dev.languagetool.org

How to make a LanguageTool Release

This is our internal documentation for how to make a new release. This is only relevant to release managers. Also see Roadmap.

How to enter Feature Freeze

• languagetool-community-website: ./i18n_update.sh
• in languagetool: wti pull
• send an email to the forum about the code freeze:
  • planned release date
  • ask for webtranslateit.com updates if needed
  • ask for fixing bugs at https://github.com/languagetool-org/languagetool/issues?state=open
  • ask for updating the CHANGES.md
  • no new i18n strings allowed
• ask people to test the snapshots on twitter and in the forum
• run more tests locally to catch exceptions (locally for dnaber: /media/Data/languagetool/regression-test/*.sh)
• build the ZIPs and see how much bigger they have become compared to the latest release
• optionally, run checkurl.bash to fix old URLs

How to make a LanguageTool release

We build artifacts with Maven and upload them to oss.sonatype.org with a script, where they can then be released on Maven Central. Note that this is independent of the *.zip and *.oxt files we release. If there’s a problem with the Sonatype-release for Maven Central (which is only relevant for Java developers), we can always make the release of the user artifacts (*.zip and *.oxt) and care about the other problems later.

Preparation

• 5.3 only: remove wagon-webdav and distributionManagement from top-level pom.xml
• make sure you’re on Java 1.8 (we support Java 1.8 and being on Java 1.8 is the easiest way to ensure that): java -version
• update local source: git pull -r
• work in a local branch: git checkout -b vX.Y-release
• make sure licenses in languagetool-office-extension, languagetool-wikipedia, and languagetool-standalone are in sync (src/main/resources/third-party-licenses), except icons.txt:
  • diff -r languagetool-office-extension/src/main/resources/third-party-licenses languagetool-wikipedia/src/main/resources/third-party-licenses
  • diff -r languagetool-office-extension/src/main/resources/third-party-licenses languagetool-standalone/src/main/resources/third-party-licenses
• update the i18n property files by running wti pull
  • Daniel has the API key for webtranslateit.com
• Update the version number in:
  • JLanguageTool.VERSION in JLanguageTool.java
  • manifest.xml
  • description.xml
  • top-level pom.xml: only set property languagetool.version
  • all pom.xml files: mvn versions:set
  • commit changes
• mvn clean test
• ./build.sh languagetool-standalone package -DskipTests
  • test the result in languagetool-standalone/target/
  • also test testrules.sh and testrules.bat
  • check how much bigger the ZIP has become compared to the previous release
• ./build.sh languagetool-wikipedia package -DskipTests
  • test the result in languagetool-wikipedia/target
• ./build.sh languagetool-office-extension package -DskipTests
  • test the result in languagetool-office-extension/target, rename the *zip to *oxt and install it in LibreOffice/OpenOffice, test with https://github.com/languagetool-org/languagetool/blob/master/languagetool-office-extension/src/test/resources/manual-testing.odt?raw=true
• run org.languagetool.dev.RuleOverview and paste the result to languages.html (when running from IntelliJ IDEA, set “Working directory” to $MODULE_WORKING_DIR$)
• update CHANGES.md file
  • sort language changes alphabetically
  • make sure list of updated languages matches languages.html (but that covers 6 months, so check manually)
• update README.md file
• make sure there are no useless files (these would become part of the download file):
  • run git status and check the output under “untracked files”
  • make sure there are no *.bak files in resources

Now we’re ready to create and upload the Maven artifacts. Details are at http://central.sonatype.org/pages/ossrh-guide.html:

Releasing the artifacts to Maven Central

• mvn clean install
• mvn javadoc:jar
• mvn source:jar
• cd languagetool-standalone/scripts
• open the stage-artifacts.sh script
  • set the version number
  • make sure the list of Maven projects to be deployed is up-to-date
  • ./stage-artifacts.sh (this will sign and upload the artifacts to the staging area, this will take > 30 minutes)
• log in at https://oss.sonatype.org
  • go to “Staging Repositories” page.
  • select the staging repository: orglanguagetool-xyz (usually at the bottom of the list)
  • click “Close”
  • test the artifacts in project languagetool-client-example:
    • adapt the pom.xml (set the new “orglanguagetool-xyz” as a repo and update the dependencies)
    • clean local m2 repo
    • run mvn clean package
    • unzip the uberjar and replace META-INF/org/langetool/language-module.properties with the language-module.properties from languagetool-standalone (this is needed because with the original file, all languages except one get lost)
    • re-zip the directory and run the JAR, it should check a tiny English text fragment with all languages
  • if okay, click “Release” (requires a refresh) - note that once released, the artifacts cannot be deleted or modified! It may take a few hours before the artifacts actually become available.
• set a tag in git: git tag -a vX.Y -m 'version X.Y'
• push the tag: git push origin vX.Y

Releasing the ZIP and OXT for end-users

• check out the new tag from git and run mvn clean package
• copy the stand-alone LT to a path with a space and test some sentences
• upload to the server:
  • scp LanguageTool-5.x.zip LanguageTool-5.x.oxt CHANGES.md README.md languagetool@ltp1:/home/languagetool/old-lt-org/download/

After the Release

• git checkout vx.y-release
• Set the new version (x.y-SNAPSHOT) in these files:
  • JLanguageTool.VERSION in JLanguageTool.java
  • manifest.xml
  • description.xml
  • property languagetool.version in top-level pom.xml (not version, the next command will take care of that)
  • all pom.xml files: mvn versions:set
  • commit
• merge the branch back to trunk: git checkout master; git merge vX.Y-release
• update: git pull (not pull -r)
• push your changes: git push

Update website

• link the release on the server:
  • cd /home/languagetool/old-lt-org/download
  • rm LanguageTool-stable.oxt && ln -s LanguageTool-5.X.oxt LanguageTool-stable.oxt && rm LanguageTool-stable.zip && ln -s LanguageTool-5.X.zip LanguageTool-stable.zip
• update roadmap
• enter the next feature freeze date in your personal calendar so you don’t forget it
• Javadoc
  • git checkout vX.Y
  • run mvn javadoc:aggregate, then upload target/site/apidocs/ to server at /home/languagetool/old-lt-org/development/api - note: this requires a local mvn install -DskipTests
  • git checkout master
• set new version number in Java API
• set new version in languagetool.update.xml (this is linked in resources/description.xml and allows updating LT from within the LO/OO extension manager)
  • install the old version of LT in LibreOffice and see if the automatic update from extension manager works

Write announcements

• http://forum.languagetool.org - include checksums (Unix command: sha256sum <file>).
• LanguageTool Announcement list at https://ui.newsletter2go.com
• Social networks via Zoho Social (twitter, Facebook)
• http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/project/languagetool
• https://extensions.libreoffice.org/extensions/languagetool via https://extensions.libreoffice.org/admin (Note: set the “State” to “final release”)
• optional: the personal Xing account of the maintainer who makes the release
• Update this release documentation if there have been any changes in the process

API Server Update

No action is needed, the API gets re-deployed every day with the latest snapshot by create-snapshot.sh (unless there are test failures).

Update the web app at community.languagetool.org

Just update the LT dependencies in BuildConfig.groovy. Deployment happens automatically, the create-snapshot.sh script does this automatically every day.

Backups and Misc

Not really related to a release, but should be done once in a while and the release is a good opportunity:

• Download forum backup at http://forum.languagetool.org/admin/backups