Add the contents of my email about distribution targets as a new section.

Attribute John as an author.


git-svn-id: https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/trunk@27597 91177308-0d34-0410-b5e6-96231b3b80d8

1 files changed, 169 insertions, 2 deletions

diff --git a/docs/HowToReleaseLLVM.html b/docs/HowToReleaseLLVM.html
index 7d9f196..0648bc8 100644
--- a/docs/HowToReleaseLLVM.html
+++ b/docs/HowToReleaseLLVM.html
@@ -12,9 +12,11 @@
 <ol>
   <li><a href="#introduction">Introduction</a></li>
   <li><a href="#process">Release Process</a></li>
+  <li><a href="#dist">Distribution Make Targets</a></li>
 </ol>
 <div class="doc_author">
-  <p>Written by <a href="mailto:rspencer@x10sys.com">Reid Spencer</a></p>
+  <p>Written by <a href="mailto:rspencer@x10sys.com">Reid Spencer</a>,
+  <a href="mailto:criswell@cs.uiuc.edu">John Criswell</a></p>
 </div>
 
 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
@@ -273,7 +275,6 @@ fix <em>for the release</em>.
 </div>
 
 <!--
-<!-- ======================================================================= -->
 <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="release">Release</a></div>
 <div class="doc_text">
   <p>Release the distribution tarball to the public. This consists of generating
@@ -291,6 +292,172 @@ fix <em>for the release</em>.
 -->
 
 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
+<div class="doc_section"><a name="dist">Distribution Make Targets</a></div>
+<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
+<!-- ======================================================================= -->
+<div class="doc_subsection">Overview</div>
+<div class="doc_text">
+<p>The first thing you need to understand is that there are multiple make 
+targets to support this feature. Here's an overview, we'll delve into the 
+details later.</p>
+<ul>
+  <li><b>distdir</b> - builds the distribution directory from which the 
+  distribution will be packaged</li>
+  <li><b>dist</b> - builds each of the distribution tarballs (tar.gz, 
+  tar.bzip2, .zip). These can be built individually as well, with separate 
+  targets.</li>
+  <li><b>dist-check</b> - this is identical to <tt>dist</tt> but includes a 
+  check on the distribution that ensures the tarball can: unpack successfully,
+  compile correctly, pass 'make check', and pass 'make clean'.</li>
+  <li><b>dist-clean</b>- this just does a normal clean but also cleans up the
+  stuff generated by the other three <tt>dist</tt> targets (above).</li>
+</ul>
+<p>Okay, that's the basic functionality. When making a release, we want to 
+ensure that the tree you build the distribution from passes
+<tt>dist-check</tt>. Beyond fixing the usual bugs, there is generally one 
+impediment to making the release in this fashion: missing files. The 
+<tt>dist-check</tt> process guards against that possibility. It will either 
+fail and that failure will indicate what's missing, or it will succeed 
+meaning that it has proved that the tarballs can actually succeed in 
+building LLVM correctly and that it passes <tt>make check</tt>.</p>
+<!-- ======================================================================= -->
+<div class="doc_subsection">distdir</div>
+<p>This target builds the distribution directory which is the directory from 
+which the tarballs are generated. The distribution directory has the same 
+name as the release, e.g. LLVM-1.7). This target goes through the following 
+process:
+<ol>
+  <li>First, if there was an old distribution directory (for the current 
+  release), it is removed in its entirety and you see <tt>Removing old 
+  LLVM-1.7</tt></li>
+  <li>Second, it issues a <tt>make all ENABLE_OPTIMIZED=3D1</tt> to ensure 
+  that the everything in your tree can be built in release mode. Often times 
+  there are discrepancies in building between debug and release modes so it 
+  enforces release mode first. If that fails, the <tt>distdir</tt> target 
+  fails too. This is preceded by the message <tt>Making 'all' to verify 
+  build</tt>.</li>
+  <li>Next, it traverses your source tree and copies it to a new directory 
+  that has the name of the release (<tt>LLVM-M.m</tt> in our current case). 
+  This is the directory that will get tar'd. It contains all the software 
+  that needs to be in the distribution. During the copying process, it omits 
+  generated files, CVS directories, and any other "cruft" that's in your 
+  build tree. This is done to eliminate the possibility of huge distribution 
+  tarballs that include useless or irrelevant stuff in them. This is the 
+  trickiest part of making the distribution. Done manually you will either 
+  include stuff that shouldn't be in the distribution or exclude stuff that 
+  should. This step is preceded by the message <tt>Building Distribution 
+  Directory LLVM-1.7</tt></li>
+  <li>The distribution directory is then traversed and all <tt>CVS</tt> or 
+  <tt>.svn</tt> directories are removed. You see: <tt>Eliminating CVS/.svn 
+  directories from distribution</tt></li>
+  <li>The recursive <tt>dist-hook</tt> target is executed. This gives each 
+  directory a chance to modify the distribution in some way (more on this 
+  below).</li>
+  <li>The distribution directory is traversed and the correct file 
+  permissions and modes are set based on the type of file.</li>
+</ol>
+<p>To control the process of making the distribution directory correctly, 
+each Makefile can utilize two features:</p>
+<ol>
+  <li><b><tt>EXTRA_DIST</tt></B> - this make variable specifies which files 
+  it should distribute. By default, all source files are automatically 
+  included for distribution as well as certain <tt>well known</tt> files 
+  (see DistAlways variable in Makefile.rules for details). Each Makefile 
+  specifies, via the <tt>EXTRA_DIST</tt> variable, which additional files 
+  need to be distributed. Only those files that are needed to build LLVM 
+  should be added to <tt>EXTRA_DIST</tt>. <tt>EXTRA_DIST</tt> contains a 
+  list of file or directory names that should be distributed. For example, 
+  the top level Makefile contains 
+  <tt>EXTRA_DIST := test llvm.spec include</tt>. 
+  This means that in addition to regular things that are distributed at the 
+  top level (<tt>CREDITS.txt, LICENSE.txt</tt>, etc.) the distribution should
+  contain the entire <tt>test</tt> and <tt>include</tt> directories as well 
+  as the <tt>llvm.spec</tt> file.</li>
+  <li><b><tt>dist-hook</tt></B> - this make target can be used to alter the 
+  content of the distribution directory. For example, in the top level 
+  Makefile there is some logic to eliminate files in the <tt>include</tt> 
+  subtree that are generated by the configure script. These should not be 
+  distributed. Similarly, any <tt>dist-hook</tt> target found in any 
+  directory can add or remove or modify things just before it gets packaged. 
+  Any transformation is permitted. Generally, not much is needed.
+</ol>
+<p>You will see various messages if things go wrong:</p>
+<ol>
+  <li>During the copying process, any files that are missing will be flagged 
+  with: <tt>===== WARNING: Distribution Source 'dir/file' Not Found!</tt>
+  These must be corrected by either adding the file or removing it from 
+  <tt>EXTRA_DIST</tt>.
+  <li>If you build the distribution with <tt>VERBOSE=1</tt>, then you might 
+  also see: <tt>Skipping non-existent 'dir/file'</tt> in certain cases where 
+  its okay to skip the file.</li>
+  <li>The target can fail if any of the things it does fail. Error messages 
+  should indicate what went wrong.</li>
+</ol>
+<!-- ======================================================================= -->
+<div class="doc_subsection">dist</div>
+<p>This target does exactly what <tt>distdir</tt> target does, but also 
+includes assembling the tarballs. There are actually four related targets 
+here:<p>
+  <ul>
+    <li><b><tt>dist-gzip</tt></b>: package the gzipped distribution tar 
+    file. The distribution directory is packaged into a single file ending in 
+    <tt>.tar.gz</tt> which is gzip compressed.</li>
+    <li><b><tt>dist-bzip2</tt></b>: package the bzip2 distribution tar file. 
+    The distribution directory is packaged into a single file ending in 
+    <tt>.tar.bzip2</tt> which is bzip2 compressed.</li>
+    <li><b><tt>dist-zip</tt></b>: package the zip distribution file. The 
+    distribution directory is packaged into a single file ending in 
+    <tt>.zip</tt> which is zip compressed.</li>
+    <li><b><tt>dist</tt></b>: does all three, dist-gzip, dist-bzip2,
+    dist-zip</li>
+  </ul>
+<!-- ======================================================================= -->
+<div class="doc_subsection">dist-check</div>
+<p>This target checks the distribution. The basic idea is that it unpacks the 
+distribution tarball and ensures that it can build. It takes the following 
+actions:</p>
+<ol>
+  <li>It depends on the <tt>dist-gzip</tt> target which, if it hasn't already 
+  been built, builds the gzip tar bundle (see dist and distdir above).</li>
+  <li>removes any pre-existing <tt>_distcheckdir</tt> at the top level.</li>
+  <li>creates a new <tt>_distcheckdir</tt> directory at the top level.</li>
+  <li>creates a <tt>build</tt> subdirectory and an <tt>install</tt> 
+  subdirectory under <tt>_distcheckdir</tt>.</li>
+  <li>unzips and untars the release tarball into <tt>_distcheckdir</tt>, 
+  creating <tt>LLVM-1.7</tt> directory (from the tarball).</li>
+  <li>in the build subdirectory, it configures with appropriate options to build
+  from the unpacked source tarball into the <tt>build</tt> directory with 
+  installation in the <tt>install</tt> directory.</li>
+  <li>runs <tt>make all</tt></li>
+  <li>runs <tt>make </tt><tt>check</tt></li>
+  <li>runs <tt>make install</tt></li>
+  <li>runs <tt>make uninstall</tt></li>
+  <li>runs <tt>make dist</tt></li>
+  <li>runs <tt>make clean</tt></li>
+  <li>runs <tt>make dist-clean</tt></li>
+</ol>
+<p>If it can pass all that, the distribution will be deemed distribution 
+worth y and you will see:<p>
+<pre>===== LLVM-1.7.tar.gz Ready For Distribution =====</pre>
+<p>This means the tarball should then be tested on other platforms and have the
+nightly test run against it. If those all pass, THEN it is ready for 
+distribution.</p>
+<p>
+A note about disk space: using <tt>dist-check</tt> will easily triple the 
+amount of disk space your build tree is using. You might want to check 
+available space before you begin.</p>
+<!-- ======================================================================= -->
+<div class="doc_subsection">dist-clean</div>
+<h2>dist-clean</h2>
+<p>In addition to doing a normal <tt>clean</tt>, this target will clean up the 
+files and directories created by the distribution targets. In particular the 
+distribution directory <tt>(LLVM-X.X</tt>), check directory 
+(<tt>_distcheckdir</tt>), and the various tarballs will be removed. You do 
+this after the release has shipped and you no longer need this stuff in your 
+build tree.</p>
+</div>
+
+<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
 <hr>
 <address>
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