make/README.git

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Copyright (C) 2002-2024 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This file is part of GNU Make.

GNU Make is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the
terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software
Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later
version.

GNU Make is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY
WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR
A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with
this program.  If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
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Obtaining Git Code
------------------

This seems redundant, since if you're reading this you most likely have
already performed this step; however, for completeness, you can obtain the GNU
make source code via Git from the FSF's Savannah project
<https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/make/>:

  $ git clone git://git.savannah.gnu.org/make.git


Changes using Git
-----------------

If you do not have push privileges to the GNU Make Git repository, see the
README file section "Submitting Patches" for information.

If you have push privileges to the GNU Make Git repository keep this
information in mind:

Starting with GNU Make 4.0 we no longer keep a separate ChangeLog file in
source control.  We use the Gnulib git-to-changelog conversion script to
convert the Git comments into ChangeLog-style entries for release.  As a
result, please format your Git comments carefully so they will look clean
after conversion.  In particular, each line of your comment will have a TAB
added before it so be sure your comment lines are not longer than 72
characters; prefer 70 or less.  Please use standard ChangeLog formats for
your commit messages (sans the leading TAB of course).

Rule #1: Don't rewrite pushed history on master (no "git push --force").
Rule #2: Feel free to rewrite pushed history on personal branches.
Rule #3: Squash-merge or rebase + merge --ff-only, rather than merging from
         personal branches into master.

Typical simple workflow might be:

  * Edit files / make / make check
  * Use "git status" and "git diff" to verify your changes
  * Use "git add" to stage the changes you want to make
  * Use "git commit" to commit the staged changes to your local repository
  * Use "git pull -r" to accept new changes from the upstream repository
  * Use "git push" to push your commits back to the upstream repository

For Emacs users, there are many options for Git integration but I strongly
recommend Magit: https://magit.vc/  It makes the workflow much clearer, and
has advanced features such as constructing multiple commits from various files
and even from different diff chunks in the same file.  There is a video
available which helps a lot.


Coding Standards
----------------

GNU Make code adheres to the GNU Coding Standards.  Please use only spaces and
no TAB characters in source code.

Additionally, GNU Make is a foundational bootstrap package for the GNU
project; as such it is conservative about language features it expects.
However, GNU Make does rely on the Gnulib portability library, and Gnulib
currently requires a ISO C99 compiler.  So features in ISO C99 can be
assumed.


Building From Git for POSIX
---------------------------

To build GNU Make from Git on POSIX systems such as GNU/Linux, you will
need to install the following extra software:

* autoconf >= 2.69
* automake >= 1.16.1
* autopoint
* texinfo (for makeinfo)
* gettext
* pkg-config
* GCC
* GNU Make (POSIX make is not sufficient)

And any tools that those utilities require (GNU m4, etc.)

To run the tests you must install Perl.

To create dist files you will additionally need:

* lzip (to create tar.lz dist files)
* texlive (or some other TeX package)

GNU Make requires Gnulib to provide some facilities.  If you want to maintain
a local installation of gnulib you can set GNULIB_SRCDIR to point to it.
Otherwise, ./bootstrap will obtain a clone for you.

Due to issues with gnulib's getloadavg, you must have automake 1.16.1 or
above.  This version may not yet be available through GNU/Linux package
managers.  If you need to install from source be sure to set ACLOCAL_PATH to
point to the pkg-config location (e.g., /usr/share/aclocal).

If you want to build from Git with a non-GCC compiler, add "MAKE_CFLAGS=" to
your make command line (or at least remove any flags your compiler does not
support).

When building from Git you must build in the source directory: "VPATH
builds" from remote directories are not supported.  Once you've created
a distribution, of course, you can unpack it and do a VPATH build from
there.

After checking out the code, you will need to run the bootstrap script:

 $ ./bootstrap

Alternatively you can just pull content from remote locations with:

 $ ./bootstrap --pull

And/or just re-generate auto-generatable files with:

 $ ./bootstrap --gen

(Running ./bootstrap does both in one step.)

At this point you have successfully brought your Git copy of the GNU
make source directory up to the point where it can be treated
more-or-less like the official package you would get from ftp.gnu.org.
That is, you can just run:

  $ ./configure
  $ make check

to build and test GNU Make.

NOTE! This method builds GNU Make in "maintainer mode".  Make programs built
      in this mode will be slower, possibly MUCH slower: there are various
      sanity checks enabled.  Further this mode assumes a modern GCC, GNU
      libc, and well-formed system headers and enables a high level of
      warnings AND enables -Werror to turn warnings into failures.

      If you want to build from Git with "maintainer mode" disabled, add
      "MAKE_MAINTAINER_MODE=" to the make command line.  If you want to turn
      off the extra warning flags, add "MAKE_CFLAGS=" to the make command
      line.  If you want to keep the warnings but not fail, add
      "EXTRA_CFLAGS=-Wno-error" to the make command line.

      For example:
        $ ./configure
        $ make check MAKE_MAINTAINER_MODE= MAKE_CFLAGS=
        $ make install


Building From Git for Windows
-----------------------------

If you have a UNIX emulation like CYGWIN you can opt to run the general build
procedure above; it will work.  Consult README.W32 for information on options
you might want to use when running ./configure.

If you can't or don't want to do that, then first run the .\bootstrap.bat
script to "prime" your Git workspace:

  > .\bootstrap.bat

Next, follow the instructions in the README.W32 file.

Note, neither of these methods are tested regularly by the GNU Make
maintainers.  Building for Windows from a distribution tarball IS tested
regularly.

NOTE! "Maintainer mode" (see above) IS ENABLED when building from Git using
      the build_w32.bat file.


Debugging and Testing
---------------------

These instructions have been tested on GNU systems.  I have no idea if they
work on non-GNU systems (Windows, MacOS, etc.)

* Alternate Configurations:
  The maintMakefile has a rule for running configure with various different
  options, with and without packages.  Run:

    make check-alt-config

* Valgrind:
  You can run all tests under valgrind by passing the -memcheck option:

    (cd tests && ./run_make_tests -make ../make -memcheck)

  Note, this is slow!  Also some tests will fail because of invoking valgrind.

* ASAN:
  You can build with ASAN and run tests, like this:

    make clean
    make -j8 CFLAGS='-ggdb3 -fsanitize=address' LDFLAGS='-ggdb3 -fsanitize=address'

  Then to check for corruption only but not memory leaks run:

    ASAN_OPTIONS='detect_stack_after_use_return=true:detect_leaks=false' make check

  To check for leaks too run:

    make check

  Note that ASAN is reporting many more errors than valgrind.  I don't know
  which one is wrong: I haven't looked at them closely.


Creating a Package
------------------

Once you have performed the above steps (including the configuration and
build) you can create a GNU Make package.  This is very simple, just
run:

  $ make dist-gzip

and, if you like:

  $ make dist-lzip

Even better, you should run this:

  $ make distcheck

Which will build both .gz and .lz package files, then unpack one into a
temporary location, try to build it and repack it, then verifying that
everything works, you get the same results, _and_ no extraneous files are
left over after the "distclean" rule.

This package can be unpacked and built to give a "normal" (non-maintainer
mode) result.


Steps to Release
----------------

Here are the things that need to be done (in more or less this order)
before making an official release.  If something breaks such that you need to
change code, be sure to start over again sufficiently that everything is
consistent (that's why we don't finalize the Git tag, etc. until the end).

  * Update the configure.ac file with the new release number.
  * Update the EDITION value in the doc/make.texi file.
  * Update the doc/make.1 file with the release date.
  * Update the NEWS file with the release number and date.
  * Ensure the Savannah bug list URL in the NEWS file uses the correct
    "Fixed Release" ID number.
  * Run "make distcheck" to be sure it all works.
  * Run "make check-alt-config" to be sure alternative configurations work
  * run "make tag-release" to create a Git tag for the release
  * Push everything:
    git push --tags origin master

The safest thing is to create an entirely new repository and build the final
package from there:

  git clone git://git.savannah.gnu.org/make.git make-release
  cd make-release

If you don't want to create a new repository then run "git clean -fdx".
Then:

  ./bootstrap
  ./configure
  make distcheck

Perform test builds on whichever systems you have access to.

Use a previous announcement as a template to create an announcement in a text
file then sign it with GPG:

  gpg --clearsign <announcement.txt>

Or, use your mail client's PGP/GPG signing capabilities.

NOTE! In order to publish a package on the FSF FTP site you need to have my
      GPG private key, and my passphrase to unlock it.

      Depending on your distribution (whether GnuPG is integrated with your
      keyring etc.) the upload operation will either pop up a window asking
      for the GPG key passphrase one time, or else it will use the CLI to ask
      for the GPG passphrase _THREE_ times.  Sigh.


Publishing a Release Candidate
------------------------------

Usually I publish one or two release candidates for people to test before
making an official release.  Release candidates use a GNU numbering scheme,
which add a ".9x" release number to the PREVIOUS major release.  So the first
release candidate for GNU Make 4.4 would be GNU Make 4.3.90, the second
release candidate would be 4.3.91, etc.

Upload a release candidate using:

  make upload-alpha

Announce a release candidate to these mailing lists:

    To:  bug-make@gnu.org
    BCC: help-make@gnu.org, make-w32@gnu.org, make-alpha@gnu.org

You will have to approve the BCC's on the mailing list admin sites.  Send
separate copies to (don't use CC as replies will go to these lists):

  * coordinator@translationproject.org
  * platform-testers@gnu.org


Publishing a Release
--------------------

When publishing a final release there are extra steps that need to be taken:

  * Run "make update-makeweb" to get a copy of the GNU Make web pages
  * Run "make update-gnuweb" to get a copy of the GNU website boilerplate pages
  * Update the web page boilerplate if necessary:
      ( cd ~/src/make/make-web \
         && ~/src/gnu-www/www/server/standards/patch-from-parent \
                make.html \
                ~/src/gnu-www/www/server/standards/boilerplate.html )
  * Run "make gendocs" (requires gnulib) to generate the manual files for
    the GNU Make web pages.
  * Follow the directions from gendocs for the web page repository

Manage the Savannah project for GNU Make:

  * In Savannah edit the "Component Version" field and choose the "SCM" entry.
    Modify the "Value", "Rank", and "Description" values for the to refer to
    the new release.  The "Rank" field should be 10 less than the previous
    release so it orders properly.

  * In Savannah edit the "Fixed Release" field and choose the "SCM" entry.
    Modify the "Value", "Rank", and "Description" values for the to refer to
    the new release.  The "Rank" field should be 10 less than the previous
    release so it orders properly.

  * In Savannah create a new entry for the "Component Version" field:
      - Value: SCM
      - Rank:  20
      - Descr: Issues found in code retrieved from Source Code Management (Git), rather than a distributed version. Please include the SHA you are working with.

  * In Savannah create a new entry for the "Fix Release" field:
      - Value: SCM
      - Rank:  20
      - Descr: Fixed in Source Code Management (Git). The fix will be included in the next release of GNU Make.

Upload a release using:

  make upload-ftp

Announce a release to these mailing lists:

    To:  info-gnu@gnu.org, bug-make@gnu.org
    BCC: help-make@gnu.org, make-w32@gnu.org, make-alpha@gnu.org

You will have to approve the BCC's on the mailing list admin sites.  Send
separate copies to (don't use CC as replies will go to these lists):

  * coordinator@translationproject.org
  * platform-testers@gnu.org

Announce on Savannah:

  * Add a news item to the Savannah project site.

Start the next release:

  * Update configure.ac and add a ".90" to the release number.
  * Update the NEWS file with a new section for the release / date.
  * Update the Savannah URL for the bugs fixed in the NEWS section.


Appendix A - For The Brave
--------------------------

For those of you who trust me implicitly, or are just brave (or
foolhardy), here is a canned sequence of commands to build a GNU Make
distribution package from a virgin Git source checkout (assuming all the
prerequisites are available of course).

This list is eminently suitable for a quick swipe o' the mouse and a
swift click o' mouse-2 into an xterm.  Go for it!

For a debugging version:

./bootstrap && ./configure CFLAGS=-g && make check

For an optimized version

./bootstrap && ./configure && make check