RELEASING.md

Release Checklist

See https://pillow.readthedocs.io/en/stable/releasenotes/versioning.html for information about how the version numbers line up with releases.

Main Release

Released quarterly on January 2nd, April 1st, July 1st and October 15th.

• Open a release ticket e.g. #3154
• Develop and prepare release in main branch.
• Check GitHub Actions and AppVeyor to confirm passing tests in main branch.
• Check that all of the wheel builds Pillow Wheel Builder pass the tests in Travis CI and GitHub Actions.
• In compliance with PEP 440, update version identifier in src/PIL/_version.py
• Update CHANGES.rst.
• Run pre-release check via make release-test in a freshly cloned repo.
• Create branch and tag for release e.g.:

  git branch 5.2.x
  git tag 5.2.0
  git push --all
  git push --tags

• Create and check source distribution:

  make sdist
  twine check dist/*

• Create binary distributions
• Check and upload all binaries and source distributions e.g.:

  twine check dist/*
  twine upload dist/Pillow-5.2.0*

• Publish the release on GitHub
• In compliance with PEP 440, increment and append .dev0 to version identifier in src/PIL/_version.py

Point Release

Released as needed for security, installation or critical bug fixes.

• Make necessary changes in main branch.

• Update CHANGES.rst.

• Check out release branch e.g.:

  git checkout -t remotes/origin/5.2.x

• Cherry pick individual commits from main branch to release branch e.g. 5.2.x, then git push.

• Check GitHub Actions and AppVeyor to confirm passing tests in release branch e.g. 5.2.x.

• In compliance with PEP 440, update version identifier in src/PIL/_version.py

• Run pre-release check via make release-test.

• Create tag for release e.g.:

  git tag 5.2.1
  git push
  git push --tags

• Create and check source distribution:

  make sdist
  twine check dist/*

• Create binary distributions

• Check and upload all binaries and source distributions e.g.:

  twine check dist/*
  twine upload dist/Pillow-5.2.1*

• Publish the release on GitHub

Embargoed Release

Released as needed privately to individual vendors for critical security-related bug fixes.

• Prepare patch for all versions that will get a fix. Test against local installations.
• Commit against main, cherry pick to affected release branches.
• Run local test matrix on each release & Python version.
• Privately send to distros.
• Run pre-release check via make release-test
• Amend any commits with the CVE #
• On release date, tag and push to GitHub.

  git checkout 2.5.x
  git tag 2.5.3
  git push origin 2.5.x
  git push origin --tags

• Create and check source distribution:

  make sdist
  twine check dist/*

• Create binary distributions
• Publish the release on GitHub

Binary Distributions

Windows

• Contact @cgohlke for Windows binaries via release ticket e.g. #1174.
• Download and extract tarball from @cgohlke and copy into dist/

Mac and Linux

• Use the Pillow Wheel Builder:

  git clone https://github.com/python-pillow/pillow-wheels
  cd pillow-wheels
  ./update-pillow-tag.sh [[release tag]]

• Download wheels from the Pillow Wheel Builder release and copy into dist/

Publicize Release

• Announce release availability via Twitter e.g. https://twitter.com/PythonPillow/status/1013789184354603010

Documentation

• Make sure the default version for Read the Docs is up-to-date with the release changes

Docker Images

• Update Pillow in the Docker Images repository

  git clone https://github.com/python-pillow/docker-images
  cd docker-images
  ./update-pillow-tag.sh [[release tag]]