# Making a New wxWidgets Release

Creating a new release requires a few things before getting started:

* Linux or OSX.
* Windows 7+ with HTML Help Workshop, and Inno Setup installed.
* 7-Zip, Doxygen 1.8.8, and GraphViz installed on both machines.

Unless mentioned otherwise, all steps should be run on Linux or OSX so that the
repository export used for the release is primarily using LF line endings. Files
that require CRLF line endings will be converted appropriately.

*Important:* Ensure that 7-Zip, HTML Help Workshop, Doxygen, GraphViz and Inno
Setup have all been added to your Path in Windows. You can confirm this by
running `7z`, `hhc`, `iscc`, `doxygen -v`, and `dot -V` in a command prompt.
Add the missing installed folder locations of any executables to your Path.

## Pre-Release Steps

* Update `docs/readme.txt`. Please review its contents in addition to just
  changing the version number.
* Update `docs/release.md` (except for the release sha1sums).
* Put a date on the release line in `docs/changes.txt`.
* Update the date in the manual (`docs/doxygen/mainpages/manual.h`).
* Update the release announcement post in `docs/publicity/announce.txt`.

Finally, tag the release:

    git tag vX.Y.Z -m 'Tag X.Y.Z release.'

## Creating Release Files

The release scripts can be run from any working directory, and they will
generate all release package files under `distrib/release/x.y.z`. The scripts
build the release packages based on the current HEAD commit, so always
ensure you have the appropriate tag or commit checked out.

1. Run `./build/tools/release.sh x.y.z` to create source archives
   `wxWidgets-x.y.z.{7z,tar.bz2,zip}`, `wxWidgets-x.y.z-headers.7z`, and
   `wxWidgets-x.y.z-docs-html.{tar.bz2,zip}` packages.

2. Copy just the `wxWidgets-x.y.z.zip` package into the same
   `distrib\release\x.y.z` folder on Windows.

3. Run `build/tools/release.bat x.y.z` in a Windows command prompt.

4. Copy these Windows packages back to your Linux or OSX `distrib/release/x.y.z`
   directory so you can continue with the upload step with all packages
   available:

    wxMSW-x.y.z-Setup.exe
    wxWidgets-x.y.z.chm

5. Update the sha1sums in `docs/release.md`.

## Uploading

Create a new release on GitHub using vX.Y.Z tag and title.

Use `docs/release.md` for the release description box.

Attach the following files to it:

    wxMSW-Setup-x.y.z.exe
    wxWidgets-x.y.z.7z
    wxWidgets-x.y.z.tar.bz2
    wxWidgets-x.y.z.zip
    wxWidgets-x.y.z.chm
    wxWidgets-x.y.z-docs-html.tar.bz2
    wxWidgets-x.y.z-docs-html.zip
    wxWidgets-x.y.z-headers.7z

Create http://docs.wxwidgets.org/x.y.z/ (ask Bryan to do it if not done yet).

## Announcement

Update https://www.wxwidgets.org, usually a news item is enough but something
more can be called for for major releases.

Post `docs/publicity/announce.txt` at least to wx-announce@googlegroups.com and
to wx-users for the important releases.

Submit a link to https://www.reddit.com/r/programming

Submit to https://isocpp.org/blog/suggest

For major releases, submit the announcement to https://slashdot.org/submission

Modify the links at downloads/index.html to point to the new release. Also
update the release date on this page.

Also update docs/index.htm for the minor or major (i.e. not micro) releases.

Post to wxBlog if necessary.

Create a new post on our official Google+ page here:
https://plus.google.com/+wxwidgets/ (contact Bryan for access)

## Version Updates

Trac: mark the milestone corresponding to the release as completed and add a
new version for it to allow reporting bugs against it and create the next
milestone (ask Vadim or Robin to do it or to get admin password).

Update the roadmap at http://trac.wxwidgets.org/wiki/Roadmap to at least
mention the new release there.

Run `misc/scripts/inc_release` to increment micro version, i.e. replace x.y.z
with x.y.z+1 (minor or major versions updates require manual intervention)
and rerun both `bakefile_gen` and `autoconf` afterwards to update the version
in the generated files too.

Update the definition of the stable and release branches in
`build/buildbot/config/include/defs.xml` after a minor version change.