Major release process

Note: This page is a work-in-progress. Feedback and suggested improvements are welcome. Please join the discussion on moodle.org or use the page comments.

This page describes the standard procedures for making a major release e.g. Moodle 2.0.

Beta release

One month and a half before

1. Create the next "X.Y+1 (next dev)" version in the Tracker (MDL and CONTRIB), so people can move delayed stuff to next major release if needed.

One month before

1. Freeze stable development and post in the General developer forum to inform everyone of the freeze
2. Review and complete the release notes and upgrading notes of the upcoming version.
   • Ensure all issues labelled with "ui_change" or "api_change" are listed as functional or API changes respectively in the release notes.
3. Release normal weeklies but with these changes in the master branch:
   • version.php: Move to $maturity = MATURITY_BETA and $release = 'X.Ybeta (Build:xxxxxxxx)'
   • tag git repo with: "vX.Y.0-beta" (and MOODLE_XY_BETA as description and CVS tag)
   • Make packages available under download.moodle.org (and windows).
4. Announce it in forums (ideally once packages are available).
5. Test / QA, etc
6. Review all the issues with labels "docs_required" and "qa_test_required", cleaning while done.
7. During the QA/Test weeks continuous integration will happen, releasing STABLE weeklies normally but master ones as often as possible (on demand).
8. At some points we can be producing release candidates (Z = 1, 2, 3..), they are normal builds but with:
   • version.php: Move to $maturity = MATURITY_RC and $release = 'X.YrcZ (Build:xxxxxxxx)'
   • tag git repo with: "vX.Y.0-rcZ" (and MOODLE_XY_RCZ as description and CVS tag)
   • Make packages available under download.moodle.org (and windows).

One week before

1. Clone as many filters as needed in the Tracker, modifying them to point to the new, upcoming, branch (keeping same perms, title...).
2. Create new minor version X.Y.1 in the Tracker.
3. Clone MDL-33794 and bump all versions, requires and dependencies along all plugins in codebase to current date.

Stable release

As soon as the release is packaged (usually two days prior to official release)

1. Post an "advanced release" message on the Partner forum

Release day

1. Verify all unit tests, QAs and integration tests pass!
2. Run the mdlrelease process (with the special steps for Major releases).
3. In the download server:
   • Create the moodle/stableXY (duplicating from moodle/stableXY-1) and also download/stableXY (empty) dirs
   • cvs -q update -dPr MOODLE_XY_STABLE the moodle/stableXY dir
   • Edit /opt/bin/moodle-cvsupdate and /opt/bin/moodle with new version
   • Create and run moodle-makenightlystableXY (add it where necessary - crons and friends)
   • Go to download/stableXY
   • Copy current daily as release package:
     1. cp moodle-latest-XY.zip moodle-X.Y.zip
     2. cp moodle-latest-XY.tgz moodle-X.Y.tgz
   • Edit download index.php page with new release info and links
   • Create new windows packager script (cloning the current master one and configuring it) and add it where necessary - cron scripts and friends)
   • Run moodle-makewindowspackages so all the windows packages will be rebuilt
   • Edit download windows/index.php page with new release info (always keeping the "+")
   • Copy the xampp_version_head.php file to xampp_version_XY.php
   • Create new windows_wpiXY dir by cloning the previous one (HEAD based), configuring build-latest-XY.sh and executing it.
   • Edit /opt/bin/moodle-makewindows_wpipackages to switch to the new version.
   • Edit stats script to include the new branch into the versions.
   • Run SF's mirror script
4. Update release date, number and link on Releases page
5. In Tracker:
   • '"Release" the current version (with current date) and push any remaining open issues to the next point release (eg 2.2 -> 2.2.1) for developers to deal with there. This must be done both for the Moodle Project and the Non-core contributed modules project.
   • Rename the "X.Y+1 (next dev)" version to "X.Y+1".
   • Create the new "Pull X.Y Branch" and "Pull X.Y Diff URL" custom fields and spread them to all the screens needing them (copy from previous ones). Reindex.
6. (deprecated) Update the Latest Release block on Moodle.org news
7. Post about the release in the moodle.org news

Post release

1. Clone MDL-34096 and MDL-34097, to be resolved ASAP.
2. Clone MDL-34098 for next minor release X.Y.1 handling of security issues & security advisories.
3. Create the MOODLE_XY_STABLE branch for the whole 'contrib' subdir in CVS.
4. Deprecated since 2.2 (we don't package anything anymore from contrib): Edit /opt/bin/moodle-cvsupdate and /opt/bin/moodle with new version contrib packages.
5. Prepare/verify and publish the calendar for next Major release (basis are, for 6-months periods: 1 month for furious bugfixing release, 1 month for planning, 3 months for developments, 1 month for QA, candidates/betas/release).
6. (For convenience) force update of moodle.org/dev/
7. Update Moodledocs default redirect and add version link to https://docs.moodle.org/overview/
8. Update the integration server by cloning all the "master" jobs to a new "MXY" view. Adjust "master" compare DB jobs to check for upgrade from MOODLE_XY_STABLE.

One week after

1. Publish the X.Y+ packages @ download.moodle.org
2. Create a new release notes page for the next version X.Y.1 (here you can find one template for that)
3. Prepare, spam and publish in Docs the security stuff (Security news and release notes with links to security advisories)
   • (@todo: integrate the advisories under the CVE advisories standard).

One month after

1. Publish the X.(Y+1)dev packages @ download.moodle.org
2. Decide the "code freeze" and "qa begins" days for next X.(Y+1) major release and put them in the moodle.development calendar. Unless exception they will be -6w and -5w before release date.

See also

• Release process
• Deprecation