How to Prepare a Ghostscript Release

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How to Prepare a Ghostscript Release

## Table of contents

> - Introduction
> - Servers
>   - Development sources and bug reports
>   - Distribution
> - Release numbering
> - Making distributions
>   - Preparing the source code
>   - Testing
>   - Updating the Changelog
>   - Making the source distribution
>   - Testing on Windows
>   - Building the Windows distribution
>   - Finishing up
>   - Beta distributions
>   - Public releases
> - After releasing
> - GPL Ghostscript releases
>   - AGPL code
>   - After releasing (AGPL)
> - Fonts

For other information, see the Ghostscript overview and the instructions on how to build Ghostscript.

## Introduction

This document describes the process for making new Ghostscript releases. Please note that while the the license allows anyone to prepare and distribute releases in accordance with its terms and conditions, this document is really meant only to document the process used by Artifex Software, Inc. However, the eventual purpose of this document is to describe Ghostscript release procedures in enough detail that someone who knows little about Ghostscript but is generally familiar with the platform on which the procedure is being carried out can execute the procedures correctly. So if you add or changing anything to/in this document, be sure to specify all command lines, file names, etc. in explicit detail.

If you do plan to make your own distribution, please be aware of some items you will want to change.

- If you make any significant changes, please edit `base/gscdef.c` to change `GS_PRODUCTFAMILY` and `GS_PRODUCT` from "GPL Ghostscript" to something else, in order to avoid confusion with Artifex releases.
- In the same file, you may also want to edit `GS_COPYRIGHT` to add your own copyright notice (although you must not remove any notice that is there).
- You will almost certainly want to edit `version.mak` to change the revision date, `GS_REVISIONDATE`.
- If you want to change the release number, you must change it in all the places listed under "Release numbering" below.

## Servers

The GPL Ghostscript files are maintained on sites accessible to the public. One specific site hosts the active SVN repository for code, data, and documentation, and the bug report data base; several sites offer distributions with release numbers, intended for wider distribution.

### Development sources and bug reports

The primary repository for GPL Ghostscript is ghostscript.com. Please check there first for any news about releases or current work, and for information about where to download ghostscript and how to access the mailing lists. Development source access is through svn.ghostscript.com.

It may also be helpful to read the SourceForge Ghostscript home page (http://sourceforge.net/projects/ghostscript/).

### Distribution

Stable, beta, and development releases are all available from

> http://ghostscript.com/download/

## Release numbering

Ghostscript uses a two-part (major.minor) release number. The second part of the release number is a 2-digit decimal fraction: it counts 00, 01, 02, and so on through 99.

- Release numbers N.0x and N.5x indicate stable versions.
- Successive increments generally indicate bug fixes and minor enhancements.
- Development, testing and beta releases generally begin with a minor release number that is a multiple of ten and increment from there.

Release numbers appear in the following places in the Ghostscript files:

- In `Resource/Init/gs_init.ps`, as an integer (release number x100) at the beginning of the file just after the initial comment blocks.
- In `base/version.mak`, split into 3 lines.
- In `doc/News.htm`, in the two headers and their labels and at the very end in the copyright footer.
- At the foot of most documenation files. However, these are updated mechanically from the value in `News.htm` as part of the release process and do not need to be maintained directly.

### Before a release

The current release number in the development code must be set to the desired value. The increment from just after the previous release (see below) is sufficient for minor updates. In the case of major changes or a new stable release, the number will need to be bumped; this is generally done as the first step of preparing a new release.

### After a release

After making a release the release number in the repository is incremented. Thus versions built from svn are always marked with a future (or unused) release number to avoid confusion.

Additionally, After an N.00 or N.50 stable release, a branch is made in svn so that development can continue independently of changes to the stable series. When this happens, the minor release number is incremented by 10 (or 20) on the development branch (and by 1 on the new stable branch, as above) to avoid collisions.

While incrementing the release number after making a release may seem counter-intuitive, it ensures that, at any given time, the version number alone is sufficient to distinguish between the current SVN state and a numbered release.

## Making distributions

This document only discusses source distributions. Source distributions currently can only be made on Linux systems (but it probably wouldn't take much work to support other Unix systems). Ghostscript as distributed also often includes executables or other packages for the Windows and MacOS environments, but upstream does not always produce these, and this document does not discuss them.

To make a source distribution, you will need the scripts and data files in the `toolbin/` directory. The instructions below generally assume that you're invoking the relative to the top level of the source tree. To run the scripts, you will need reasonably current versions of Tcl, freely available from Scriptics (`http://www.scriptics.com`), and Python, freely available from `http://www.python.org`.

The instructions below also refer to some files that are deliberately omitted from the public distribution, because they are not freely redistributable. You will need to provide similar files for your environment.

>     data/*/*.ps (PostScript files) - needed for smoke testing

### Preparing the source code

If necessary, update the release number by incrementing it as described in Release numbering above.

Update references to the date for release:

- In `version.mak`, the numeric date.
- In `doc/News.htm`, in two places, skipping the Id: line. That is, in parentheses after the `VERSION X.YY` heading, and in the copyright footer both the year and the release date.
- In `psi/dwsetup.rc` and `psi/winint.mak`, update the year in the embedded copyright notice.

We recommend using a UTC release date to avoid timezone skew.

Also in `doc/News.htm`, update the number of the highest closed bug and the list of open bugs.

Check in `gscdef.c` that the definition of `GS_PRODUCT` includes the appropriate one of "DEVELOPMENT RELEASE", "BETA RELEASE", or neither, and does not include "SVN PRE-RELEASE".

Run the source-consistency checks from the test suite:

>     toolbin/tests/check_all.py --gsroot=.

Where the argument of --gsroot is the path to the top level of the source tree. Fix any problems it indicates, and commit them to svn.

Check for patched configuration parameters, `#define TEST`s, version/date inconsistencies, and mismatches between the working directory and the SVN repository by running:

>     toolbin/pre.tcl

This program compares the result of various greps against a check file, writing the results of grep on one output file and the differences from the check file on another. See the source code for the default file names. The important one is the check file, `toolbin/pre.chk`. `pre.tcl` also verifies that the right information is in the following places:

- release number in `man/*.1`, `doc/*.htm`, `version.mak`, `doc/gs-vms.hlp`, `Resource/Init/gs_init.ps`
- revision date in `man/*.1`, `doc/*.htm`, `version.mak`, `doc/gs-vms.hlp`
- copyright year (if necessary) in `gscdef.c`
- third-party library version number in `*.mak`

If necessary, run

>     toolbin/pre.tcl update

to update the version and revision date in the doc files, and then run

>     toolbin/pre.tcl

again. To confirm that everything is updated. You may have to commit to svn after the update to satify the script that all the dates are correct.

Check the consistency of the source code with the makefiles by running:

>     toolbin/gsmake.tcl check

This script assumes the top level makefile is named '`makefile`'.

Fix any problems and commit to svn.

### Testing

Edit your top-level the Makefile to set

>     FEATURE_DEVS=$(FEATURE_DEVS_ALL)
>     COMPILE_INITS=1

This will help catch compilation problems.

Run

>     rm obj/*
>     make -j2 >& make.log

and look for warnings and errors in the log file.

Do a smoke test, updating the example paths as necessary:

>     unset GS_DEVICE GS_FONTPATH GS_LIB GS_OPTIONS
>     ./bin/gs -I./lib -I./fonts -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH toolbin/smoke.ps
>     ./bin/gs -I./lib -I./fonts -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -sDEVICE=bitcmyk\
>       -sOutputFile=/dev/null -r600 -dBufferSpace=200000 toolbin/smoke.ps

This reads files named

>     data/misc/*.ps
>     data/ps/*.ps
>     data/psl2/*.ps
>     data/psl3/*.ps

(Edit `toolbin/smoke.ps` to use other test sets.) Watch for crashes, unusual error messages, or anomalous displayed output. If there are any problems, start over from the beginning of the process.

Undo the `FEATURE_DEVS` and `COMPILE_INITS` edits.

Run

>     svn commit

to ensure the repository is up to date.

### Updating the changelog

Create a new changelog by running

>     svn log -rHEAD:rev --xml --verbose > doc/changelog.xml

where rev is the revision number of the branch point for the previous release.

This consolidates all the commit logs since the previous release in a readable format. You may also wish to remap user names in the <author/> tags of the output to the real names of the developers.

Create the html-format changes and details documents as follows:

>     cd doc
>     ../toolbin/split_changelog.py changelog.xml Changes.htm Details.htm
>     cd ..

The xml changelog file can now be deleted.

[Deprecated]
Copy the contents of News.htm and Changes.htm into a new section in History8.htm, and News.htm and Details.htm into Details8.htm. Then update the hyperlinks in History8.htm to point to Details8.htm instead of Details.htm so these remain valid after the next release.
[/Deprecated]
As of Ghostscript 9.02, to reduce the pointless duplication of information, Changes.htm and Details#.htm have been deprecated. Copy the contents of Changes.htm into a new section in History9.htm, and ensure the links in News.htm are updated to reference the new section in History9.htm.

Then run

>     svn commit

again to check in the Changes and history files.

### Making the source distribution

First, tag the versions of the files in svn with the release version number.

>     svn cp svn+ssh://svn.ghostscript.com/svn/ghostscript/trunk/gs \
>         svn+ssh://svn.ghostscript.com/svn/ghostscript/tags/ghostscript-#.##

If you've already tagged this release (e.g. in making an earlier release candidate) you'll need to svn rm the old tree first. We recommend just appending 'rcn' to the end of release candidate tag names, or a '.n' tiny release number to post-release fixes.

Pull a fresh copy for distribution from the repository:

>     svn export http://svn.ghostscript.com/ghostscript/tags/ghostscript-#.##

Generate the text versions of the README document:

>     cd ghostscript-#.##
>     lynx -dump -nolist doc/Readme.htm > doc/README

Add copies of needed third-party libraries for the release. Versions of the normally required ones are included in the repository so this is only needed when doing special feature releases.

For the unix source distributions only, generate the configure scripts. From the top level directory, run

>     ./autogen.sh
>     make distclean

This should create links to `configure.ac` and `Makefile.in` in the top level directory and invoke autoconf to create the `configure` script.

Also run `make distclean` in the `jasper` subdir to clean up any incidental config there. If you get a warning, for example if the build files think they need updating and not all the tools are available, be sure to run `autoreconf && make distclean` to avoid version skew issues. You may also need to manually remove the `autom4te.cache` directory.

Move back to directory containing the distribution code and make the source archives with:

>     tar cvzf ghostscript-#.##.tar.gz ghostscript-#.##/*
>     zcat ghostscript-#.##.tar.gz | bzip2 -c > ghostscript-#.##.tar.bz2

This creates the files

>     ghostscript-#.##.tar.gz (main archive)
>     ghostscript-#.##.tar.bz2 (main archive)

The important issue is that the tarballs unpack into a directory of the same name, and that the code be a pristine copy without build or .svn housekeeping files.

It is also customary to make a `gs###src.zip` archive for the convenience of windows developers. See below.

### Testing on Windows

For Windows testing, you will need, in addition to the files listed under "Preparing the source" above:

>     toolbin/makewin.tcl

The following procedures rely on a large number of MS-DOS batch scripts that are not discussed here: they are unlikely to be generally useful.

Mount the Windows partition on `/c`, and create the `/c/work` directory if needed.

Make the zip archive of all files needed for a Windows build, and copy it to the Windows partition:

>     toolbin/makewin
>     cp gs###.zip /c/work

Boot into Windows. Unpack the archive:

>     cd \work
>     unzip -oq gs###.zip
>     gs###

The `gs###.bat` script creates some necessary directories, sets up `PATH` and `GS_LIB` for testing, and makes the `gs#.##` directory current.

Build with the Borland compiler:

>     config bcwin32
>     copy /y /b ..\gs\makefile
>     erase obj\*.*
>     make > bc.log

Smoke test the executables (both `gswin32` and `gswin32c`), as described above for source distributions. Then build with the Microsoft compiler:

>     config msvc32
>     copy /y /b ..\gs\makefile
>     erase obj\*.*
>     nmake > msvc.log

Smoke test these executables too.

Building with the Watcom compiler doesn't work, because the `wmake` or `wmakel` program runs out of memory. However, if it did work, this is how to do it:

>     config watcw32
>     copy /y /b ..\gs\makefile
>     erase obj\*.*
>     wmake -u > watc.log

Boot back into Linux. If testing in Windows revealed problems, edit the source files as necessary, and go back to "Preparing the source code."

### Building the Windows distribution

Extract the sources from `ghostscript-N.NN.tar.gz` then repackage in a zip file as follows:

> `zip -r temp.zip gsN.NN/LICENSE gsN.NN/doc gsN.NN/examples gsN.NN/icclib gsN.NN/ijs gsN.NN/jasper gsN.NN/jbig2dec gsN.NN/jpeg gsN.NN/lib gsN.NN/libpng gsN.NN/base gsN.NN/psi gsN.NN/Resource gsN.NN/zlib`

Unzip converting the line endings to CRLF:

> `unzip -a temp.zip
> del temp.zip`

Then finally zip up the sources to the distribution file:

> `zip -9 -r -X gsNNNsrc.zip gsN.NN`

This method is reasonably portable, and does not convert binary files such as `examples/annots.pdf`.

Unzip `gsNNNsrc.zip`. The directory must be named `gsN.NN`.

Extract the fonts `ghostscript-fonts-std-#.##.tar.gz` into a directory `fonts` adjacent to the `gsN.NN` directory. The fonts are needed in this location for building the distribution archive later.

You will need the command line Info-Zip zip program available from http://www.info-zip.org/pub/infozip/ Alternatively, the command line version of WinZip (`wzzip.exe`) can be used by replacing the Info-Zip command line options `-9 -r` with `-ex -P` in `winint.mak`.

You will need WinZip Self-Extractor for building the self extracting archive. This is commercial software. You may need to update the path `WINZIPSE_XE` in `winint.mak`.

Unzip the jpeg, libpng and zlib libraries, then make ghostscript as documented in Make.htm.

Run the command `nmake archive`. This builds the distribution archive `gsNNNw32.exe` and an ordinary zip file `gsNNNw32.zip` in the parent directory. If you do not have WinZip Self-Extractor, you can use `nmake zip` to make `gsNNNw32.zip` only.

Starting with Ghostscript 9.x (Summer 2010), `nmake nsis` (msvc) or `make nsis` (Borland) builds an nsis-based installer `gsNNNw32.exe`. This requires Nullsoft Scriptable Install System. You may need to update the path `MAKENSIS_XE` in `winint.mak`.

### Finishing up

Upload `ghostscript-#.##.tar.*` to SourceForge (by anonymous FTP to `upload.sourceforge.net`, directory `/incoming`), and then post it using the "File Release" facility in the Ghostscript project. Put the release in the appropriate package, usually "GPL Ghostscript". If you are adding executable builds or source archives for other platforms to an existing source release, please use the same release date as the source release, not the current date.

### Beta distributions

Do the steps for distributions in general.

Upload `ghostscript-#.##.tar.*` to `http://ghostscript.com/download/` .

### Public releases

Do the steps for distributions in general.

- MS Windows source and executables:

>     gs###w32.exe
>     gs###w64.exe

- Third-party libraries, as links (upload these if not installed), where `$$$` et al. refer to the version number of the library, which should be the latest compatible release of the library and should be consistent with the values of and version numbers specifically listed in the makefiles.

>     jpegsrc.v$$.tar.gz -> ../../3rdparty/jpegsrc.v$$.tar.gz
>     libpng-$.$.$.tar.gz -> ../../3rdparty/libpng-$.$.$.tar.gz
>     zlib-$.$.$.tar.gz -> ../../3rdparty/zlib-$.$.$.tar.gz
>     jpegsr$$.zip -> ../../3rdparty/jpegsr$$.zip
>     lpng$$$.zip -> ../../3rdparty/lpng$$$.zip
>     zlib$$$.zip -> ../../3rdparty/zlib$$$.zip

In any case, the names of the links in the distribution directory should reflect the original name of the upstream file.

- Fonts, where `$.$$` refers to the most recent version number of the fonts:

>     ghostscript-fonts-other-$.$.tar.gz -> ../fonts/ghostscript-fonts-other-$.$.tar.gz
>     ghostscript-fonts-std-$.$.tar.gz -> ../fonts/ghostscript-fonts-std-$.$.tar.gz

(Note that the link names are somewhat inconsistent: some of them retain the version number of the file being referenced, and some of them use the Ghostscript release number. This is a historical artifact that might be changed someday.)

E-mail the release announcement using:

>     To: gs-announce

Also update the documentation snapshots on the website.

## After releasing

Update the release number by incrementing it as described in Release numbering above.

In `gscdef.c`, edit the definition of `GS_PRODUCT` to include "SVN PRE-RELEASE".

Edit `doc/News.htm` to remove all the content.

## Fonts

Artifex Software, Inc. distributes a package of the base 35 PostScript fonts, and a package of other miscellaneous fonts.

These are included in the Ghostscript release archive.

Copyright © 2000-2021 Artifex Software, Inc. All rights reserved.

This software is provided AS-IS with no warranty, either express or implied. This software is distributed under license and may not be copied, modified or distributed except as expressly authorized under the terms of that license. Refer to licensing information at https://www.artifex.com or contact Artifex Software, Inc., 1305 Grant Avenue - Suite 200, Novato, CA 94945, U.S.A., +1(415)492-9861, for further information.

Ghostscript version 9.55.0, 27 September 2021