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Diffstat (limited to 'contributing/web_pages/news.mdwn')
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diff --git a/contributing/web_pages/news.mdwn b/contributing/web_pages/news.mdwn new file mode 100644 index 00000000..a700c3ad --- /dev/null +++ b/contributing/web_pages/news.mdwn @@ -0,0 +1,110 @@ +[[!meta copyright="Copyright © 2009, 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc."]] + +[[!meta license="""[[!toggle id="license" text="GFDL 1.2+"]][[!toggleable +id="license" text="Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this +document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or +any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant +Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license +is included in the section entitled [[GNU Free Documentation +License|/fdl]]."]]"""]] + +[[!meta title="""How to prepare and publish "a month of the Hurd" for the last +month"""]] + +We prepare *a month of the Hurd* in a public git branch (`master-news_next`), +and merge that one into `master` once we want to publish the news. The idea is +to record to-be-published changes on that branch at they time they arise, and +then publish them en bloc at the end of the month. + +As this is done on a separate branch, there are two options: you can have +separate repositories (*clones*, or *checkouts*; what you get from `git clone`) +for the `master` and `master-news_next` branches, or you can deal with both in +the same repository. Having separate repositories you don't have to remember +which branch you're on, and don't have to switch between branches before +beginning to edit files, and it doesn't matter -- as no switching between +branches is needed -- if you have uncomitted changes to some files. On the +other hand, you may want to keep it all in one repository, to save disk space, +and for shuffling different branches' commits being (a bit) easier. + +For practical work that means to use the following commands: + + * create a local branch for `master-news_next` + + $ git fetch + $ git checkout -b master-news_next origin/master-news_next + + * if you already have created a local branch `master-news_next`: update to + the latest version of it + + $ git checkout master-news_next + $ git pull --rebase + + * edit + + Always do check which branch you're on (asterisk in the first column of + `git branch`'s output), and only then begin to do your changes and commit + them. + + We should not update news items that have already been published (that is, + on <http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/news.html>; no problem for the + [[staging area|web_pages#staging_area]]), as the system will always also + update the RSS feeds, etc., causing the old news item to reappear on feeds, + which is a bit of a nuisance. + + * at the beginning of a month: create a new news entry + + $ cp contributing/web_pages/news/skeleton.mdwn news/YYYY-MM.mdwn + $ # edit the new file, then add the changes in git + $ git add news/YYYY-MM.mdwn + $ git commit -m "Begun the news entry for YYYY-MM." + + That is, use the [[news skeleton|skeleton]] as a template for the new + news snippet. It also includes a list of the places to watch for news. + + * check the outgoing changes + + $ git log --reverse -p -C origin/master-news_next..master-news_next + + * push the changes + + $ git push origin master-news_next + + * if push fails, pull and rebase the local changes on top of the remote + changes + + $ git pull --rebase + + This will only happen if someone else has been installing commits into + `origin`'s `master-news_next` branch since the last time you + synchronized to it. + + Note that this might cause some conflicts to arise -- if the remote + repository contains commits that conflict with any that you've been + recording in your local repository. For this reason, you might want to + already do this *rebase* before beginning you local edits, simply to + shorten the time frame in which such conflicts can arise. + (Theoretically, in the very rare case of very much concurrent editing + going on, you'd have to repeat this again (and again...) before + succeeding to push your changes.) + + * at the end of the month: prepare for publishing the news + + Edit the news entry's *meta date* value to the timestamp when the news + entry is [[published|news]]. We have to set that one manually, as + otherwise the timestamp of the news entry file's creation will be taken, + which is (much) earlier, and not what we want. We do not set the *meta + updated* value, as it's correct to update that one upon further + modifications of the news entries. + + * ... and publish + + $ git checkout master + $ git pull --rebase + $ git merge master-news_next + $ git push origin master + + That means, for publishing we merge `master-news_next` into `master`. + After that merge, work for the next month's news item can continue on + `master-news_next`. + + Arne Babenhauserheide uses a [[merge-news]] script for doing this. |