HACKING

Generated files
---------------

No generated file should be committed to a branch.  After checking out
a branch, running "./autogen.sh" will get the tree into a shape where
"configure; make" or "dpkg-buildpackage" will work.

Tags are different.  Read on.

Making a tag
------------

No generated file should be committed a branch, but release tags
should be buildable with "dpkg-buildpackage" right away after
exporting them, without the need to run autogen.sh.

In general, a tag should (at least) contain all the files that would
be in a distribution tarball produced by "make dist".

Run the included tool "git-make-dist" to create such a tag with Git.

Making releases
---------------

Version numbers are bumped post-release: configure.ac always contains
the version that is going to be released next and debian/changelog
contains a prepared entry for the next release with a "~unreleased"
suffix.

That suffix is there to reduce confusion when you build a Debian
package from trunk for testing purposes.  Those packages will be
clearly marked to be 'unreleased', and can not be confused with the
real releases.  Do not distribute these unreleased packages to other
people.

If you do want to label multiple intermediate non-releases, use
suffixes of the form "~unreleasedN".  Do this by changing the existing
debian/changelog entry in place.  Do not create a new entry.

As a rule, the topmost entry of the debian/changelog in trunk or in a
branch should always have a "~unreleased" or "~unreleasedN" suffix,
and no other entry should have such a suffix.  In contrast, a
debian/changelog file in a tag should not have a ~unreleased suffix.

When making the release, remove the "~unreleased" suffix in trunk (or
in the branch) and add a entry of the form "Released VERSION" in
ChangeLog.  Commit these changes.

Then make a tag by running 

    $ git-make-dist VERSION

You can check the content of the created tag with, for example,

    $ git ls-tree -R --name-only VERSION

In the branch, bump the version in configure.ac and create a new
debian/changelog (with the "~unreleased" suffix) in debian/changelog
and commit these changes.