macports-base/portmgr/ReleaseProcess.md

MacPorts Release Process

This file documents the evolving MacPorts release process.

Goals of a Release

There are several goals in the release process:

• Make a specific version of MacPorts available to users.
• Archive the materials (code, documentation, etc) that compose the release.
• Replicatability: enable the release to be regenerated.
• Consistency: codify naming, network locations, etc, for released components.
• Ensure that the user base and public is notified of the release.

Steps to a Release

The following steps to a release are documented in more detail below:

• Create a release branch to carry the release.
• Prepare the code for release.
• Tag the release.
• Create release products: tarballs and installers.
• Post release products.
• Make release version available through selfupdate.
• Notify public of the release.

Create a Release Branch

For each major release (i.e. 1.9.x, 2.0.x, etc.) an appropriate branch is created with a consistent name. To do this, two things are required:

• Choose the git revision from which to create the branch, most likely based off master.

• Create the branch (e.g. release-2.0) with git. The following commands assume the remote "origin" points to macports/macports-base on GitHub.

  git branch release-2.0 origin/master
  git push origin release-2.0
  

The actual release, alpha or beta releases, release candidates, and any point releases will all live on this branch. Releases of any kind will need to be tagged appropriately and point to commits on this branch.

Only this base repository, not the ports tree kept in another repository, will be branched for a given release.

Once master is to be used for development of the next major version, increase its version information to indicate it's moved past the release version by setting the patch-level version to 99, e.g. 2.0.99 in config/macports_version. If master has not yet diverged from the release branch, it can use the same version as the release until it does.

Prepare the code for Release

In preparation for a release, several things should be completed within the code:

• Update the file ChangeLog in both master and the release branch to reflect the appropriate changes.

• Update the file config/macports_version with the target release number. The content of this file is recorded as the MacPorts version at MacPorts build time, as displayed by the port command, and it's also used by the selfupdate procedure to determine whether a newer version of code is available. It should be different between master and the release branch, the former greater to differentiate it from the latter.

• Preserve config/mp_version and config/dp_version at the 1.800 or 1.710 fixed values, respectively, if selfupdate backwards compatibility with old MacPorts installations is still desired. (see https://trac.macports.org/changeset/43571/trunk/base or ce8a77c)

• Update the autoconf configure script through the provided autogen.sh script once the version number in mp_version has been changed, since the former reads the latter.

• Regenerate all man pages from scratch to ensure the new version number is used in the output file. AsciiDoc and DocBook either need to be installed in the target prefix or manually pass the correct paths if they are installed elsewhere.

  ./autogen.sh
  ./standard_configure.sh
  make -C doc/ clean all \
      ASCIIDOC=/opt/local/bin/asciidoc \
      XSLTPROC=/opt/local/bin/xsltproc \
      DOCBOOK_XSL=/opt/local/share/xsl/docbook-xsl-nons/manpages/docbook.xsl
  

• Make sure that these and any other changes or bug fixes are made on and/or merged between the release branch and master as needed. For instance, if you've made changes to ChangeLog only on the release branch, those changes should be merged back into master as well.

Tag the Release

Once the release is ready, it must be tagged so that the release components may be fetched in the future, to ensure replicability. Generally, a release candidate is first tagged and built. When and if it is approved as the actual release, an additional tag is created that names the same sources.

Tagging conventions:

• v2.0.0-beta2 (beta 2 for release 2.0.0)
• v2.0.0-rc1 (release candidate 1 for release 2.0.0)
• v2.0.0 (tagged release 2.0.0)
• v2.0.1 (2.0.1 release)

We first create an annotated tag pointing to the release branch to make up the final release. Annotated tags preserve who made the tag and when. Additionally the tag should be signed with GPG by using the -s flag in order to allow later verification of the signature.

git tag -a -s v2.0.0 release-2.0
git push origin v2.0.0

Although only base repository is branched and tagged for a given major release, we also create a separate tag in the ports tree at the time the final release tag is created for a major release (x.y.0). This intends to provide a set of ports intended to work with that release.

git clone macports/macports-ports macports-ports
cd macports-ports
git tag -a -s v2.0.0-archive origin/master
git push origin v2.0.0-archive

Create & Post Release Tarballs

The release tarballs are .tar.bz2 and .tar.gz archives of the base repository. They are named with the following naming convention:

MacPorts-2.0.0.tar.{bz2,gz} (base repository, corresponding to tag v2.0.0)

The following commands issued to the top level Makefile will generate all the tarballs and checksums:

make dist DISTVER=2.0.0

The release should be signed with a detached GPG signature in order to allow cryptographic verification. To do this automatically, use the additional argument DISTGPGID on the make command. The value specifies a key ID either in hexadecimal format or a email address matching exactly one key. For details, see HOW TO SPECIFY A USER ID in gpg(1) for details.

make dist DISTVER=2.0.0 DISTGPGID=<handle>@macports.org

A signify(1) signature should also be generated for the use of selfupdate over http. Specify the path to the secret key in DISTKEY.

make dist DISTVER=2.0.0 DISTKEY=/path/to/macports/macports-base-2024.sec

These tarballs and the checksums are uploaded to the https://distfiles.macports.org/MacPorts/ directory. At present, this must be done with the help of the infrastructure team.

Create Release Packages and Disk Image(s)

The dmg is a macOS disk image that contains a standalone installer, configured in the usual way, named in a consistent fashion and incorporating the OS version for which it was built.

For 10.6 and newer, we now build flat packages, so an enclosing dmg is not necessary.

• MacPorts-2.0.0-10.5-Leopard.dmg
• MacPorts-2.0.0-10.6-SnowLeopard.pkg
• MacPorts-2.0.0-10.7-Lion.pkg

To create a pkg or dmg, use the MacPorts port. The Portfile will need to be updated to incorporate the proper release version and checksums, and the release tarballs will need to be already uploaded to the downloads section of the site (wherefrom the sources are fetched by the MacPorts port to build the pkg for the release). Make sure the ports tree you're using to build the pkgs is fully up to date.

sudo port -d pkg MacPorts
sudo port -d dmg MacPorts

Name each pkg/dmg appropriately, and then sign the pkgs with a Developer ID (make sure to use the Installer certificate, not the Application one):

cd work
mv MacPorts-2.0.0.pkg unsigned/MacPorts-2.0.0-10.7-Lion.pkg
productsign --sign "Developer ID Installer: John Doe" unsigned/MacPorts-2.0.0-10.7-Lion.pkg MacPorts-2.0.0-10.7-Lion.pkg

(Note that packages signed with Xcode 10 appear to be incompatible with Mac OS X 10.6.)

For macOS 10.14 Mojave and later, the pkg should also be submitted for notarization after signing:

xcrun notarytool submit MacPorts-2.0.0-10.14-Mojave.pkg \
    --apple-id <your-apple-id> --keychain-profile "notarytool" \
    --wait

or, with altool in older Xcode versions (deprecated method):

xcrun altool --notarize-app --primary-bundle-id org.macports.base \
    --username <your-apple-id> --password @keychain:altool \
    --file MacPorts-2.0.0-10.14-Mojave.pkg

After notification of successful notarization is received:

xcrun stapler staple MacPorts-2.5.4-10.14-Mojave.pkg

After signing (and notarizing if applicable), generate checksums, which will need to be added to the existing checksums file in the downloads directory:

for type in -md5 -sha1 -ripemd160 -sha256; do
  openssl dgst $type MacPorts-2.0.0-*.{pkg,dmg} >> MacPorts-2.0.0.chk.txt
done

These new products, along with the new checksums, also have to be posted to the appropriate directory of the MacPorts distfiles server. Developers are required to validate the generated installer as thoroughly as possible through extensive testing, which is mainly why this step of the release process is not automated through a Makefile target or similar. A good way of validating the installer is to first create the destroot of the port and examine it for:

• Linking: libraries and binaries should not be linked against anything that's not present by default on a vanilla macOS installation + developer tools, excluding even the MacPorts installation prefix; this can be accomplished through the use of otool -L. Currently the libraries and binaries in need of linking validation are:

  • ${destroot}/opt/local/bin/daemondo
  • ${destroot}/opt/local/share/macports/Tcl/darwintrace1.0/darwintrace.dylib
  • ${destroot}/opt/local/share/macports/Tcl/macports1.0/MacPorts.dylib
  • ${destroot}/opt/local/share/macports/Tcl/pextlib1.0/Pextlib.dylib
  • ${destroot}/opt/local/share/macports/Tcl/registry2.0/registry.dylib

• Universal building: All the files that need linking confirmation in the step above also need to be confirmed to be universal (i386/ppc on 10.5 and earlier, i386/x86_64 on 10.6 and later). A way to do this is with the file(1) command:

  $ file ${destroot}/opt/local/bin/daemondo:
  ${destroot}/opt/local/bin/daemondo: Mach-O universal binary with 2 architectures
  ${destroot}/opt/local/bin/daemondo (for architecture ppc):  Mach-O executable ppc
  ${destroot}/opt/local/bin/daemondo (for architecture i386): Mach-O executable i386
  

• tclsh invocation: all scripts installed in ${destroot}/opt/local/bin should invoke the tclsh shell through a call like:

  #!/opt/local/bin/port-tclsh
  

  thus ensuring that our bundled Tcl interpreter is used in our scripts.

• Miscellaneous: anything else that might seem out of the ordinary for a fully default-configured MacPorts installation.

Once the above requirements have been positively asserted, the one remaining test is to make sure that the dmg mounts in the Finder when double-clicked, and that the pkg contained therein properly starts up Installer.app when it's double-clicked.

Create Release on GitHub

All of our distfiles should also be available as downloads from a new GitHub release. Create a new release matching the previously created tag on GitHub and attach all tarballs and installers to it.

Make the Release Available through Self-Update

In order to make the release version available through selfupdate, the config/RELEASE_URL file in the base repository needs to be updated with the tag of the release to distribute. This file is read by the cron job that makes the code available via rsync. See jobs/mprsyncup in the macports-infrastructure repository.

The CDN cache for distfiles.macports.org/MacPorts/RELEASE_URL may need to be purged to make the new version available in a timely manner.

Update the branch buildbot uses to generate manpages

When releasing a new major version, you should update the buildbot's master.cfg file so that the single branch scheduler for the manpage jobs pulls from that new branch. To do that, look for 'man' in config['deploy'], locate the util.ChangeFilter object passed to the constructor of schedulers.SingleBranchScheduler below that and adjust the branch parameter to the branch you are releasing. Notify ryandesign@ to have this change deployed on the buildbot.

Add Release Version to Trac

Add the new version to the list of released versions on Trac. Edit the list using the web admin interface on our Trac installation.

Verify That the Public Rsync Server Has Updated

Verify that the MacPorts version on the public rsync server has been updated:

$ curl -s http://nue.de.rsync.macports.org/macports/release/base/config/macports_version

Notify the Public of the Release

Once the release has been posted, notification of the release should be sent/posted to the following places:

• The macports-announce@, macports-users@ and macports-dev@ mailing lists.
• The MacPorts website, by adapting the $macports_version_major and $macports_version_latest variables as appropriate in the includes/common.inc file in the macports-www repository.
• The news section of the website (see the macports.github.io repository)
• The &macports-version; entity in guide/xml/installing.xml and guide/xml/using.xml in the guide repository.
• External websites
  • SourceForge (submitter: portmgr@)
  • MacUpdate (submitter: ???)
  • Twitter (submitter: raimue@)
  • (Where else?)

Use of new features in Portfiles

Using new features introduced by a release should be delayed for 14 days until being deployed in the ports tree. This should allow users to upgrade their installations to the new release. This delay matches the warning about outdated ports tree sources.

The CI configuration for the macports-ports repo should continue to use the previous release for the same 14 day period, so that use of new features too soon will cause an error.