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Releases

To do - Simplify the branch or version structure

Just release from the master branch (but keep the stable branch tracking the latest stable release plus updates to documentation).

Version scheme

A Stack package or executable may have a version with three or four components: X.Y.Z or X.Y.Z.A.

Development or stable versions

  • Versions with an even Y component are development versions (the master branch)
  • Versions with an odd Y component are stable versions (the stable branch, or in a rc/vX.Y release candidate branch for not-yet-released versions)

Unreleased or released versions

  • Versions with an even Z component are unreleased versions (including release candidates)
  • Versions with an odd Z component are released versions
  • Except for the release branch (which matches exactly the most recent release), all branches must have an even Z component
  • Branches other than stable, release, and a rc/vX.Y release candidate will always have a 0 Z component

Use of a fourth component

  • Release candidate binaries will be released with an odd A component
  • Hackage-only dependency compatibility patch releases add a A component (e.g. v2.5.5.1, in the release branch)
  • Pre-release unstable binaries will be released with the date as the A component (e.g. 2.14.0.20240126)

Examples:

  • 2.15.0.0: v2.15.x series pre-release branch (rc/v2.15 branch)
  • 2.15.0.1: first release candidate for first release of v2.15.x series (rc/v2.15 branch)
  • 2.15.0.2: continuing development on pre-release branch
  • 2.15.0.3: second release candidate for first release of v2.15.x series (rc/v2.15 branch)
  • 2.15.1: first release of the 2.15.x series (release branch)
  • 2.15.2: development for second release of 2.15.x series (stable branch)
  • 2.15.2.1: first release candidate for second release of 2.15.x series (rc/v2.15 branch)
  • 2.15.3: second release of 2.15.x series (release branch)
  • 2.15.3.1: first Hackage-only patch of 2.15.3 (release branch)
  • 2.15.3.2: second Hackage-only patch of 2.15.3 (release branch)
  • 2.14.0: unstable development code (master branch)
  • 2.14.0.20240126: pre-release snapshot of unstable version (master branch)

Pre-release checks

  1. Check for any P0 and P1 issues that should be dealt with before release.

  2. Check for un-merged pull requests that should be merged before release.

  3. Ensure the release and stable branches are merged to the master branch.

  4. Check the copyright dates, and update if needed.

  5. Check the backwards compatability section of CONTRIBUTING.md is up to date.

  6. Ensure CI matrices in docs (travis-complex, appveyor, azure) have current stackage snapshots and GHC versions (e.g. https://github.com/commercialhaskell/stack/pull/4565/files)

  7. Update any stack-*.yaml that uses a nightly snapshot to the latest nightly (go over the extra-deps too) and ensure the project builds and tests pass. For example, command:

    stack build --stack-yaml=… --haddock --test --bench --no-run-benchmarks

  8. The Windows installer is built using an NSIS compiler. Check that the NSIS compiler that will be used is capable of handling large strings.

  9. Ensure the integration tests pass on Linux, macOS and Windows.

  10. Some people prefer, or need, to build Stack with Cabal (the tool). Check that cabal.project is up to date (the specified with-compiler:). Check that cabal.config is up to date and is not missing dependencies relevant on Windows and non-Windows operating systems, following the instructions in cabal.project.

Release preparation

A: In the master branch

  • package.yaml: bump to the next release candidate version (bump the second component to the next odd number, ensure the third component is 0, and add patchlevel 0; e.g. from 2.14.0 to 2.15.0.0).

    Attention

    Be sure to update also stack.cabal (for example by using stack build --dry-run).

  • ChangeLog.md: Check for any entries that snuck into the previous version's changes due to merges (git diff origin/stable HEAD ChangeLog.md)

B: Create a new release candidate branch

Cut a new release candidate (RC) branch named rc/vX.Y from the master branch.

C: Return to the master branch

  1. package.yaml: bump version to the next unstable version (bump the second component to the next even number, ensure the third component is 0; e.g. from 2.15.0 to 2.16.0).

    Attention

    Be sure to update also stack.cabal (for example by using stack build --dry-run).

  2. Changelog.md:

    • Change the title of the existing Unreleased changes section to what will be the next final (non-RC) release (e.g. v2.15.1).

    • Add new "Unreleased changes" section:

      ## Unreleased changes

Release notes:

**Changes since vX.Y.Z:**

Major changes:

Behavior changes:

Other enhancements:

Bug fixes:

  3. cabal.config: Ensure the stack constraint is set to the same version as in the package.yaml.

D: In the release candidate branch

  1. Review documentation for any changes that need to be made:

    • Ensure all the documentation pages are listed in the mkdocs.yaml file. Use git diff --stat origin/stable..HEAD doc/ to look for new or deleted files.
    • Any new documentation pages should have the "may not be correct for the released version of Stack" warning at the top.

    • Search for old Stack version, unstable Stack version, and the next "obvious" possible versions in sequence, and UNRELEASED and replace with next release version (X.Y.1, where Y is odd).

      Attention

      Do NOT update the repository's issue and pull request templates (in the .github directory) to point at the new release version yet!

    • Search for old snapshots, set to latest snapshot (e.g. indoc/GUIDE.md where it references the "currently the latest LTS")

    • Look for any links to "latest" (latest/) documentation, replace with version tag

  2. Check for any platform entries that need to be added to (or removed from):

  3. Re-do the pre-release checks (see the section above).

  4. Update package.yaml and ChangeLog.md. This step differs between a first, second etc release candidate and a final release.

    • package.yaml: bump to first odd patchlevel version (e.g. X.Y.0.1).

    • ChangeLog.md: Rename the “Unreleased changes” section to the same version as package.yaml, and mark it clearly as a release candidate (e.g. vX.Y.0.1 (release candidate)). Remove any empty sections.

    • package.yaml: bump to next odd patchlevel version (e.g. X.Y.0.3).

    • ChangeLog.md: Rename the “Unreleased changes” section to the same version as package.yaml, and mark it clearly as a release candidate (e.g. vX.Y.0.3 (release candidate)). Remove any empty sections.

    • package.yaml: bump version to odd last component and no patchlevel (e.g. from X.Y.0.2 to X.Y.1).

    • ChangeLog.md: consolidate all the release candidate changes into a single section for the final release version.

    Attention

    After updating package.yaml, be sure to update also stack.cabal (for example by using stack build --dry-run).

  5. Ensure the stack == constraint in cabal.config is set to be equal to the same version as package.yaml.

  6. Follow the steps in the Release process section below that apply.

Release process

The release process differs between a first, second etc release candidate and a final release.

A: Integration tests workflow passes

Ensure that the GitHub Integration Tests workflow passes on the branch that you are releasing.

This workflow will run automatically for the rc/* branch.

B: Push a Git tag

Push a Git tag. The tag should be rc/vX.Y.Z.A, with X.Y.Z.A matching the version in package.yaml.

For example, command:

git tag -m rc/vX.Y.Z.A rc/vX.Y.Z.A
git push origin rc/vX.Y.Z.A

C: Edit the draft GitHub release, and publish it

Wait for the GitHub Integration Tests workflow to complete for the branch you just created. This will create a draft GitHub release and upload the bindists (plus signatures and hashes) to it.

Edit the draft GitHub release:

  • Add (release candidate) to the name field and ensure that This is a pre-release is checked.
  • Add the ChangeLog to the description.

Publish the GitHub release.

D: Consider adding other platforms to the GitHub release

The Integration Tests workflow is limited to the platforms supported by the GitHub-hosted runners (currently, x86_64 and macOS/AArch64) and any self-hosted runners (currently, only Linux/AArch64). However, it is possible to edit the GitHub release to include binary distributions for other platforms. The prerequisites are:

  • a computer with that platform (operating system, machine architecture);
  • a sufficiently-recent existing version of Stack for that platform;
  • a tool to print SHA checksums, such as shasum on Linux and macOS; and
  • the GNU Privacy Guard tool (gpg), which has had imported the private key used to sign Stack executables (see further below).

The steps are similar to those in the workflow:

  1. Change to the root directory of the Stack project.

  2. stack etc/scripts/release.hs check, to check before building.

  3. stack etc/scripts/release.hs build, to build. The output 'assets' (stack-<version>-<os>-<architecture> ...) will be in the _release directory in the root directory of the Stack project.

  4. For each of the output assets, create a corresponding SHA 256 file with a .sha256 extension. For example (where <asset> is the name of the file):

    shasum -a 256 <asset> > <asset>.sha256

  5. For each of the output assets, create a corresponding ASCII-armored signature file with an .asc extension using gpg. For example (where <asset> is the name of the file):

    gpg --digest-algo=sha512 --detach-sig --armor -u 0x575159689BEFB442 <asset>

  6. Edit the GitHub release to include the output assets and their corresponding .sha256 and .asc files.

The private key used to sign Stack executables can be exported from a version of gpg to which it has previously been imported with:

gpg --armor --export-secret-key 0x575159689BEFB442

The private key, so obtained, can be imported into gpg by:

  1. Commanding gpg --import.

  2. Pasting the private key.

  3. Entering Ctrl+D and Enter.

E: Update versions and ChangeLog.md for 'unreleased'

In the rc/vX.Y branch:

  • package.yaml: bump the version number. Bump the fourth component to an even number (e.g. from 2.15.0.1 to 2.15.0.2).

    Attention

    Be sure to update also stack.cabal (for example by using stack build --dry-run).

  • ChangeLog.md: Add an “Unreleased changes” section (update the “changes since” version):

    ## Unreleased changes

Release notes:

**Changes since vX.Y.Z:**

Major changes:

Behavior changes:

Other enhancements:

Bug fixes:

F: Request update of GHCup's metadata

Raise a pull request at the haskell/ghcup-metadata GitHub repository to request an addition to GHCup's latest metadata configuration file for prereleases, tagged as the latest prerelease. In the metadata, change the tags for any past Stack prereleases to indicate that they are no longer the latest prerelease.

G: Announce the release candidate

Announce the release candidate to the following mailing lists

  • haskell-cafe@haskell.org

    Note

    You have to be a member of the mailing list to post to it. See the list's interface

  • haskell-stack@googlegroups.com

    Note

    Members of the group can post but posts from new members are held for moderation.

  • commercialhaskell@googlegroups.com

    Note

    Members of the group can post but posts from new members are held for moderation.

Announce the release candidate on the Haskell Community.

Announce the release candidate in the #stack-users channel of the Haskell Foundation's Slack workspace.

Announce the release candidate in the Haskell Stack room (address #haskell-stack:matrix.org) on Matrix.

Announce the release candidate in Reddit's Haskell community.

In each case, use the subject (change 'first' to 'second' etc for subsequent release candidates):

  • ANN: first release candidate for stack-X.Y.Z

In the message, include:

  • a link to the release on GitHub (https://github.com/commercialhaskell/stack/releases/tag/rc/vX.Y.Z.A) to download it
  • the release description from Github.

A: Integration tests workflow passes

Ensure that the GitHub Integration Tests workflow passes on the branch that you are releasing.

This workflow will run automatically for rc/* branches.

B: Push a Git tag

Push a Git tag. The tag should be vX.Y.Z, where X.Y.Z matches the version in package.yaml.

For example, command:

git tag -m vX.Y.Z vX.Y.Z
git push origin vX.Y.Z

C: Edit the draft GitHub release, and publish it

Wait for the GitHub Integration Tests workflow to complete for the tag you just created. This will create a draft GitHub release and upload the bindists (plus signatures and hashes) to it.

Edit the draft GitHub release:

  • Add the ChangeLog to the description.

  • Get the list of contributors to the release and add it to the description. For example, command:

    git shortlog -s origin/release..HEAD|sed 's/^[0-9 \t]*/* /'|LC_ALL=C sort -f

    (git shortlog -s origin/release..HEAD) -Replace '^[0-9 \t]*', '* ' | Sort-Object

Publish the GitHub release.

D: Consider adding other platforms to the GitHub release

The Integration Tests workflow is limited to the platforms supported by the GitHub-hosted runners (currently, x86_64 and macOS/AArch64) and any self-hosted runners (currently, only Linux/AArch64). However, it is possible to edit the GitHub release to include binary distributions for other platforms. The prerequisites are:

  • a computer with that platform (operating system, machine architecture);
  • a sufficiently-recent existing version of Stack for that platform;
  • a tool to print SHA checksums, such as shasum on Linux and macOS; and
  • the GNU Privacy Guard tool (gpg), which has had imported the private key used to sign Stack executables (see further below).

The steps are similar to those in the workflow:

  1. Change to the root directory of the Stack project.

  2. stack etc/scripts/release.hs check, to check before building.

  3. stack etc/scripts/release.hs build, to build. The output 'assets' (stack-<version>-<os>-<architecture> ...) will be in the _release directory in the root directory of the Stack project.

  4. For each of the output assets, create a corresponding SHA 256 file with a .sha256 extension. For example (where <asset> is the name of the file):

    shasum -a 256 <asset> > <asset>.sha256

  5. For each of the output assets, create a corresponding ASCII-armored signature file with an .asc extension using gpg. For example (where <asset> is the name of the file):

    gpg --digest-algo=sha512 --detach-sig --armor -u 0x575159689BEFB442 <asset>

  6. Edit the GitHub release to include the output assets and their corresponding .sha256 and .asc files.

The private key used to sign Stack executables can be exported from a version of gpg to which it has previously been imported with:

gpg --armor --export-secret-key 0x575159689BEFB442

The private key, so obtained, can be imported into gpg by:

  1. Commanding gpg --import.

  2. Pasting the private key.

  3. Entering Ctrl+D and Enter.

E: Upload to Hackage and reset branches

Upload the stack package to Hackage with the command:

stack upload . --pvp-bounds=lower

Reset the release branch to the released commit. For example, with the commands:

git checkout release
git merge --ff-only vX.Y.Z
git push origin release

Update the stable branch to the released commit. For example, with the commands:

git checkout stable
git merge --ff-only vX.Y.Z
git push origin stable

Merge any changes made in the RC, release or stable branches to the master branch. Be careful about version and ChangeLog.md. It is best to do this by making a ci/merge-stable-to-master branch and waiting for CI to pass, then merging. If anything is complicated to merge, consider making it a pull request and getting it reviewed rather than merging immediately.

Delete the RC branch, both locally and on the remote. For example with the commands:

git branch -d rc/vX.Y
git push origin :rc/vX.Y

F: Activate the version on Read The Docs

Activate the version for new release tag, on readthedocs.org.

Ensure that the stable documentation has updated.

G: Update get.haskellstack.org redirects

Update the https://get.haskellstack.org redirects by updating the _redirects file in the root of the commercialhaskell/get-haskellstack-org GitHub repository.

For further information, see the get.haskellstack.org redirects documentation.

Test with the commands:

curl -vL https://get.haskellstack.org/stable/linux-x86_64.tar.gz >/dev/null
curl -vL https://get.haskellstack.org/upgrade/linux-x86_64.tar.gz >/dev/null

curl -vL https://get.haskellstack.org/stable/linux-x86_64.tar.gz >NUL
curl -vL https://get.haskellstack.org/upgrade/linux-x86_64.tar.gz >NUL

and make sure it redirects to the new version.

H: Update versions and ChangeLog.md for 'unreleased'

In the stable branch:

  • package.yaml: bump the version number. Bump the third component to an even number (e.g. from 2.15.1 to 2.15.2).

    Attention

    Be sure to update also stack.cabal (for example by using stack build --dry-run).

  • ChangeLog.md: Add an “Unreleased changes” section (update the “changes since” version):

    ## Unreleased changes

Release notes:

**Changes since vX.Y.Z:**

Major changes:

Behavior changes:

Other enhancements:

Bug fixes:

I: Update the repository's issue and pull request templates

The repository's issue and pull request templates are the .github directory. Update them to refer to the new release version (X.Y.Z).

J: Request update of GHCup's metadata

Raise a pull request at the haskell/ghcup-metadata GitHub repository to request an addition to GHCup's latest metadata configuration files for releases and 'vanilla' releases, tagged as the latest release. (The GHCup project will decide whether, and when, to recommend the release.) In the metadata, change the tags for any past Stack releases to indicate that they are no longer the latest release.

K: Announce the release

Announce the release to the following mailing lists

  • haskell-cafe@haskell.org

    Note

    You have to be a member of the mailing list to post to it. See the list's interface

  • haskell-stack@googlegroups.com

    Note

    Members of the group can post but posts from new members are held for moderation.

  • commercialhaskell@googlegroups.com

    Note

    Members of the group can post but posts from new members are held for moderation.

Announce the release on the Haskell Community.

Announce the release in the #stack-users channel of the Haskell Foundation's Slack workspace.

Announce the release in the Haskell Stack room (address #haskell-stack:matrix.org) on Matrix.

Announce the release in Reddit's Haskell community.

In each case, use the subject: * ANN: stack-X.Y.Z

In the message, include:

  • the release description from Github.