- Update translations see translation_process.md.
- Update release candidate version in
configure.ac
(CLIENT_VERSION_RC
). - Update manpages (after rebuilding the binaries), see gen-manpages.py.
- Update bips.md to account for changes since the last release (don't forget to bump the version number on the first line).
- Update version in
configure.ac
(don't forget to setCLIENT_VERSION_RC
to0
). - Update manpages (see previous section)
- Write release notes (see "Write the release notes" below).
- On both the master branch and the new release branch:
- update
CLIENT_VERSION_MAJOR
inconfigure.ac
- update
- On the new release branch in
configure.ac
(see this commit):- set
CLIENT_VERSION_MINOR
to0
- set
CLIENT_VERSION_BUILD
to0
- set
CLIENT_VERSION_IS_RELEASE
totrue
- set
- Update hardcoded seeds, see this pull request for an example.
- Update
src/chainparams.cpp
m_assumed_blockchain_size and m_assumed_chain_state_size with the current size plus some overhead (see this for information on how to calculate them). - Update
src/chainparams.cpp
chainTxData with statistics about the transaction count and rate. Use the output of thegetchaintxstats
RPC, see this pull request for an example. Reviewers can verify the results by runninggetchaintxstats <window_block_count> <window_final_block_hash>
with thewindow_block_count
andwindow_final_block_hash
from your output. - Update
src/chainparams.cpp
nMinimumChainWork and defaultAssumeValid (and the block height comment) with information from thegetblockheader
(andgetblockhash
) RPCs.- The selected value must not be orphaned so it may be useful to set the value two blocks back from the tip.
- Testnet should be set some tens of thousands back from the tip due to reorgs there.
- This update should be reviewed with a reindex-chainstate with assumevalid=0 to catch any defect that causes rejection of blocks in the past history.
- Clear the release notes and move them to the wiki (see "Write the release notes" below).
- Translations on Transifex
- Create a new resource named after the major version with the slug
[bitcoin.qt-translation-<RRR>x]
, whereRRR
is the major branch number padded with zeros. Usesrc/qt/locale/bitcoin_en.xlf
to create it. - In the project workflow settings, ensure that Translation Memory Fill-up is enabled and that Translation Memory Context Matching is disabled.
- Update the Transifex slug in
.tx/config
to the slug of the resource created in the first step. This identifies which resource the translations will be synchronized from. - Make an announcement that translators can start translating for the new version. You can use one of the previous announcements as a template.
- Change the auto-update URL for the resource to
master
, e.g.https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/master/src/qt/locale/bitcoin_en.xlf
. (Do this only after the previous steps, to prevent an auto-update from interfering.)
- Create a new resource named after the major version with the slug
- Update the versions.
- Create a pinned meta-issue for testing the release candidate (see this issue for an example) and provide a link to it in the release announcements where useful.
- Translations on Transifex
- Change the auto-update URL for the new major version's resource away from
master
and to the branch, e.g.https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/<branch>/src/qt/locale/bitcoin_en.xlf
. Do not forget this or it will keep tracking the translations on master instead, drifting away from the specific major release.
- Change the auto-update URL for the new major version's resource away from
- Merge the release notes from the wiki into the branch.
- Ensure the "Needs release note" label is removed from all relevant pull requests and issues.
To tag the version (or release candidate) in git, use the make-tag.py
script from bitcoin-maintainer-tools. From the root of the repository run:
../bitcoin-maintainer-tools/make-tag.py v(new version, e.g. 23.0)
This will perform a few last-minute consistency checks in the build system files, and if they pass, create a signed tag.
Install Guix using one of the installation methods detailed in contrib/guix/INSTALL.md.
Check out the source code in the following directory hierarchy.
cd /path/to/your/toplevel/build
git clone https://github.com/bitcoin-core/guix.sigs.git
git clone https://github.com/bitcoin-core/bitcoin-detached-sigs.git
git clone https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin.git
Open a draft of the release notes for collaborative editing at https://github.com/bitcoin-core/bitcoin-devwiki/wiki.
For the period during which the notes are being edited on the wiki, the version on the branch should be wiped and replaced with a link to the wiki which should be used for all announcements until -final
.
Generate the change log. As this is a huge amount of work to do manually, there is the list-pulls
script to do a pre-sorting step based on github PR metadata. See the documentation in the README.md.
Generate list of authors:
git log --format='- %aN' v(current version, e.g. 0.20.0)..v(new version, e.g. 0.20.1) | sort -fiu
Checkout the Bitcoin Core version you'd like to build:
pushd ./bitcoin
SIGNER='(your builder key, ie bluematt, sipa, etc)'
VERSION='(new version without v-prefix, e.g. 0.20.0)'
git fetch origin "v${VERSION}"
git checkout "v${VERSION}"
popd
Ensure your guix.sigs are up-to-date if you wish to guix-verify
your builds
against other guix-attest
signatures.
git -C ./guix.sigs pull
Create the macOS SDK tarball, see the macdeploy instructions for details.
Follow the relevant Guix README.md sections:
- Add other builders keys to your gpg keyring, and/or refresh keys
- Verifying build output attestations
pushd ./guix.sigs
git add "${VERSION}/${SIGNER}"/noncodesigned.SHA256SUMS{,.asc}
git commit -m "Add attestations by ${SIGNER} for ${VERSION} non-codesigned"
git push # Assuming you can push to the guix.sigs tree
popd
macOS codesigner only: Create detached macOS signatures (assuming signapple is installed and up to date with master branch)
tar xf bitcoin-osx-unsigned.tar.gz
./detached-sig-create.sh /path/to/codesign.p12
Enter the keychain password and authorize the signature
signature-osx.tar.gz will be created
tar xf bitcoin-win-unsigned.tar.gz
./detached-sig-create.sh -key /path/to/codesign.key
Enter the passphrase for the key when prompted
signature-win.tar.gz will be created
It is advised to test that the code signature attaches properly prior to tagging by performing the guix-codesign
step.
However if this is done, once the release has been tagged in the bitcoin-detached-sigs repo, the guix-codesign
step must be performed again in order for the guix attestation to be valid when compared against the attestations of non-codesigner builds.
pushd ./bitcoin-detached-sigs
# checkout the appropriate branch for this release series
rm -rf ./*
tar xf signature-osx.tar.gz
tar xf signature-win.tar.gz
git add -A
git commit -m "point to ${VERSION}"
git tag -s "v${VERSION}" HEAD
git push the current branch and new tag
popd
- Once the Windows and macOS builds each have 3 matching signatures, they will be signed with their respective release keys.
- Detached signatures will then be committed to the bitcoin-detached-sigs repository, which can be combined with the unsigned apps to create signed binaries.
- Add other builders keys to your gpg keyring, and/or refresh keys
- Verifying build output attestations
pushd ./guix.sigs
git add "${VERSION}/${SIGNER}"/all.SHA256SUMS{,.asc}
git commit -m "Add attestations by ${SIGNER} for ${VERSION} codesigned"
git push # Assuming you can push to the guix.sigs tree
popd
Combine the all.SHA256SUMS.asc
file from all signers into SHA256SUMS.asc
:
cat "$VERSION"/*/all.SHA256SUMS.asc > SHA256SUMS.asc
-
Upload to the bitcoincore.org server (
/var/www/bin/bitcoin-core-${VERSION}/
):-
The contents of each
./bitcoin/guix-build-${VERSION}/output/${HOST}/
directory, except for*-debug*
files.Guix will output all of the results into host subdirectories, but the SHA256SUMS file does not include these subdirectories. In order for downloads via torrent to verify without directory structure modification, all of the uploaded files need to be in the same directory as the SHA256SUMS file.
The
*-debug*
files generated by the guix build contain debug symbols for troubleshooting by developers. It is assumed that anyone that is interested in debugging can run guix to generate the files for themselves. To avoid end-user confusion about which file to pick, as well as save storage space do not upload these to the bitcoincore.org server, nor put them in the torrent.find guix-build-${VERSION}/output/ -maxdepth 2 -type f -not -name "SHA256SUMS.part" -and -not -name "*debug*" -exec scp {} [email protected]:/var/www/bin/bitcoin-core-${VERSION} \;
-
The
SHA256SUMS
file -
The
SHA256SUMS.asc
combined signature file you just created
-
-
Create a torrent of the
/var/www/bin/bitcoin-core-${VERSION}
directory such that at the top level there is only one file: thebitcoin-core-${VERSION}
directory containing everything else. Name the torrentbitcoin-${VERSION}.torrent
(note that there is no-core-
in this name).Optionally help seed this torrent. To get the
magnet:
URI use:transmission-show -m <torrent file>
Insert the magnet URI into the announcement sent to mailing lists. This permits people without access to
bitcoincore.org
to download the binary distribution. Also put it into theoptional_magnetlink:
slot in the YAML file for bitcoincore.org. -
Update other repositories and websites for new version
-
bitcoincore.org blog post
-
bitcoincore.org maintained versions update: table
-
Delete post-EOL release branches and create a tag
v${branch_name}-final
. -
Delete "Needs backport" labels for non-existing branches.
-
bitcoincore.org RPC documentation update
-
Install golang
-
Install the new Bitcoin Core release
-
Run bitcoind on regtest
-
Clone the bitcoincore.org repository
-
Run:
go run generate.go
while being incontrib/doc-gen
folder, and with bitcoin-cli in PATH -
Add the generated files to git
-
-
Update packaging repo
-
Push the flatpak to flathub, e.g. flathub/org.bitcoincore.bitcoin-qt#2
-
Push the snap, see https://github.com/bitcoin-core/packaging/blob/master/snap/build.md
-
-
This repo
-
Archive the release notes for the new version to
doc/release-notes/
(branchmaster
and branch of the release) -
Create a new GitHub release with a link to the archived release notes
-
-
-
Announce the release:
-
bitcoin-dev and bitcoin-core-dev mailing list
-
Bitcoin Core announcements list https://bitcoincore.org/en/list/announcements/join/
-
Bitcoin Core Twitter https://twitter.com/bitcoincoreorg
-
Celebrate
-
Both variables are used as a guideline for how much space the user needs on their drive in total, not just strictly for the blockchain. Note that all values should be taken from a fully synced node and have an overhead of 5-10% added on top of its base value.
To calculate m_assumed_blockchain_size
:
- For
mainnet
-> Take the size of the data directory, excluding/regtest
and/testnet3
directories. - For
testnet
-> Take the size of the/testnet3
directory.
To calculate m_assumed_chain_state_size
:
- For
mainnet
-> Take the size of the/chainstate
directory. - For
testnet
-> Take the size of the/testnet3/chainstate
directory.
Notes:
- When taking the size for
m_assumed_blockchain_size
, there's no need to exclude the/chainstate
directory since it's a guideline value and an overhead will be added anyway. - The expected overhead for growth may change over time, so it may not be the same value as last release; pay attention to that when changing the variables.