[Releasing] qt 4.8/5.0 releasing process

[Turunen Tuukka]

On 6.3.2012 17.53, "simo.falt at nokia.com" <simo.falt at nokia.com> wrote:

>Hi,
>To get things rolling, I'd like to start the discussion of the role
>releasing in the scope of qt-project.
>I'we had some discussions with Akseli and Iikka from Digia and we have a
>proposal for packaging the release, but what we are still missing is the
>process and roles when it is time to really do the magic.
>
>* Release cycle 
>	- I think it is somewhat agreed that with Qt 5.0 we target 6 month
>release cycle

For patch releases there was some discussion on the target cycle, and I
think we reached consensus that they are not time based, but rather need
based. When there is a suitable number of fixes, a patch release shall be
made. Suitable number can be anything - if it is a critical fix even 1 is
enough. Also 4.8 will need much more patch releases than 5.0 since most
will anyway just take 5.1 as soon as it is available.

>* Gerrit usage
>	- release branch or limiting staging possibilities before the release to
>make sure things are progressing smoothly?

We can try 4.8.1 without a branch or stopping staging. The only risk it
brings is that we may need to try many times before the content is release
quality.

For 5.0.0 it is likely best to restrict what goes in when it is time to
make the final release.

>	- we (Nokia Qt release team) used to have separate releasing repository,
>but I don't think that is needed

Yes, it is ok to go without

>* Release artifacts
>	- As said Digia has been working with scripts to enable nice packaging of
>Qt via Installer Framework

And there is a separate thread of those. Basic idea is that these scripts
are available and maintained by the Qt Project.

>	- Our plan was to provide SDK like installers with Qt creator to Win, Mac
>and Linux. But that was only our plan...
>	- With 4.8 I would say that we stick with current artifacts

Agreed. For 4.8 there should be both standalone installers and SDK like
has been for 4.8.0

For 5.0 I would like to go with online installers. I would like to have
those so good that everyone agrees that they are the best way to go.

>* Decision making
>	- Who gives the final "ok"? Chief or component maintainers?

Or should there be a nominated person responsible for each version? I am
fine with whatever is decided as long as there is clear and efficient
process to agree that the content in a package is ok for release. And here
again it is different for Major, Minor and Patch releases - at least
different in the level of thinking needed before approving the release.

>* Release team
>	- The task can't be single mans job, but we need bunch of volunteers.
>	- You can count me in for this.

Digia is willing to help. We have some engineers dedicated to making
releases, and we have also own infra to do packaging and testing. With the
Qt Project CI making sure that at any given time the code should be very
close to release quality, it is quite feasible to make the release
packaging and final verification with our system.

>
>I most likely missed something but lets start. As Digia is now willing to
>take care of 4.8.1 release, we should act quickly at least defining the
>gerrit process.

We have been running release testing with the snapshot taken at the end of
last week, and it was already quite good. There is one fix we would like
to get in still and that is in review now. So we should be able to take
new snapshot soon, and run tests for it.

In order to make the release we need at least the following practical
items:

- After we have tested the packages, who needs to say it is fit for
release? And how much time will be needed for that? Or can we agree that
there will be no extra steps needed after we have concluded that the
packages are fit for release?
- Once the package is approved, it needs to be tagged in gitorious. For
this we need to have the rights to tag, or alternatively someone with the
rights needs to tag for us based on the SHA the release is made with.
- The package needs to be made available in the Qt Project downloads page
(and at the same time Digia will make the corresponding Qt Commercial
version available to our customer portal)
- For SDK users the corresponding content items need to be made available,
and in case offline installers are needed also to make those
- Announcement of the release availability needs to be made in suitable
blogs 

Yours,

		Tuukka


>
>Simo
>
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