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   <h1 class="post-title-main">Releasing</h1>
</div>



<div class="post-content">

   

    
    
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    <a target="_blank" href="https://github.com/pmd/pmd/blob/master/docs/pages/pmd/projectdocs/committers/releasing.md" class="btn btn-default githubEditButton" role="button"><i class="fa fa-github fa-lg"></i> Edit me</a>

    

  <p>This page describes the current status of the release process.</p>

<p>Since versions 5.4.5 / 5.5.4 there is an automated release process using <a href="https://travis-ci.org">travis-ci</a>
in place. However, there are still a few steps, that need manual examination.</p>

<p>Note: You can find a small shell script in the root of the repo: <code class="highlighter-rouge">do-release.sh</code>. This script guides you
through the release process.</p>

<h2 id="preparations">Preparations</h2>

<p>Make sure code is up to date and everything is committed and pushed with git:</p>

<div class="highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code>$ ./mvnw clean
$ git pull
$ git status
</code></pre></div></div>

<h3 id="the-release-notes-and-docs">The Release Notes and docs</h3>

<p>At a very minimum, the current date must be noted in the release notes and the download section. Also, the version
must be adjusted. E.g. by removing “-SNAPSHOT”.</p>

<p>You can find the release notes here: <code class="highlighter-rouge">docs/pages/release_notes.md</code>.</p>

<p>The date for the download section is to be entered in <code class="highlighter-rouge">docs/_config.yml</code>, e.g.</p>

<div class="highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code>pmd:
    version: 6.0.0
    date: 2017-12-15
</code></pre></div></div>

<p>The release notes usual mention any new rules that have been added since the last release.
Please double check the file <code class="highlighter-rouge">pmd-core/src/main/resources/rulesets/releases/&lt;version&gt;.xml</code>, so
that all new rules are listed.</p>

<p>Check in all (version) changes to branch master or any other branch, from which the release takes place:</p>

<div class="highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code>$ git commit -a -m "Prepare pmd release &lt;version&gt;"
$ git push
</code></pre></div></div>

<h3 id="the-homepage">The Homepage</h3>

<p>The github repo <code class="highlighter-rouge">pmd.github.io</code> hosts the homepage for <a href="https://pmd.github.io">https://pmd.github.io</a>.</p>

<p>The new version needs to be entered into <code class="highlighter-rouge">_config.yml</code>, e.g.:</p>

<div class="highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code>pmd:
  latestVersion: 6.0.0
  latestVersionDate: 15th December 2017
</code></pre></div></div>

<p>Also move the previous version down into the “downloads” section.</p>

<p>Then create a new page for the new release, e.g. <code class="highlighter-rouge">_posts/2017-12-15-PMD-6.0.0.md</code> and copy
the release notes into this page. This will appear under the news section.</p>

<p>Check in all (version) changes to branch master:</p>

<div class="highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code>$ git commit -a -m "Prepare pmd release &lt;version&gt;"
$ git push
</code></pre></div></div>

<h2 id="creating-the-release">Creating the release</h2>

<p>The release is created using the <strong>maven-release-plugin</strong>. This plugin changes the version by basically
removing the “-SNAPSHOT” suffix, builds the changed project locally, commits the version change, creates
a new tag from this commit, changes the version of the project to the next snapshot, commits this change
and pushes everything.</p>

<p><code class="highlighter-rouge">RELEASE_VERSION</code> is the version of the release. It is reused for the tag. <code class="highlighter-rouge">DEVELOPMENT_VERSION</code> is the
next snapshot version after the release.</p>

<div class="highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code>mvn -B release:clean release:prepare \
    -Dtag=pmd_releases/${RELEASE_VERSION} \
    -DreleaseVersion=${RELEASE_VERSION} \
    -DdevelopmentVersion=${DEVELOPMENT_VERSION}
</code></pre></div></div>

<p>Once the maven plugin has pushed the tag, travis-ci will start and build a new version from this tag. Since
it is a tag build and a released version build, travis-ci will do a couple of additional stuff:</p>

<ul>
  <li>Deploy and release the build to maven central, so that it can be downloaded from
<a href="https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/net/sourceforge/pmd/pmd/">https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/net/sourceforge/pmd/pmd/</a>. This is done automatically, if
all unit tests pass on travis-ci. The plugin <a href="https://github.com/sonatype/nexus-maven-plugins/tree/master/staging/maven-plugin">nexus-staging-maven-plugin</a> is used for that.</li>
  <li>Upload the new binaries to github releases under <a href="https://github.com/pmd/pmd/releases">https://github.com/pmd/pmd/releases</a>. It also uploads
the release notes.</li>
  <li>Upload the new binaries additionally to sourceforge, so that they can be downloaded from
<a href="https://sourceforge.net/projects/pmd/files/pmd/">https://sourceforge.net/projects/pmd/files/pmd/</a>, including the release notes. The new binaries are
selected as the new default downloads for PMD.</li>
  <li>Add the documentation of the new release to a subfolder on <a href="https://pmd.github.io">https://pmd.github.io</a>, also make
this folder available as <code class="highlighter-rouge">latest</code>.</li>
</ul>

<h2 id="after-the-release">After the release</h2>

<p>The release on travis currently takes about 30 minutes. Once this is done, you can spread the news:</p>

<h3 id="submit-a-news-on-sf">Submit a news on SF</h3>

<p>Submit news to SF on the <a href="https://sourceforge.net/p/pmd/news/">PMD Project News</a> page. You can use
the following template:</p>

<div class="highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code>PMD &lt;version&gt; released

*   Downloads: https://github.com/pmd/pmd/releases/tag/pmd_releases%2F&lt;version&gt;
*   Documentation: https://pmd.github.io/pmd-&lt;version&gt;/

And Copy-Paste the release notes
</code></pre></div></div>

<h3 id="write-an-email-to-the-mailing-list">Write an email to the mailing list</h3>

<div class="highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code>To: PMD Developers List &lt;pmd-devel@lists.sourceforge.net&gt;
Subject: [ANNOUNCE] PMD &lt;version&gt; released


*   Downloads: https://github.com/pmd/pmd/releases/tag/pmd_releases%2F&lt;version&gt;
*   Documentation: https://pmd.github.io/pmd-&lt;version&gt;/

And Copy-Paste the release notes
</code></pre></div></div>

<h2 id="prepare-the-next-release">Prepare the next release</h2>

<h3 id="prepare-the-new-release-notes">Prepare the new release notes</h3>

<ul>
  <li>Update version in <strong>docs/_config.yml</strong></li>
  <li>Move version/release info from <strong>docs/pages/release_notes.md</strong> to <strong>docs/pages/release_notes_old.md</strong>.</li>
  <li>Update version/release info in <strong>docs/pages/release_notes.md</strong>. Use the following template:</li>
</ul>

<div class="highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code>---
title: PMD Release Notes
permalink: pmd_release_notes.html
keywords: changelog, release notes
---

## ????? - ${DEVELOPMENT_VERSION}

The PMD team is pleased to announce PMD ${DEVELOPMENT_VERSION%-SNAPSHOT}.

This is a bug fixing release.

### Table Of Contents

* [New and noteworthy](#new-and-noteworthy)
* [Fixed Issues](#fixed-issues)
* [API Changes](#api-changes)
* [External Contributions](#external-contributions)

### New and noteworthy

### Fixed Issues

### API Changes

### External Contributions

</code></pre></div></div>

<p>Commit and push</p>

<div class="highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code>$ git commit -m "Prepare next development version"
$ git push origin master
</code></pre></div></div>

<h3 id="close--create-new-milestones">Close / Create new milestones</h3>

<p>Manage the milestones under <a href="https://github.com/pmd/pmd/milestones">https://github.com/pmd/pmd/milestones</a>.
Maybe there are some milestones on sourceforge, too: <a href="https://sourceforge.net/p/pmd/bugs/milestones">https://sourceforge.net/p/pmd/bugs/milestones</a>.</p>

<h2 id="branches">Branches</h2>

<h3 id="merging">Merging</h3>

<p>If the release was done on a maintenance branch, such as <code class="highlighter-rouge">pmd/5.4.x</code>, then this branch should be
merged into the next “higher” branches, such as <code class="highlighter-rouge">pmd/5.5.x</code> and <code class="highlighter-rouge">master</code>.</p>

<p>This ensures, that all fixes done on the maintenance branch, finally end up in the other branches.
In theory, the fixes should already be there, but you never now.</p>

<h3 id="multiple-releases">Multiple releases</h3>

<p>If releases from multiple branches are being done, the order matters. You should start from the “oldest” branch,
e.g. <code class="highlighter-rouge">pmd/5.4.x</code>, release from there. Then merge (see above) into the next branch, e.g. <code class="highlighter-rouge">pmd/5.5.x</code> and release
from there. Then merge into the <code class="highlighter-rouge">master</code> branch and release from there. This way, the last release done, becomes
automatically the latest release on <a href="https://pmd.github.io/latest/">https://pmd.github.io/latest/</a> and on sourceforge.</p>

<h3 id="optional-create-a-new-release-branch">(Optional) Create a new release branch</h3>

<p>At some point, it might be time for a new maintenance branch. Such a branch is usually created from
the <code class="highlighter-rouge">master</code> branch. Here are the steps:</p>

<ul>
  <li>Create a new branch: <code class="highlighter-rouge">git branch pmd/5.6.x master</code></li>
  <li>Update the version in both the new branch and master, e.g. <code class="highlighter-rouge">mvn versions:set -DnewVersion=5.6.1-SNAPSHOT</code>
and <code class="highlighter-rouge">mvn versions:set -DnewVersion=5.7.0-SNAPSHOT</code>.</li>
  <li>Update the release notes on both the new branch and master</li>
</ul>


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