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+
+Putting out a new release
+-------------------------
+
+Here are the steps Roger takes when putting out a new Tor release:
+
+1) Use it for a while, as a client, as a relay, as a hidden service,
+and as a directory authority. See if it has any obvious bugs, and
+resolve those.
+
+1.5) As applicable, merge the maint-X branch into the release-X branch.
+
+2) Gather the changes/* files into a changelog entry, rewriting many
+of them and reordering to focus on what users and funders would find
+interesting and understandable.
+
+   2.1) Make sure that everything that wants a bug number has one.
+        Make sure that everything which is a bugfix says what version
+        it was a bugfix on.
+   2.2) Concatenate them.
+   2.3) Sort them by section. Within each section, sort by "version it's
+        a bugfix on", else by numerical ticket order.
+
+   2.4) Clean them up:
+
+   Standard idioms:
+     "Fixes bug 9999; bugfix on 0.3.3.3-alpha."
+
+   One space after a period.
+
+   Make stuff very terse
+
+   Make sure each section name ends with a colon
+
+   Describe the user-visible problem right away
+
+   Mention relevant config options by name.  If they're rare or unusual,
+   remind people what they're for
+
+   Avoid starting lines with open-paren
+
+   Present and imperative tense: not past.
+
+   'Relays', not 'servers' or 'nodes' or 'Tor relays'.
+
+   "Stop FOOing", not "Fix a bug where we would FOO".
+
+   Try not to let any given section be longer than about a page. Break up
+   long sections into subsections by some sort of common subtopic. This
+   guideline is especially important when organizing Release Notes for
+   new stable releases.
+
+   If a given changes stanza showed up in a different release (e.g.
+   maint-0.2.1), be sure to make the stanzas identical (so people can
+   distinguish if these are the same change).
+
+   2.5) Merge them in.
+
+   2.6) Clean everything one last time.
+
+   2.7) Run ./scripts/maint/format_changelog.py to make it prettier.
+
+3) Compose a short release blurb to highlight the user-facing
+changes. Insert said release blurb into the ChangeLog stanza. If it's
+a stable release, add it to the ReleaseNotes file too. If we're adding
+to a release-0.2.x branch, manually commit the changelogs to the later
+git branches too.
+
+4) In maint-0.2.x, bump the version number in configure.ac and run
+   scripts/maint/updateVersions.pl to update version numbers in other
+   places, and commit.  Then merge maint-0.2.x into release-0.2.x.
+
+   (NOTE: To bump the version number, edit configure.ac, and then run
+   either make, or 'perl scripts/maint/updateVersions.pl', depending on
+   your version.)
+
+5) Make dist, put the tarball up somewhere, and tell #tor about it. Wait
+a while to see if anybody has problems building it. Try to get Sebastian
+or somebody to try building it on Windows.
+
+6) Get at least two of weasel/arma/Sebastian to put the new version number
+in their approved versions list.
+
+7) Sign the tarball, then sign and push the git tag:
+  gpg -ba <the_tarball>
+  git tag -u <keyid> tor-0.2.x.y-status
+  git push origin tag tor-0.2.x.y-status
+
+8a) scp the tarball and its sig to the dist website, i.e.
+/srv/dist-master.torproject.org/htdocs/ on dist-master. When you want
+it to go live, you run "static-update-component dist.torproject.org"
+on dist-master.
+
+8b) Edit "include/versions.wmi" and "Makefile" to note the new version.
+
+9) Email the packagers (cc'ing tor-assistants) that a new tarball is up.
+   The current list of packagers is:
+       {weasel,gk,mikeperry} at torproject dot org
+       {blueness} at gentoo dot org
+       {paul} at invizbox dot io
+       {ondrej.mikle} at gmail dot com
+       {lfleischer} at archlinux dot org
+       {tails-dev} at doum dot org
+
+10) Add the version number to Trac.  To do this, go to Trac, log in,
+select "Admin" near the top of the screen, then select "Versions" from
+the menu on the left.  At the right, there will be an "Add version"
+box.  By convention, we enter the version in the form "Tor:
+0.2.2.23-alpha" (or whatever the version is), and we select the date as
+the date in the ChangeLog.
+
+11) Forward-port the ChangeLog.
+
+12) Wait up to a day or two (for a development release), or until most
+packages are up (for a stable release), and mail the release blurb and
+changelog to tor-talk or tor-announce.
+
+  (We might be moving to faster announcements, but don't announce until
+  the website is at least updated.)
+
+13) If it's a stable release, bump the version number in the maint-x.y.z
+    branch to "newversion-dev", and do a "merge -s ours" merge to avoid
+    taking that change into master.  Do a similar 'merge -s theirs'
+    merge to get the change (and only that change) into release.  (Some
+    of the build scripts require that maint merge cleanly into release.)