Preparing a release is a fairly straight-forward process despite appearances to the contrary.

Setting up the tools

The python-storm package is made to be built with AutoPPA. You need to create a ~/.autoppa.conf file with contents similar to:

[storm]
email = Username <username@example.com>
ppa = username
branch = /home/username/src/projects/storm/trunk
repository = /home/username/src/autoppa-builds
releases = dapper hardy intrepid jaunty karmic

You'll also need something similar to this in your ~/.dput.cf:

[username]
fqdn = ppa.launchpad.net
method = ftp
incoming = ~username/ppa/ubuntu/
login = anonymous
allow_unsigned_uploads = 0

AutoPPA is available on Launchpad.

Are you ready?

Before you start make sure all bugs in the current active milestone on Launchpad are in the Fix Committed state. It's also a good idea to review the Bazaar log and make sure the NEWS file contains information about all the important changes. When all the bug fixes and new features are ready in trunk it's time to create the release.

Make a version-0.16 branch where you will implement and test the modifications required to make the new release. Start by ensuring storm/__init__.py has the new version number set on the version attribute.

Preparing release-candidate packages

Build the package in your own PPA so that you can test them before publishing them. Use the --no-merge option to build test packages:

$ autoppa --no-merge storm-0.16-1~rc1

This will upload sources to your PPA for the Ubuntu releases specified in ~/.autoppa.conf. When the python-storm` packages build you should test them in pristine environments, to make sure they work properly. Amazon's EC2 is good for this kind of testing. If you run into problems you can build the package locally to debug issues:

$ fakeroot debian/rules binary

Commit any changes needed to make the package work to the version-0.16 branch.

Preparing a release-candidate tarball

The release make target creates a tarball in the dist directory.

$ make release

This will create dist/storm-0.16.tar.bz2. Unpack it and make sure everything is in place: the README, NEWS, TODO and LICENSE files, the PKG-INFO and other distutils setup files, the debian directory with package source, the storm and tests directories with Python code, the Makefile and the storm.egg-info directory.

Creating and publishing the new tarball and packages

If the tarball and package are in order merge the branch to trunk. Use your PPA to rebuild the package, using trunk as the source branch, with the new release version:

$ autoppa storm-0.16-1~storm1

This will upload sources, like before, but it will also create a branch with a revision storing the changes made for each release that was built. This branch will be merged to trunk and a tag based on the new version will be added to the new revision to track it.

When the new packages have finished building find them in your PPA and copy them to the Storm Team PPA to publish them. Upload the tarball to Launchpad using the 'Create a release' function from the milestone page. Write a nice release announcement for the Launchpad page and send a copy of it to the Storm mailing list to announce the release. Let Launchpad close the milestone as part of making the release. After the release is created use the 'Add file' function to upload the tarball. Be sure to also upload a valid GPG signature for it.

Prepare to develop the next version

If it hasn't already been done, create a milestone for the next version and target bugs that needs to be delivered with it. Bump the version value in the storm/__init__.py.