>
342 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
343 <h3><a name="release-qualify">Building the Release</a></h3>
347 <p>A release is qualified when it has no regressions from the previous release
348 (or baseline). Regressions are related to correctness first and performance
349 second. (We may tolerate some minor performance regressions if they are
350 deemed necessary for the general quality of the compiler.)</p>
352 <p><b>Regressions are new failures in the set of tests that are used to qualify
353 each product and only include things on the list. Every release will have
354 some bugs in it. It is the reality of developing a complex piece of
355 software. We need a very concrete and definitive release criteria that
356 ensures we have monotonically improving quality on some metric. The metric we
357 use is described below. This doesn't mean that we don't care about other
358 criteria, but these are the criteria which we found to be most important and
359 which must be satisfied before a release can go out</b></p>
361 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
362 <h4><a name="llvm-qualify">Qualify LLVM</a></h4>
366 <p>LLVM is qualified when it has a clean test run without a front-end. And it
367 has no regressions when using either <tt>clang</tt> or <tt>dragonegg</tt>
368 with the <tt>test-suite</tt> from the previous release.</p>
372 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
373 <h4><a name="clang-qualify">Qualify Clang</a></h4>
377 <p><tt>Clang</tt> is qualified when front-end specific tests in the
378 <tt>llvm</tt> dejagnu test suite all pass, clang's own test suite passes
379 cleanly, and there are no regressions in the <tt>test-suite</tt>.</p>
383 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
384 <h4><a name="targets">Specific Target Qualification Details</a></h4>
389 <tr><th>Architecture</th> <th>OS</th> <th>clang baseline</th> <th>tests</th></tr>
390 <tr><td>x86-32</td> <td>Linux</td> <td>last release</td> <td>llvm dejagnu, clang tests, test-suite (including spec)</td></tr>
391 <tr><td>x86-32</td> <td>FreeBSD</td> <td>last release</td> <td>llvm dejagnu, clang tests, test-suite</td></tr>
392 <tr><td>x86-32</td> <td>mingw</td> <td>none</td> <td>QT</td></tr>
393 <tr><td>x86-64</td> <td>Mac OS 10.X</td> <td>last release</td> <td>llvm dejagnu, clang tests, test-suite (including spec)</td></tr>
394 <tr><td>x86-64</td> <td>Linux</td> <td>last release</td> <td>llvm dejagnu, clang tests, test-suite (including spec)</td></tr>
395 <tr><td>x86-64</td> <td>FreeBSD</td> <td>last release</td> <td>llvm dejagnu, clang tests, test-suite</td></tr>
402 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
403 <h3><a name="commTest">Community Testing</a></h3>
406 <p>Once all testing has been completed and appropriate bugs filed, the release
407 candidate tarballs are put on the website and the LLVM community is
408 notified. Ask that all LLVM developers test the release in 2 ways:</p>
411 <li>Download <tt>llvm-<i>X.Y</i></tt>, <tt>llvm-test-<i>X.Y</i></tt>, and the
412 appropriate <tt>clang</tt> binary. Build LLVM. Run <tt>make check</tt> and
413 the full LLVM test suite (<tt>make TEST=nightly report</tt>).</li>
415 <li>Download <tt>llvm-<i>X.Y</i></tt>, <tt>llvm-test-<i>X.Y</i></tt>, and the
416 <tt>clang</tt> sources. Compile everything. Run <tt>make check</tt> and
417 the full LLVM test suite (<tt>make TEST=nightly report</tt>).</li>
420 <p>Ask LLVM developers to submit the test suite report and <tt>make check</tt>
421 results to the list. Verify that there are no regressions from the previous
422 release. The results are not used to qualify a release, but to spot other
423 potential problems. For unsupported targets, verify that <tt>make check</tt>
424 is at least clean.</p>
426 <p>During the first round of testing, all regressions must be fixed before the
427 second release candidate is tagged.</p>
429 <p>If this is the second round of testing, the testing is only to ensure that
430 bug fixes previously merged in have not created new major problems. <i>This
431 is not the time to solve additional and unrelated bugs!</i> If no patches are
432 merged in, the release is determined to be ready and the release manager may
433 move onto the next stage.</p>
437 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
438 <h3><a name="release-patch">Release Patch Rules</a></h3>
442 <p>Below are the rules regarding patching the release branch:</p>
445 <li><p>Patches applied to the release branch may only be applied by the
446 release manager.</p></li>
448 <li><p>During the first round of testing, patches that fix regressions or that
449 are small and relatively risk free (verified by the appropriate code
450 owner) are applied to the branch. Code owners are asked to be very
451 conservative in approving patches for the branch. We reserve the right to
452 reject any patch that does not fix a regression as previously
455 <li><p>During the remaining rounds of testing, only patches that fix critical
456 regressions may be applied.</p></li>
461 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
462 <h3><a name="release-final">Release Final Tasks</a></h3>
466 <p>The final stages of the release process involves tagging the "final" release
467 branch, updating documentation that refers to the release, and updating the
470 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
471 <h4><a name="updocs">Update Documentation</a></h4>
475 <p>Review the documentation and ensure that it is up to date. The "Release
476 Notes" must be updated to reflect new features, bug fixes, new known issues,
477 and changes in the list of supported platforms. The "Getting Started Guide"
478 should be updated to reflect the new release version number tag avaiable from
479 Subversion and changes in basic system requirements. Merge both changes from
480 mainline into the release branch.</p>
484 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
485 <h4><a name="tag">Tag the LLVM Final Release</a></h4>
489 <p>Tag the final release sources using the following procedure:</p>
491 <div class="doc_code">
493 $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/branches/release_XY \
494 https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/tags/RELEASE_<i>XY</i>/Final
496 $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/branches/release_XY \
497 https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/tags/RELEASE_<i>XY</i>/Final
499 $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/dragonegg/branches/release_XY \
500 https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/dragonegg/tags/RELEASE_<i>XY</i>/Final
502 $ svn copy https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/test-suite/branches/release_XY \
503 https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/test-suite/tags/RELEASE_<i>XY</i>/Final
511 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
512 <h3><a name="updemo">Update the LLVM Demo Page</a></h3>
516 <p>The LLVM demo page must be updated to use the new release. This consists of
517 using the new <tt>clang</tt> binary and building LLVM.</p>
519 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
520 <h4><a name="webupdates">Update the LLVM Website</a></h4>
524 <p>The website must be updated before the release announcement is sent out. Here
528 <li>Check out the <tt>www</tt> module from Subversion.</li>
530 <li>Create a new subdirectory <tt>X.Y</tt> in the releases directory.</li>
532 <li>Commit the <tt>llvm</tt>, <tt>test-suite</tt>, <tt>clang</tt> source,
533 <tt>clang binaries</tt>, <tt>dragonegg</tt> source, and <tt>dragonegg</tt>
534 binaries in this new directory.</li>
536 <li>Copy and commit the <tt>llvm/docs</tt> and <tt>LICENSE.txt</tt> files
537 into this new directory. The docs should be built with
538 <tt>BUILD_FOR_WEBSITE=1</tt>.</li>
540 <li>Commit the <tt>index.html</tt> to the <tt>release/X.Y</tt> directory to
541 redirect (use from previous release.</li>
543 <li>Update the <tt>releases/download.html</tt> file with the new release.</li>
545 <li>Update the <tt>releases/index.html</tt> with the new release and link to
546 release documentation.</li>
548 <li>Finally, update the main page (<tt>index.html</tt> and sidebar) to point
549 to the new release and release announcement. Make sure this all gets
550 committed back into Subversion.</li>
555 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
556 <h4><a name="announce">Announce the Release</a></h4>
560 <p>Have Chris send out the release announcement when everything is finished.</p>
568 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
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