RELEASE-PROCEDURE: new document

docs/Makefile.am

@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ EXTRA_DIST = MANUAL BUGS CONTRIBUTE FAQ FEATURES INTERNALS SSLCERTS	 \
  README.win32 RESOURCES TODO TheArtOfHttpScripting THANKS VERSIONS	 \
  KNOWN_BUGS BINDINGS $(man_MANS) $(HTMLPAGES) HISTORY INSTALL		 \
  $(PDFPAGES) LICENSE-MIXING README.netware DISTRO-DILEMMA INSTALL.devcpp \
- MAIL-ETIQUETTE HTTP-COOKIES LIBCURL-STRUCTS SECURITY
+ MAIL-ETIQUETTE HTTP-COOKIES LIBCURL-STRUCTS SECURITY RELEASE-PROCEDURE
 
 MAN2HTML= roffit < $< >$@
 

docs/RELEASE-PROCEDURE

@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+                                  _   _ ____  _
+                              ___| | | |  _ \| |
+                             / __| | | | |_) | |
+                            | (__| |_| |  _ <| |___
+                             \___|\___/|_| \_\_____|
+
+curl release procedure - how to do a release
+============================================
+
+[in the source code repo]
+
+- edit RELEASE-NOTES to be accurate
+
+- 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 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
+  you run this on a machine with the correct set of autotools etc installed
+  as this is what then will be shipped and used by most users on *nix like
+  systems.
+
+- push the git commits and the new tag
+
+- gpg sign the 4 tarballs as maketgz suggests
+
+- upload the 8 resulting files to the primary download directory
+
+[data 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)
+
+- commit all local changes
+
+- tag the repo with the same tag as used for the source repo
+
+- make sure all relevant changes are committed and pushed on the master branch
+
+  (the web site then updates its contents automatically)
+
+[inform]
+
+- send an email to curl-users, curl-announce and curl-library. Insert the
+  RELEASE-NOTES into the mail.
+
+[celebrate]
+
+- suitable beverage intake is encouraged for the festivities