Appendix E. How to package and release OpenACS

Table of Contents

How to Update the OpenACS.org repository
  1. Update documentation version numbers:

    1. Update /packages/acs-core-docs/www/xml/variables.ent with the new version number and regenerate all HTML docs

    2. Update /readme.txt with the new version number

    3. Commit changes

  2. Check out the whole cvs tree. The files must be checked out through a cvs account with write access and should be a checkout from the release branch. In this example, we are assuming this is being done as a local user on openacs.org (which make the checkout and tagging operations much faster).

    cd /var/tmp
    cvs -d /cvsroot checkout -r oacs-5-0 openacs-4

    Repeat with the dotlrn cvs tree.

    cd /var/tmp
    mkdir dotlrn-packages
    cd dotlrn-packages
    cvs -d /dotlrn-cvsroot checkout -r dotlrn-2-0 dotlrn-all
    
  3. Tag the tree.

    cd /var/tmp/openacs-4
    cvs tag -F openacs-5-0-0a1
    

    Branching

    When we feature-freeze on HEAD as part of the release process, we are blocking new development. To avoid this, we branch the code at this point, so that new work can continue on HEAD while the branch is stabilized for release. However, branching means that bug fixes have to be synchronized between HEAD and the branch, and bug fixes tend to be more frequent right at this time. Therefore, our actual branch point is as late as possible - essentially, we do not branch until and unless new feature work is actively blocked by the feature freeze. Branching is almost the same as tagging, except for the flag and slightly different tag nomenclature. To see the list of old branches, cvs status -v somefile.

    cvs tag -b oacs-5-0

    Tag dotLRN. Since the dotLRN packages aren't all in one module, we iterate through all of the modules. Log in first (cvs login) so that you don't have to log in for each module.

    cd /var/tmp/dotlrn-packages
    for dir in *; do ( cd $dir && cvs tag -F dotlrn-2-0-0a1 ); done
    

    Note that we use the -F flag which will force the tag to the new version (just in case someone has created the tag already on another version). Excercise care when doing this since you don't want to inadvertently move a prior release tag. Also if the tagging goes horribly wrong for some reason you can delete the tag via "cvs tag -d <symbolic_tag>".

  4. Make the tarball

    • openacs-core. 

      1. Go to a new working space and export the tagged files.

        mkdir /var/tmp/tarball
        cd /var/tmp/tarball
        cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@openacs.org:/cvsroot export -r openacs-5-0-0a1 acs-core
        mv openacs-4 openacs
      2. Generate the tarball.

        cd /var/tmp/tarball
        mv openacs-4 openacs-5.0.0a1
        tar cz -f openacs-5.0.0a1.tar.gz openacs-5.0.0a1
        
    • dotlrn. 

      1. Go to a new working space and export the tagged files. (was getting errors here trying to use -d, so gave up and just moved things from openacs-4 to openacs at the end)

        mkdir /var/tmp/dotlrn-tarball
        cd /var/tmp/dotlrn-tarball
        cvs -d /cvsroot export -r openacs-5-0-0a1 acs-core
        cd /var/tmp/dotlrn-tarball/openacs-4/packages
        cvs -d /cvsroot export -r openacs-5-0-0a1 dotlrn-prereq
        cvs -d /dotlrn-cvsroot export -r dotlrn-2-0-0a1 dotlrn-core
        
      2. Copy the dotlrn install.xml file, which controls which packages are installed on setup, to the root location:

        cp /var/tmp/dotlrn-tarball/openacs-4/packages/dotlrn/install.xml \
           /var/tmp/dotlrn-tarball/openacs-4
        
      3. Generate the tarball

        cd /var/tmp/dotlrn-tarball
        mv openacs-4 dotlrn-2.0.0a1
        tar cz -f dotlrn-2.0.0a1.tar.gz dotlrn-2.0.0a1
        
  5. Test the new tarball

  6. Update openacs.org frontpage, bug-tracker versions, project page, etc.

  7. Clean up after yourself.

    cd /var/tmp
    rm -rf tarball dotlrn-tarball dotlrn-packages openacs-5.0.0a1

Here is a shell script that automates packaging the tarball:

#!/bin/bash

# if TAG=1 create the cvs tags otherwise assume they exist.
TAG=1

# What release version are we building; version format should be
# dashes rather than dots eg. OACS_VERSION=5-0-0b4

OACS_VERSION=5-0-0b4
DOTLRN_VERSION=2-0-0b4

OACS_BRANCH=oacs-5-0
DOTLRN_BRANCH=dotlrn-2-0

DOTLRN_CVSROOT=/dotlrn-cvsroot
OACS_CVSROOT=/cvsroot

#
# Nothing below here should need to change...
#
BASE=/var/tmp/release-$OACS_VERSION
mkdir $BASE
if [ ! -d $BASE ]; then 
    echo "Failed creating base dir $BASE"
    exit 1
fi

cd $BASE 

if [ $TAG -eq 1 ]; then 

    # Checkout and tag the release 
    cvs -d $OACS_CVSROOT checkout -r $OACS_BRANCH openacs-4
    cd openacs-4 
    cvs tag -F openacs-$OACS_VERSION 
    cd ../


    # Checkout and tag the dotlrn release
    mkdir dotlrn-packages
    cd dotlrn-packages
    cvs -d $DOTLRN_CVSROOT checkout -r $DOTLRN_BRANCH dotlrn-all
    for dir in *; do ( cd $dir && cvs tag -F dotlrn-$DOTLRN_VERSION ); done
    cd ../

    #
    # Should check for .sql .xql .adp .tcl .html .xml executable files and squak if found.
    #

fi



# Generate tarballs...
#

# openacs
#
mkdir tarball
cd tarball
cvs -d $OACS_CVSROOT export -r openacs-$OACS_VERSION acs-core
mv opeancs-4 openacs-${OACS_VERSION//-/.}
tar -czf ../openacs-${OACS_VERSION//-/.}.tar.gz openacs-${OACS_VERSION//-/.}
cd ..

# dotlrn
#
mkdir dotlrn-tarball
cd dotlrn-tarball
cvs -d $OACS_CVSROOT export -r openacs-$OACS_VERSION acs-core
cd  openacs-4/packages
cvs -d $OACS_CVSROOT export -r openacs-$OACS_VERSION dotlrn-prereq
cvs -d $DOTLRN_CVSROOT export -r dotlrn-$DOTLRN_VERSION dotlrn-core
cd ../..
cp -f openacs-4/packages/dotlrn/install.xml openacs-4
mv openacs-4 dotlrn-${DOTLRN_VERSION//-/.}
tar -czf ../dotlrn-${DOTLRN_VERSION//-/.}.tar.gz dotlrn-${DOTLRN_VERSION//-/.}


# Clean up after ourselves...
cd $BASE && rm -rf dotlrn-tarball tarball openacs-4 dotlrn-packages
($Id: releasing-openacs.html,v 1.10 2004/02/04 16:47:33 joela Exp $)
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