IPython release process

This document contains the process that is used to create an IPython release.

Conveniently, the release script in the tools directory of the IPython repository automates most of the release process. This document serves as a handy reminder and checklist for the release manager.

1. Set Environment variables

Set environment variables to document previous release tag, current release milestone, current release version, and git tag:

PREV_RELEASE=4.0.0
MILESTONE=4.1
VERSION=4.1.0
BRANCH=master

These variables may be used later to copy/paste as answers to the script questions instead of typing the appropriate command when the time comes. These variables are not used by the scripts directly; therefore, there is no need to export the variables.

2. Create GitHub stats and finish release note

Note

Before generating the GitHub stats, verify that all closed issues and pull requests have appropriate milestones. This search should return no results before creating the GitHub stats.

If a major release:

  • merge any pull request notes into what’s new:

    python tools/update_whatsnew.py

  • update docs/source/whatsnew/development.rst, to ensure it covers the major release features

  • move the contents of development.rst to versionX.rst where X is the numerical release version

  • generate summary of GitHub contributions, which can be done with:

    python tools/github_stats.py --milestone $MILESTONE > stats.rst

    which may need some manual cleanup of stats.rst. Add the cleaned stats.rst results to docs/source/whatsnew/github-stats-X.rst where X is the numerical release version. If creating a major release, make a new github-stats-X.rst file; if creating a minor release, the content from stats.rst may simply be added to the top of an existing github-stats-X.rst file.

To find duplicates and update .mailmap, use:

git log --format="%aN <%aE>" $PREV_RELEASE... | sort -u -f

3. Make sure the repository is clean

of any file that could be problematic.

Remove all non-tracked files with:

git clean -xfdi

This will ask for confirmation before removing all untracked files. Make sure the dist/ folder is clean to avoid any stale builds from previous build attempts.

4. Run the tools/build_release script

Running tools/build_release does all the file checking and building that the real release script will do. This makes test installations, checks that the build procedure runs OK, and tests other steps in the release process.

We encourage creating a test build of the docs as well.

5. Create and push the new tag

Edit IPython/core/release.py to have the current version.

in particular, update version number and _version_extra content in IPython/core/release.py.

Make sure the version number matches pep440, in particular, rc and beta are not separated by . or the sdist and bdist will appear as different releases. For example, a valid version number for a release candidate (rc) release is: 1.3rc1. Notice that there is no separator between the ‘3’ and the ‘r’.

Commit the changes to release.py:

git commit -am "release $VERSION"
git push origin $BRANCH

Create and push the tag:

git tag -am "release $VERSION" "$VERSION"
git push origin --tags

Update release.py back to x.y-dev or x.y-maint, and push:

git commit -am "back to development"
git push origin $BRANCH

6. Get a fresh clone

Get a fresh clone of the tag for building the release:

cd /tmp
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/ipython/ipython.git -b "$VERSION"

7. Run the release script

Run the release script, this step requires having a current wheel, Python >=3.4 and Python 2.7.:

cd tools && ./release

This makes the tarballs, zipfiles, and wheels, and put them under the dist/ folder. Be sure to test the wheel and the sdist locally before uploading them to PyPI.

Use the following to actually upload the result of the build:

./release upload

It should posts them to archive.ipython.org and registers the release with PyPI if you have the various authorisations.

You might need to use twine (twine upload dist/*) manually to actually upload on PyPI. Unlike setuptools, twine is able to upload packages over SSL.

8. Draft a short release announcement

The announcement should include:

  • release highlights
  • a link to the html version of the What’s new section of the documentation
  • a link to upgrade or installation tips (if necessary)

Post the announcement to the mailing list and or blog, and link from Twitter.

9. Update milestones on GitHub

These steps will bring milestones up to date:

  • close the just released milestone
  • open a new milestone for the next release (x, y+1), if the milestone doesn’t exist already

10. Update the IPython website

The IPython website should document the new release:

  • add release announcement (news, announcements)
  • update current version and download links
  • update links on the documentation page (especially if a major release)

11. Celebrate!

Celebrate the release and please thank the contributors for their work. Great job!