Proposal

		      Generating Internal Releases

		  (Jim O'Dell / Last modified 11/01/88)



SUMMARY:



This document puts forth the definitions, procedure, and frequency for
generating internal K software releases over the lifetime of Falcon
software development.  The goals of making internal releases are:
 
 o early detection of problems brought on by new system compilations; 
 o consistency of working environment; 
 o provision of a backup of critical;
 o efficient use of disk space.



DEFINITIONS:



The K software currently is completely contained in a "K" directory and
is named by a Lisp machine logical pathname. By redefining the logical
pathname any given developer can use a different set of K sources and
binaries.

Making a release of the "K" software will consist of making a copy of
the complete "K" hierarchy and giving a new directory name to the
copy.

Compiling a release of the "K" software will consist of recompiling all
of the LISP files in a given "K" hierarchy.

The main line of development will always be in a given directory
("JB:K;") and will NOT change.



PROPOSAL:



 Generating A Release Of The K System Software

 
  Evaluate the form (make-k-system-release <host> <version>)

  where

  <host> is the name of the system host on which the release is
	 to be created (We are currently using "JB:")

  and
	
  <version> is the version number of the release. 

  Releases should be done when the relevant source files are relatively
quiescent; e.g., over the weekend.


 Finding The Current Version Number


  In the JB: root directory (obtainable by executing Dired on the
directory specification "JB:~;") will appear a series of directories
named "K-<version>" where <version> is a number.  The Release Version
Number is the number one greater than the <version> component of the
highest existing "K-" directory name.


 Compiling the Sources


  Requirements:  For now, it is necessary to recompile on a machine with
		 a Lambda installed.

  1.  Copy all source files into the trial directory "JB:TEST-K-SOURCES;".

  2.  Compile the copies, generating binary files into the
      "TEST-K-SOURCES" directory.

  3.  Repeat Step 2 until the system compiles correctly.

  4.  Run the regression test suite on the test system until minimal
      acceptability levels are recorded

  5.  Compile the original sources in the "JB:K-<version>"
      directory.

Steps 2, 3, and 5, involve the evaluation of the following forms, in
order:

	(load-k-system :recompile)

	(mega-boot :compile-type :recompile) 

If Steps 1-4 take more than a week to complete, the entire process shall
be repeated.


 System Maintenance Issues


Due to the limitations on disk space, only those
sources that are less than three months old will be kept online.
The only files that are exempt from quarterly deletion are those
without suffixes (such as .LISP, .QFASL, etc.)  These files
may be deleted only after discussion with the author.

COMMENTS:

STATUS: Open