Release PyGMT v0.4.0

[maxrjones]

Release: v0.4.0
Scheduled Date: 2021/06/20
Pull request due date: 2021/06/18

Priority PRs/issues to complete prior to release

• Reinstall optional geopandas dependency on CI tests (Reinstall optional geopandas dependency on CI tests #1331)
• Specify rectangle's width and height via style parameter in multi-parameter symbols example (Specify rectangle's width and height via style parameter in multi-parameter symbols example #1325)
• Allow x/y/z input for blockmedian and blockmean (Allow x/y/z input for blockmedian and blockmean #1319)
• Raise a warning for the use of short-form parameters when long-forms are available (Raise a warning for the use of short-form parameters when long-forms are available #1316)
• Update grdfill parameters (Update grdfill parameters for GMT 6.2.0 #1283)
• Support tab completion by inserting aliases into the method signature (Support tab completion in Jupyter by inserting aliases into the method signature #1282)
• Figure.plot3d: Deprecate parameter "columns" to "incols" (remove in v0.6.0) (Figure.plot3d: Deprecate parameter "columns" to "incols" (remove in v0.6.0) #1040)

Before release:

• Reserve a DOI on Zenodo by clicking on "New Version" @weiji14
• Finish up 'Changelog entry for v0.x.x' Pull Request: @meghanrjones
  • Add a new entry in doc/_static/version_switch.js for documentation switcher
  • Update citation information https://github.com/GenericMappingTools/pygmt#citing-pygmt
  • Add the documentation link https://github.com/GenericMappingTools/pygmt#documentation-for-other-versions
  • Add compatibility information https://github.com/GenericMappingTools/pygmt#compatibility-with-python-and-gmt-versions
  • Copy draft changelog from Release Drafter and edit it to look nice

Release:

• At the PyGMT release page on GitHub:
  • Edit the draft release notes with the finalized changelog
  • Set the tag version and release title to vX.Y.Z
  • Make a release by clicking the 'Publish Release' button, this will automatically create a tag too
• Manually upload the pygmt-vX.Y.Z.zip and baseline-images.zip files to https://zenodo.org/deposit, ensure that it is filed under the correct reserved DOI

After release:

• Update conda-forge pygmt-feedstock [Usually done automatically by conda-forge's bot] (pygmt v0.4.0 conda-forge/pygmt-feedstock#17)
• Bump PyGMT version on https://github.com/GenericMappingTools/try-gmt (@meghanrjones, Bump to PyGMT v0.4.0 try-gmt#23)
• Announce the release on:
  • GMT forum (https://forum.generic-mapping-tools.org/t/pygmt-v0-4-0-released)
  • [Major/Minor releases only] GMT website (News) @michaelgrund
  • ResearchGate @michaelgrund
  • Twitter (https://twitter.com/gmt_dev/status/1406864460124463106)

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• Party 🎉 (don't tick before all other checkboxes are ticked!)

[maxrjones]

There was discussion at the community meeting about a GMT 6.2.1 release depending on the outcome of GenericMappingTools/gmt#5343. If that ends up being needed, I think we may want to delay PyGMT v0.4.0 so that GMT 6.2.1 is required rather than 6.2.0.

[weiji14]

There was discussion at the community meeting about a GMT 6.2.1 release depending on the outcome of GenericMappingTools/gmt#5343. If that ends up being needed, I think we may want to delay PyGMT v0.4.0 so that GMT 6.2.1 is required rather than 6.2.0.

The histogram bug does look bad, but I'm still reluctant to postpone the release any further as SciPy sprints are coming up (17-18 July). There is a degree of flexibility between PyGMT and GMT versions, and histogram users could install GMT 6.2.1 (once that gets released) to have the bugfix. But I'll defer to the rest of the team on whether we should wait a bit longer.

P.S. I've reserved the Zenodo DOI for PyGMT v0.4.0 (10.5281/zenodo.4978645).

[core-man]

histogram users could install GMT 6.2.1 (once that gets released) to have the bug fix.

I agree with this point, so I also prefer to release the PyGMT as the current plan.

[michaelgrund]

histogram users could install GMT 6.2.1 (once that gets released) to have the bug fix.

I agree with this point, so I also prefer to release the PyGMT as the current plan.

Same opinion.

[maxrjones]

Sounds good for keeping to the current schedule. I will update the changelog tomorrow.

[michaelgrund]

Although I'm limited in time this weekend, I could make the announcements on the webiste and Researchgate once the release is done 😉.

[core-man]

FYI, I made a rough news draft at hackmd: https://hackmd.io/@pygmt/v0-4-0_announcement. I mainly copied it from v0-3-1_announcement, removed some finished tasks and added only a little about v0-4-0. We could polish it later after we finish #1341.

[michaelgrund]

FYI, I made a rough news draft at hackmd: https://hackmd.io/@pygmt/v0-4-0_announcement. I mainly copied it from v0-3-1_announcement, removed some finished tasks and added only a little about v0-4-0. We could polish it later after we finish #1341.

Already updated some points and added a few comments.

[weiji14]

Woohoo, thanks team! PyGMT v0.4.0's Zenodo DOI now works at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4978645. Let's wait for the conda package update to come in first and then we can make the announcement.

Also good to see that the PyGMT v0.4.0 package on Pip is 25x smaller (264.8 kB) compared to v0.3.1 (6.5 MB), thanks to #1086 😄

[michaelgrund]

Announcements on website (PR needs to be accepted) and Researchgate are done!