Making an Official Release

The following instructions are for the release manager and detail how to make an official release.

  • Optionally, if not done already, create a release branch for the upcoming stable release in the releases directory; e.g. releases/2011.1. However, some pre-releases are made from the main branch.
  • Make sure there is a release blurb in the What's New.
  • Tag the release with a "release-" prefix; e.g. release-2011.1beta1.
  • Build the release on the build server using nvda_autobuild with the -r option; e.g. python nvda_autobuild.py -vd releases -r 2011.1beta1
    • If not using a release branch, add the -b option; e.g. -b main
  • Upload and publish the release from the build server using nvda_release; e.g. python nvda_release.py 2012.1beta1
  • Create a version in Trac.
  • Make a blog post, placing it in the NewReleases and GeneralNews categories.
    • Use a previous blog post as a base.
    • If this is not the first pre-release, include a list of changes since the last pre-release.
  • Spread the word via the nvda-announce list, IRC channel topic, Twitter, etc.

If this is the stable release:

  • Mark the release milestone as done in Trac.
  • Set the new release installer as the default download for Windows on SourceForge.
  • Make a blog post on the  NV Access blog.