# Making a Pootle Release

This page is divided in four sections. The first one lists the tasks that must be performed before creating a package. The second section includes a list of tasks to get a valid package. The third one to get the package published and the release announced. The last one lists and suggests some possible cleanup tasks to be done after releasing.

Note

Please note that this is not a complete list of tasks. Please feel free to improve it.

## Pre-release tasks

Before starting the release process it is necessary to perform some previous tasks.

### Upload and announce new translations

We need to give localizers enough time to localize Pootle. They need time to do the actual translation and to feedback on any errors that they might encounter.

First upload the new translations:

1. Create the new templates:

       $ git clone git@github.com:translate/pootle.git pootle-translations
       $ cd pootle-translations
       $ make pot

2. Upload the templates to Pootle for translation.

3. Update current translations against templates either on Pootle or in code and commits these updated files to Git.

Announce the new translations on the following channels:

- The News tab on Pootle – for those not on any mailing list
- The translate-announce@lists.sourceforge.net and the translate-pootle@lists.sourceforge.net mailing lists – for those who might miss the news.

### String freeze

A string freeze would normally run between an RC and a final version. We want to give a string freeze at least 2-4 weeks before a release. They must be announced, explicitly stating the duration, on the translate-announce@lists.sourceforge.net and the translate-pootle@lists.sourceforge.net mailing lists.

Note

If we do have a string freeze break then announce it to people. The string freeze breaks usually are only allowed to fix mistakes on the translatable strings.

## Create the package

The first steps are to create and validate a package for the next release.

### Get a clean checkout

We work from a clean checkout to ensure that everything you are adding to the build is what is in the repository and doesn’t contain any of your uncommitted changes. It also ensures that someone else could replicate your process.

    $ git clone git@github.com:translate/pootle.git pootle-release
    $ cd pootle-release
    $ git submodule update --init

### Update requirements versions

Update the minimum version number for the requirements in:

- `requirements/`
- `pootle/checks.py`
- `docs/server/requirements.rst`

Make sure version numbers displayed on documentation examples match the latest requirements on the above files.

### Check copyright dates

Update any copyright dates in `docs/conf.py:copyright` and anywhere else that needs fixing.

    $ git grep 2013  # Should pick up anything that should be examined

### Set build settings

Create `~/.pootle/pootle_build.conf` with the following content:

    #!/usr/bin/env python
    # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

    """Configuration file to build Pootle.

    Must be placed in ~/.pootle/pootle_build.conf
    """

    # Django now requires to set some secret key to be set.
    SECRET_KEY = '__BuildingPootle_1234567890__'

    # Silence some checks so the build output is cleaner.
    SILENCED_SYSTEM_CHECKS = [
        'pootle.W004',  # Pootle requires a working mail server
        'pootle.W006',  # sqlite database backend is unsupported
        'pootle.W010',  # DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL has default setting
        'pootle.W011',  # POOTLE_CONTACT_EMAIL has default setting
    ]

### Update checks descriptions

The quality checks descriptions are kept as a static HTML page that has to be regenerated in order to ensure the descriptions match the currently available quality checks.

    $ mkvirtualenv build-checks-templates
    (build-checks-templates)$ pip install -r requirements/build.txt
    (build-checks-templates)$ export POOTLE_SETTINGS=~/.pootle/pootle_build.conf
    (build-checks-templates)$ DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=pootle.settings ./setup.py build_checks_templates
    (build-checks-templates)$ deactivate
    $ unset POOTLE_SETTINGS
    $ rmvirtualenv build-checks-templates

### Update translations

Update the translations from the Pootle server

1. Download all translations

       $ make get-translations

2. Update `pootle/locale/LINGUAS` to list the languages we would like to ship. While we package all PO files, this is an indication of which ones we want packagers to use. The requirement is roughly 80% translated with no obvious variable errors. Languages with a small userbase can be included.

       $ make linguas

   Check the output and make any adjustments such as adding back languages that don’t quite make the target but you wish to ship.

3. Build translations to check for errors:

       $ ./setup.py build_mo          # Build all LINGUAS enabled languages
       $ ./setup.py build_mo --check  # Not all of these are errors

### Create release notes

We create our release notes in reStructured Text, since we use that elsewhere and since it can be rendered well in some of our key sites.

First we need to create a log of changes in Pootle, which is done generically like this:

    $ git log $previous_version..HEAD > docs/releases/$version.rst

Or a more specific example:

    $ git log 2.5.0..HEAD > docs/releases/2.5.1.rst

Edit this file. You can use the commits as a guide to build up the release notes. You should remove all log messages before the release.

Note

Since the release notes will be used in places that allow linking we use links within the notes. These should link back to products websites (Virtaal, Pootle, etc), references to Translate and possibly bug numbers, etc.

Read for grammar and spelling errors.

Note

When writing the notes please remember:

1. The voice is active. ‘Translate has released a new version of Pootle’, not ‘A new version of Pootle was released by Translate’.
2. The connection to the users is human not distant.
3. We speak in familiar terms e.g. “I know you’ve been waiting for this release” instead of formal.

We create a list of contributors using this command:

    $ git log 2.5.0..HEAD --format='%aN, ' | awk '{arr[$0]++} END{for (i in arr){print arr[i], i;}}' | sort -rn | cut -d\  -f2-

### Up version numbers

Update the version number in:

- `pootle/__init__.py:VERSION`
- Documentation examples, especially `docs/server/installation.rst` and `docs/server/upgrading.rst`

The version tuple should follow the pattern:

    (major, minor, micro, candidate, extra)

E.g.

    (1, 10, 0, 'final', 0)
    (2, 7, 0 'alpha', 1)

When in development we use ‘alpha’ with `extra` of 0. The first release of a `minor` version will always have a `micro` of `.0`. So `2.6.0` and never just `2.6`.

### Install nvm

Most likely your system will provide a nodejs version older than the one that is required. nvm is a tool that allows to quickly install and switch nodejs versions.

Follow the nvm installation instructions.

### Build the package

Building is the first step to testing that things work. From your clean checkout run:

    $ mkvirtualenv build-pootle-release
    (build-pootle-release)$ nvm install stable
    (build-pootle-release)$ pip install --upgrade pip setuptools
    (build-pootle-release)$ pip install -r requirements/build.txt
    (build-pootle-release)$ export PYTHONPATH="${PYTHONPATH}:`pwd`"
    (build-pootle-release)$ export POOTLE_SETTINGS=~/.pootle/pootle_build.conf
    (build-pootle-release)$ ./setup.py build_mo --all  # If we are shipping an RC
    (build-pootle-release)$ make clean
    (build-pootle-release)$ make build
    (build-pootle-release)$ deactivate
    $ unset POOTLE_SETTINGS

This will create a tarball in `dist/` which you can use for further testing.

Note

We use a clean checkout just to make sure that no inadvertant changes make it into the release.

### Test install and other tests

The easiest way to test is in a virtualenv. You can test the installation of the new release using:

    $ mkvirtualenv test-pootle-release
    (test-pootle-release)$ pip install --upgrade pip setuptools
    (test-pootle-release)$ pip install dist/Pootle-$version.tar.bz2
    (test-pootle-release)$ pip install mysqlclient
    (test-pootle-release)$ pootle init

You can then proceed with other tests such as checking:

1. Documentation is available in the package

2. Assets are available in the package

3. Quick SQLite installation check:

       (test-pootle-release)$ pootle migrate
       (test-pootle-release)$ pootle initdb
       (test-pootle-release)$ pootle runserver --insecure
       (test-pootle-release)$  # Browse to localhost:8000

4. MySQL installation check:

   1. Create a blank database on MySQL:

          mysql -u $db_user -p$db_password -e 'CREATE DATABASE `test-mysql-pootle` DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;'

   2. Change the database settings in the settings file created by `pootle init` (by default `~/.pootle/pootle.conf`) to use this new MySQL database

   3. Run the following:

          (test-pootle-release)$ pootle migrate
          (test-pootle-release)$ pootle initdb
          (test-pootle-release)$ pootle runserver --insecure
          (test-pootle-release)$  # Browse to localhost:8000

   4. Drop the MySQL database you have created:

          mysql -u $db_user -p$db_password -e 'DROP DATABASE `test-mysql-pootle`;'

5. MySQL upgrade check:

   1. Download a database dump from Pootle Test Data repository

   2. Create a blank database on MySQL:

          mysql -u $db_user -p$db_password -e 'CREATE DATABASE `test-mysql-pootle` DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;'

   3. Import the database dump into the MySQL database:

          mysql -u $db_user -p$db_password test-mysql-pootle < $db_dump_file

   4. Run the following:

          (test-pootle-release)$ pootle migrate
          (test-pootle-release)$ pootle runserver --insecure
          (test-pootle-release)$  # Browse to localhost:8000

   5. Drop the MySQL database you have created:

          mysql -u $db_user -p$db_password -e 'DROP DATABASE `test-mysql-pootle`;'

6. Check that the instructions in the Installation guide are correct

7. Check that the instructions in the Upgrade guide are correct

8. Check that the instructions in the Hacking guide are correct

9. Meta information about the package is correct. This is stored in `setup.py`, to see some options to display meta-data use:

       $ ./setup.py --help

   Now you can try some options like:

       $ ./setup.py --name
       $ ./setup.py --version
       $ ./setup.py --author
       $ ./setup.py --author-email
       $ ./setup.py --url
       $ ./setup.py --license
       $ ./setup.py --description
       $ ./setup.py --long-description
       $ ./setup.py --classifiers

   The actual long description is taken from `/README.rst`.

Finally clean your test environment:

    (test-pootle-release)$ deactivate
    $ rmvirtualenv test-pootle-release

## Publish the new release

Once we have a valid package it is necessary to publish it and announce the release.

### Tag and branch the release

You should only tag once you are happy with your release as there are some things that we can’t undo.

You can safely branch, if required, for a `stable/` branch before you tag.

    $ git checkout -b stable/2.6.x
    $ git push origin stable/2.6.x
    $ git tag -a 2.6.0 -m "Tag version 2.6.0"
    $ git push --tags

### Release documentation

We need a tagged release or branch before we can do this. The docs are published on Read The Docs.

- https://readthedocs.org/dashboard/pootle/versions/

Use the admin pages to flag a version that should be published. When we have branched the stable release we use the branch rather then the tag i.e. `stable/2.5.x` rather than `2.5.0` as that allows any fixes of documentation for the `2.5` releases to be immediately available.

Change all references to docs in the Pootle code to point to the branched version as apposed to the latest version.

Deactivate documentation that is no longer applicable.

### Publish on PyPI

Note

You need a username and password on Python Package Index (PyPI) and have rights to the project before you can proceed with this step.

These can be stored in `$HOME/.pypirc` and will contain your username and password. A first run of:

    $ ./setup.py register

will create such file. It will also actually publish the meta-data so only do it when you are actually ready.

Run the following to publish the package on PyPI:

    $ workon build-pootle-release
    (build-pootle-release)$ nvm install 0.12  # Use nodejs 0.12
    (build-pootle-release)$ export PYTHONPATH="${PYTHONPATH}:`pwd`"
    (build-pootle-release)$ export POOTLE_SETTINGS=~/.pootle/pootle_build.conf
    (build-pootle-release)$ make publish-pypi
    (build-pootle-release)$ deactivate
    $ unset POOTLE_SETTINGS
    $ rmvirtualenv build-pootle-release

### Create a release on Github

Do the following to create the release:

1. Go to https://github.com/translate/pootle/releases/new
2. Draft a new release with the corresponding tag version
3. Convert the major changes (no more than five) in the release notes to Markdown with Pandoc. Bugfix releases can replace the major changes with This is a bugfix release for the X.X.X branch.
4. Add the converted major changes to the release description
5. Include at the bottom of the release description a link to the full release notes at Read The Docs
6. Attach the tarball to the release
7. Mark it as pre-release if it’s a release candidate

### Update Pootle website

We use github pages for the website. First we need to checkout the pages:

    $ git checkout gh-pages

1. In `_posts/` add a new release posting. Use the same text used for the Github release description, including the link to the full release notes.
2. Change `$version` as needed. See `_config.yml` and git grep $old_release
3. git commit and git push – changes are quite quick so easy to review.

### Announce to the world

Let people know that there is a new version:

1. Announce on mailing lists using plain text emails using the same text (adjusting what needs to be adjusted) used for the Github release description:
   - translate-announce@lists.sourceforge.net
   - translate-pootle@lists.sourceforge.net
   - translate-devel@lists.sourceforge.net
2. Adjust the Pootle channel notice. Use `/topic [new topic]` to change the topic. It is easier if you copy the previous topic and adjust it.
3. Email important users
4. Tweet about it
5. Update Pootle’s Wikipedia page

## Post-Releasing Tasks

These are tasks not directly related to the releasing, but that are nevertheless completely necessary.

### Bump version to N+1-alpha1

If this new release is a stable one, bump the version in `master` to `{N+1}-alpha1`. The places to be changed are the same ones listed in Up version numbers. This prevents anyone using `master` being confused with a stable release and we can easily check if they are using `master` or `stable`.

### Add release notes for dev

After updating the release notes for the about to be released version, it is necessary to add new release notes for the next release, tagged as `dev`.

### Other possible steps

Some possible cleanup tasks:

- Remove your `pootle-release` checkout.
- Update and fix these releasing notes:
  - Make sure these releasing notes are updated on `master`.
  - Discuss any changes that should be made or new things that could be added.
  - Add automation if you can.
- Add new sections to this document. Possible ideas are:
  - Pre-release checks
  - Change URLs to point to the correct docs: do we want to change URLs to point to the `$version` docs rather then `latest`?
  - Building on Windows, building for other Linux distros.
  - Communicating to upstream packagers.