RELEASE-PROCEDURE: better markdown, more content

curl release procedure - how to do a release

============================================

[in the source code repo]

in the source code repo

-----------------------

- edit RELEASE-NOTES to be accurate

- edit `RELEASE-NOTES` to be accurate

- update docs/THANKS

- update `docs/THANKS`

- make sure all relevant changes are committed on the master branch

- tag the git repo in this style: 'git tag -a curl-7_34_0'. -a annotates the

- tag the git repo in this style: `git tag -a curl-7_34_0`. -a annotates the

  tag and we use underscores instead of dots in the version number. 

- run "./maketgz 7.34.0" to build the release tarballs. It is important that

- upload the 8 resulting files to the primary download directory

[data in the curl-www repo]

in the curl-www repo

--------------------

- edit Makefile (version number and date),

  _newslog.html (announce the new release) and

  _changes.html (insert changes+bugfixes from RELEASE-NOTES)

- edit `Makefile` (version number and date),

- edit `_newslog.html` (announce the new release) and

- edit `_changes.html` (insert changes+bugfixes from RELEASE-NOTES)

- commit all local changes

  (the web site then updates its contents automatically)

[inform]

inform

------

- send an email to curl-users, curl-announce and curl-library. Insert the

  RELEASE-NOTES into the mail.

[celebrate]

celebrate

---------

- suitable beverage intake is encouraged for the festivities

curl release scheduling

=======================

Basics

------

We do releases every 8 weeks on Wednesdays. If critical problems arise, we can

insert releases outside of the schedule or we can move the release date - but

this is very rare.

Each 8 week release cycle is split in two 4-week periods.

- During the first 4 weeks after a release, we allow new features and changes

  to curl and libcurl. If we accept any such changes, we bump the minor number

  used for the next release.

- During the second 4-week period we do not merge any features or changes, we

  then only focus on fixing bugs and polishing things to make a solid coming

  release.

Coming dates

------------

Based on the description above, here are some planned release dates (at the

time of this writing):

- November 5, 2014 (version 7.39.0)

- December 31, 2014

- February 25, 2015

- April 22, 2015

- June 17, 2015

- August 12, 2015

- October 7, 2015

- December 2, 2015