Requirements
Environment
Pre-freeze
1. Coordinate with Debian security updates
Sanity check
Freeze
1. Major release
2. Bugfix release
3. Common steps for bugfix and major releases
Update included files
1. Upgrade bundled binary Debian packages
2. Upgrade Tor Browser
3. Upgrade Tor Browser AppArmor profile
4. Upgrade Thunderbird
5. Upgrade custom packages for VeraCrypt integration
6. Update PO files
When preparing an actual release
1. Major release
2. Bugfix release
Update other base branches
Update more included files
1. Changelog
2. Included website
3. Website translations
Call for translation
Enable OpenPGP signing
Build the almost-final image
Tag the release in Git
Prepare the versioned APT suites
Build images
1. Sanity check
2. SquashFS file order
3. Build the final image
Generate the OpenPGP signatures and Torrents
Prepare incremental upgrades
1. Build the Incremental Upgrade Kits
2. Prepare upgrade-description files
3. Prepare the image description file for Tails Verification
Done with OpenPGP signing
Upload images
1. Sanity check
2. Publish the ISO, IMG, and IUKs over HTTP
3. Announce, seed and test the Torrent
4. ISO history
Testing
Update the website and Git repository
1. If preparing a final release
2. If preparing a release candidate
3. In any case
Go wild!
1. Wait for the HTTP mirrors to catch up
2. Sanity checks
3. Push
4. Check translation are correct
5. Bug tracker
6. Twitter
7. Tor blog
8. Amnesia news
Prepare for the next development cycle
Related pages

Read the remainder of this document from the branch used to prepare the release!

Requirements

To release Tails you'll need some packages installed:

tidy mktorrent transmission-cli
aufs DKMS module for your running kernel.
squashfs-tools that honors $SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH. Install it from our custom devel APT suite.
tails-iuk dependencies, including suggested packages (see debian/control in the debian branch of its repo)
tails-perl5lib dependencies (same trick as tails-iuk to get the list)
po4a from Stretch: the version in testing/sid extracts Markdown headings in a different way, which makes tons of strings fuzzy.

Environment

Export the following environment variables to be able to copy'n'paste the scripts snippets found on this page:

  export VERSION=$(dpkg-parsechangelog -SVersion)
  export TAG=$(echo "${VERSION:?}" | sed -e 's,~,-,')
  export PREVIOUS_VERSION=$(dpkg-parsechangelog --offset 1 --count 1 -SVersion)
  export PREVIOUS_TAG=$(echo "${PREVIOUS_VERSION:?}" | sed -e 's,~,-,')

NEXT_PLANNED_MAJOR_VERSION: set to the version number of the next major Tails release; if you're preparing a RC for a major release, use that major release; otherwise, use whatever the next planned major release is
SECOND_NEXT_PLANNED_MAJOR_VERSION: set to the version number of the second next major Tails release; e.g. if preparing the RC for the 3.9 major release, then set this to 3.12 (3.9 is the next major release, 3.10 and 3.11 are bugfix releases, 3.12 is a major release).
NEXT_PLANNED_BUGFIX_VERSION: set to the version number of the next bugfix Tails release; if the next release is a bugfix release, use that one; otherwise, use ${VERSION}.1
NEXT_POTENTIAL_EMERGENCY_VERSION: set to the version number we'll give to the next emergency release if we have to put one out
MAJOR_RELEASE: set to 1 if preparing a major release or a release candidate for a major release, to 0 otherwise
ISOS: the directory where one stores tails-amd64-* sub-directories like the ones downloaded with BitTorrent.
ARTIFACTS: the directory where build artifacts (e.g. the .packages file) land.
MASTER_CHECKOUT: a checkout of the master branch of the main Tails Git repository.
RELEASE_BRANCH=$(if [ "$MAJOR_RELEASE" = 1 ]; then echo -n testing; else echo -n stable; fi)
RELEASE_CHECKOUT: a checkout of the branch of the main Tails Git repository used to prepare the release (stable or testing).
TAILS_SIGNATURE_KEY=A490D0F4D311A4153E2BB7CADBB802B258ACD84F
IUK_CHECKOUT: a checkout of the relevant tag of the iuk Git repository.
PERL5LIB_CHECKOUT: a checkout of the relevant tag of the perl5lib Git repository.
DIST: either 'alpha' (for RC:s) or 'stable' (for actual releases)
export WEBSITE_RELEASE_BRANCH="web/release-${TAG:?}"

Pre-freeze

The release manager role documentation has more tasks that should be done early enough.

Coordinate with Debian security updates

See Debian security updates.

Sanity check

Visit the Jenkins RM view and check that the jobs for the release branch have good enough results.

Freeze

Major release

If we are at freeze time for a major release:

Merge the master Git branch into devel:

 git checkout devel && git fetch origin && git merge --no-ff origin/master

Merge each APT overlay suite listed in the devel branch's config/APT_overlays.d/ into the devel APT suite.
Merge the devel Git branch into the testing one:
```
 git checkout testing && git merge devel
```
... and check that the resulting config/APT_overlays.d/ in the testing branch is empty.
Hard reset the testing custom APT suite to the current state of the devel one.
Freeze the time-based APT repository snapshots that shall be used during the freeze.
Make it so the time-based APT repository snapshots are kept around long enough, by bumping their Valid-Until to 10 days after the next major release (the one after the one you're preparing)'s scheduled date: time-based snapshots

Bugfix release

If we are at freeze time for a bugfix release:

Merge the master Git branch into stable:

 git checkout stable && git fetch && git merge --no-ff origin/master

Merge each APT overlay suite listed in the stable branch's config/APT_overlays.d/ into the stable APT suite.

Common steps for bugfix and major releases

Reset the release branch's config/base_branch:

    echo "${RELEASE_BRANCH:?}" > config/base_branch && \
       git commit config/base_branch \
           -m "Restore ${RELEASE_BRANCH:?}'s base branch."

Bootstrap manual testing coordination:

Create a pad.
Copy the manual test suite into it.
Send the pad URL to the usual testers (see manual_testers.mdwn in the RM team's Git repository), end-to-end encrypted.

Update included files

Upgrade bundled binary Debian packages

Skip this section if you are preparing a bugfix release.

The goal here is to make sure the bundled binary Debian packages contain up-to-date localization files, so:

If you are preparing a release candidate, build at least the packages that change user-visible strings, so that translators can use the RC to check the status of their work and identify what's left to do.
If you are preparing a major release, build at least the packages that got translation updates since the RC: we've sent a call for translation while releasing the RC so the least we can do is to incorporate the work that ensued into our final release :)

For each bundled Debian package, cd into the package's root directory (e.g. a checkout of the whisperback repository), import translations from Transifex and sanity-check them:

cd whisperback
"${RELEASE_CHECKOUT:?}"/import-translations && \
"${RELEASE_CHECKOUT:?}"/submodules/jenkins-tools/slaves/check_po

Then, git rm the PO files that have issues (alternatively, if you feel like it you can fix them but your changes will be overwritten next time we import translations from Transifex).

And finally, commit:

git add po && git commit \
    -m "Update POT and PO files, pull updated translations from Transifex."

Then see the relevant release processes, and upload the packages to the release branch's custom APT suite:

tails-installer
tails-greeter
perl5lib
persistence-setup
tails-iuk
whisperback:
- follow upstream release process
- build a Debian package

Upgrade Tor Browser

See the dedicated page: tor-browser

Upgrade Tor Browser AppArmor profile

See the dedicated page: tor-browser AppArmor patch

Upgrade Thunderbird

See the dedicated page: thunderbird

Upgrade custom packages for VeraCrypt integration

See the dedicated page: veracrypt

Update PO files

Pull updated translations for languages translated in Transifex, refresh the code PO files, and commit the result, including new PO files:

cd "${RELEASE_CHECKOUT:?}" && \
./import-translations  && \
./refresh-translations && \
./submodules/jenkins-tools/slaves/check_po && \
git add po && git commit -m 'Update PO files.'

If check_po complains:

delete the offending PO files;
send a note to tails-l10n@boum.org so that they get in touch with whoever can fix them.

When preparing an actual release

If we're about to prepare an image for a final (non-RC) release, then follow these instructions:

Major release

Merge each APT overlay suite listed in the testing branch's config/APT_overlays.d/ into the testing custom APT suite.

Bugfix release

For bugfix releases, we generally do not put any RC out, so freeze time is the same as preparing the actual release. Hence, the following steps have already been done above, and this section is a noop in the general case.

Merge each APT overlay suite listed in the stable branch's config/APT_overlays.d/ into the stable custom APT suite.

Update other base branches

Merge the release branch into devel following the instructions for merging base branches.
Thaw, on the devel branch, the time-based APT repository snapshots that were used during the freeze. It's fine if that results in a no-op (it depends on how exactly previous operations were performed).
Merge devel into feature/buster, without following the instructions for merging base branches. (For now feature/buster is handled as any other topic branch forked off devel: its base branch is set to devel.) If the merge conflicts don't look like something you feel confident resolving properly, abort this merge and let the Foundations Team know.
Ensure that the release, devel and feature/buster branches have the expected content in config/APT_overlays.d/: e.g. it must not list any overlay APT suite that has been merged already.

Push the modified branches to Git:

 git push origin                          \
    "${RELEASE_BRANCH:?}:${RELEASE_BRANCH:?}" \
    feature/buster:feature/buster       \
    devel:devel

Update more included files

Changelog

Remove the placeholder entry for next release in debian/changelog, and then:

git checkout "${RELEASE_BRANCH:?}" && \
DEBEMAIL='tails@boum.org' DEBFULLNAME='Tails developers' \
./release ${VERSION:?} ${PREVIOUS_TAG:?}

This populates the Changelog with the Git log entries.

Then, launch an editor for the needed cleanup of the result:

dch -e

Changelog entries can be dispatched into those usual sections:

Major changes
Security fixes
Bugfixes
Minor improvements and updates
Build system
Test suite

Then, gather other useful information from:

every custom bundled package's own Changelog (Greeter, Persistent Volume Assistant, etc.);
the diff between the previous version's .packages file and the one from the to-be-released images; look for:
- security fixes
- new upstream releases of applications mentioned in features
- new upstream releases of other important components such as the Linux kernel
the "Fix committed" section on the Release Manager View for ${VERSION:?} in Redmine.

Finally, sanity check the version and commit:

if [ "$(dpkg-parsechangelog -SVersion)" = "${VERSION:?}" ]; then
    git commit debian/changelog -m "Update changelog for ${VERSION:?}."
else
    echo 'Error: version mismatch: please compare ${VERSION:?} with the last entry in debian/changelog'
fi

Included website

Merge master

Merge master into the branch used for the release:

git fetch origin && git merge origin/master

version number

If preparing a RC, skip this part.

In the branch used to build the release, update the wiki/src/inc/* files to match the version number and date of the new release. Set the date at least 24 hours in the future! Between tests and mirror synchronization, the build will not be released on the same day. Try to make sure it matches the date of the future signature.

RELEASE_DATE='2015-11-03'

echo "${VERSION:?}"      > wiki/src/inc/stable_amd64_version.html
echo -n "${RELEASE_DATE:?}" > wiki/src/inc/stable_amd64_date.html
for type in img iso; do
   basename="tails-amd64-${VERSION:?}"
   filename="${basename:?}.${type:?}"
   echo "TZ=UTC gpg --no-options --keyid-format long --verify ${filename:?}.sig ${filename:?}" \
        > wiki/src/inc/stable_amd64_${type:?}_gpg_verify.html && \
   echo "http://dl.amnesia.boum.org/tails/stable/${basename:?}/${filename:?}" \
        > wiki/src/inc/stable_amd64_${type:?}_url.html
   echo "https://tails.boum.org/torrents/files/${filename:?}.sig" \
        > wiki/src/inc/stable_amd64_${type:?}_sig_url.html
   echo "https://tails.boum.org/torrents/files/${filename:?}.torrent" \
        > wiki/src/inc/stable_amd64_${type:?}_torrent_url.html
done
./build-website
git commit wiki/src/inc/ -m "Update version and date for ${VERSION:?}."

Website translations

Refresh the website PO files and commit the ones corresponding to pages that were added or changed accordingly to changes coming with the new release. This e.g. ensures that the RC call for translation points translators to up-to-date PO files:

./build-website && git add wiki/src && git commit -m 'Update website PO files.'
git push origin "${RELEASE_BRANCH:?}:${RELEASE_BRANCH:?}"

Call for translation

If at freeze time, send a call for translations to tails-l10n, making it clear what Git branch the translations must be based on, and what are the priorities. Also, add a few words to remember the translation teams using Git that they should regularly contact Transifex translators, as detailed on the documentation for translators.

To get a list of changes on the website:

git diff --stat ${PREVIOUS_TAG:?}.. -- \
    wiki/src/'*'.{mdwn,html} \
    ':!wiki/src/blueprint*' \
    ':!wiki/src/contribute*' \
    ':!wiki/src/inc' \
    ':!wiki/src/news*' \
    ':!wiki/src/security*'

Enable OpenPGP signing

If you have an OpenPGP smart card

If you have an OpenPGP smart card (i.e. if you are one of the usual release managers) go fetch it. Remember to only plug it when needed! A pro tip is to never plug it unless prompted which gpg will do for you. Then just unplug it as soon as the .sig is done.

Otherwise: importing the signing key

This is only relevant when the master key has been reassembled, e.g. for signing a Tails emergency release where none of the usual release managers are available.

You should never import the Tails signing key into your own keyring, and a good practice is to import it to a tmpfs to limit the risks that the private key material is written to disk:

export GNUPGHOME=$(mktemp -d)
sudo mount -t ramfs ramfs "${GNUPGHOME:?}"
sudo chown $(id -u):$(id -g) "${GNUPGHOME:?}"
sudo chmod 0700 "${GNUPGHOME:?}"
gpg --homedir ${HOME:?}/.gnupg --export ${TAILS_SIGNATURE_KEY:?} | gpg --import
gpg --import path/to/private-key

Let's also ensure that strong digest algorithms are used for our signatures, like the defaults we set in Tails:

cp config/chroot_local-includes/etc/skel/.gnupg/gpg.conf "${GNUPGHOME:?}"

Build the almost-final image

Build ISO and USB images from the release branch. Do not set keeprunning nor rescue in $TAILS_BUILD_OPTIONS.
Carefully read the build logs to make sure nothing bad happened.
Keep the resulting build artifacts until the end of this release process.

Record where the manifest of needed packages is stored:

 export PACKAGES_MANIFEST=XXX ; \
 [ -f "${PACKAGES_MANIFEST:?}" ] || echo "ERROR: PACKAGES_MANIFEST is incorrect"

Tag the release in Git

git tag -u "${TAILS_SIGNATURE_KEY:?}" \
  -m "tagging version ${VERSION:?}" "${TAG:?}" && \
git push origin "${TAG:?}" "${RELEASE_BRANCH:?}"

(Pushing the tag is needed so that the APT repository is updated, and the Tails APT configuration works at build and boot time. It might be premature, as testing might reveal critical issues, but this is a signed tag, so it can be overridden later. Yes, there is room for improvement here.)

XXX: From this push of a tag, the builds in Jenkins fail because we prevent it to continue if the last debian/changelog entry has a tag. There are workarounds we need to decide and implement.

Prepare the versioned APT suites

Prepare the versioned APT suite in our custom APT repository.
Prepare tagged snapshots of upstream APT repositories:
```
    ./bin/tag-apt-snapshots "${PACKAGES_MANIFEST:?}" "${TAG:?}"
```
Note:
- This command can take a while (about a dozen minutes).
- It's expected that the packages that were pulled from our custom APT repository are listed under "some packages were not found anywhere" (because we are currently not using time-based snapshots for our custom APT repository). However, no other package should be on that list. Now, we have a "safety" net, in case you don't notice such a problem: if other packages are missing, the next build (that will use the newly created partial, tagged APT repository) will fail.

Build images

Sanity check

Verify that the Tor Browser release used in Tails still is the most recent. Also look if there's a new -buildX tag (e.g. tor-browser-60.3.0esr-8.0-1-build1) for the Firefox version the Tor Browser we want to ship is based on in these Git repositories:

A new tag may indicate that a new Tor Browser release or rebuild is imminent.

Better catch this before people spend time doing manual tests.

SquashFS file order

Install the almost final USB image to a USB stick.
Boot this USB stick a first time to trigger re-partitioning.
Shut down this Tails.
Boot this USB stick on bare metal again.
Add profile to the kernel command-line.
Login with the default settings in the Greeter (e.g. do not configure an Administration Password).
Wait for the "Tor is ready" notification.
Start Tor Browser.
A few minutes later, once the boot-profile process has been killed, retrieve the new sort file from /var/log/boot-profile.
Backup the old sort file: cp config/binary_rootfs/squashfs.sort{,.old}
Copy the new sort file to config/binary_rootfs/squashfs.sort.
Cleanup a bit:
- remove var/log/live/config.pipe: otherwise the boot is broken or super-slow
- remove the bits about kill-boot-profile at the end: they're only useful when profiling the boot

Inspect the Git diff (including diff stat), apply common sense:

 diff -NaurB \
     <( cut -d' ' -f1 config/binary_rootfs/squashfs.sort.old | sort ) \
     <( cut -d' ' -f1 config/binary_rootfs/squashfs.sort     | sort ) \
     | less

git commit -m 'Updating SquashFS sort file' config/binary_rootfs/squashfs.sort

Build the final image

Then all included files should be up-to-date and the versioned APT suite should be ready, so it is time to:

Mark the version as "released" in the changelog:

 dch --release --no-force-save-on-release --maintmaint && \
 git commit -m "Mark Tails ${VERSION:?} as released." debian/changelog

Export SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH:

 export SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH=$(date --utc --date="$(dpkg-parsechangelog --show-field=Date)" '+%s')

tag the release again, with all included files in:
```
 git tag -f -u "${TAILS_SIGNATURE_KEY:?}" \
         -m "tagging version ${VERSION:?}" "${TAG:?}" && \
 git push --force origin "${TAG:?}" && \
 git push origin "${RELEASE_BRANCH:?}"
```
Note: for Jenkins to build the release you must push the release branch with its tip tagged. I.e. if you deviate from the above commands by e.g. committing a commit in between git tag and the first git push then Jenkins won't build from the tag -- please avoid that!
build the final image! Do not set keeprunning nor rescue in $TAILS_BUILD_OPTIONS. Our build system will apply the correct compression settings automatically so don't bother setting it yourself.
Compare the new build manifest with the one from the previous, almost final build:
```
 diff -Naur \
    "${PACKAGES_MANIFEST:?}" \
    "${ARTIFACTS:?}/tails-amd64-${VERSION:?}.build-manifest"
```
They should be identical, except that the debian-security serial might be higher.

To ensure we publish the final build's .build-manifest, run:

 export PACKAGES_MANIFEST="${ARTIFACTS:?}/tails-amd64-${VERSION:?}.build-manifest"

Let's sanity check that Jenkins reproduced your images.

Visit the URL printed by this command:
```
echo "https://jenkins.tails.boum.org/job/build_Tails_ISO_${RELEASE_BRANCH}/"
```
Find the job (probably the last one) and make sure the ISO and USB images built by Jenkins:
- were built from the correct Git commit
- have the same file size as the images you built
- have the same hash (in the .shasum file) as the images you built
Then:
- If all hashes match: yay, we're good to go!
  
  Set the $MATCHING_JENKINS_BUILD_ID environment variable to the ID of this job (an integer).
- If there is a hash mismatch for the image: ouch! Now we are in a tricky situation: on the one hand it seems like a poor idea to block users from benefiting from this release's security updates, but on the other hand the failure might imply that something nefarious is going on. At this stage, no matter what, immediately fetch Jenkins' image, compare it with your, and try to rule out build system compromise:
```
 sudo diffoscope \
     --text diffoscope.txt \
     --html diffoscope.html \
     --max-report-size 262144000 \
     --max-diff-block-lines 10000 \
     --max-diff-input-lines 10000000 \
         path/to/your/tails-amd64-${VERSION:?}.iso \
         path/to/jenkins/tails-amd64-${VERSION:?}.iso
```
  Do the same for the USB image as well.
  
  Then carefully investigate the diffoscope report:
  - If you cannot rule out that the difference is harmful: let's take a step back; we might be compromised, so we are in no position to release. Halt the release, involve the rest of tails@boum.org, and then try to re-establish trust in all build machines and infra involved, etc. Have fun!
  - Otherwise, if the change is definitely harmless:
    - If the source of non-determinism is identified quickly and is easy and fast to fix, and the QA of the current image has not gone very far (so at least that time is not wasted), then you should consider abandoning the current version, and immediately start preparing an emergency release with:
      - the reproducibility fix,
      - a new changelog entry,
      - adjustments to the release notes so they are re-purposed for this emergency release (the abandoned release gets none, since it effectively never will be released publicly).
    - Otherwise, if the fix looks time-consuming or difficult, let's release anyway. But let's add a known issue about "This Tails release does not build reproducibility" to the release notes, linking to the ticket where the nature of the reproducibility failure is clearly described.
check out a new branch:

If preparing anything but a final release (e.g. an alpha, beta or RC):
```
 git checkout -b "${WEBSITE_RELEASE_BRANCH:?}" origin/master && \
 git push -u origin "${WEBSITE_RELEASE_BRANCH:?}"
```
Else, if preparing a final release:
```
 git checkout -b "${WEBSITE_RELEASE_BRANCH:?}" "${TAG:?}" && \
 git push -u origin "${WEBSITE_RELEASE_BRANCH:?}"
```
(as soon as a new commit is created on $RELEASE_BRANCH, its build will start failing until a new changelog entry is created, which we don't want to do on $RELEASE_BRANCH before it's merged into master at release time)

Generate the OpenPGP signatures and Torrents

Create a directory with a suitable name, go there, move the built image to this brand new directory, generate detached OpenPGP signatures for the image to be published (in the same directory as the image and with a .sig extension), then go up to the parent directory, create a .torrent file and check the generated .torrent files metadata:

for type in iso img ; do
   mkdir "${ISOS:?}/tails-amd64-${VERSION:?}.${type:?}" && \
   cd "${ISOS:?}/tails-amd64-${VERSION:?}.${type:?}" && \
   mv "${ARTIFACTS:?}/tails-amd64-${VERSION:?}.${type:?}" . && \
   gpg --armor --default-key "${TAILS_SIGNATURE_KEY:?}" --detach-sign *".${type:?}" && \
   rename 's,\.asc$,.sig,' *.asc && \
   cd .. && \
   mktorrent \
      -a 'udp://tracker.torrent.eu.org:451'   \
      -a 'udp://tracker.coppersurfer.tk:6969' \
      "tails-amd64-${VERSION:?}.${type:?}" && \
   transmission-show tails-amd64-${VERSION:?}.${type:?}.torrent
done

Lastly, let's set some variables to be used later:

ISO_PATH="${ISOS:?}/tails-amd64-${VERSION:?}.iso/tails-amd64-${VERSION:?}.iso"
ISO_SHA256SUM="$(sha256sum "${ISO_PATH:?}" | cut -f 1 -d ' ' | tr -d '\n')"
ISO_SIZE_IN_BYTES="$(stat -c %s "${ISO_PATH:?}")"
IMG_PATH="${ISOS:?}/tails-amd64-${VERSION:?}.img/tails-amd64-${VERSION:?}.img"
IMG_SHA256SUM="$(sha256sum "${IMG_PATH:?}" | cut -f 1 -d ' ' | tr -d '\n')"
IMG_SIZE_IN_BYTES="$(stat -c %s "${IMG_PATH:?}")"

Prepare incremental upgrades

Build the Incremental Upgrade Kits

Incremental upgrades may be skipped if the delta is too big (like when migrating to a new Debian release) or if there are changes outside of the scope for IUKs (like partition table changes). Use common sense!

Use tails-create-iuk to build the following IUKs:

From the two previous planned releases, and any emergency releases in between and after. This should be, more or less, all releases for the last 12 weeks (although irregularities in Firefox release schedule may add or remove a few weeks).
From the last RC for the version being released, e.g. 1.0~rc1 to 1.0. This should be done even if there was no IUK generated from the previous stable release since it is a good way to test the iuk code that'll be used for the incremental upgrade paths to the next version.

Include each such version in a white-space separated list called IUK_SOURCE_VERSIONS, (e.g. IUK_SOURCE_VERSIONS="2.8 2.9 2.9.1 2.10~rc1"), optionally setting TMPDIR to an existing absolute path where disk space is available, and run the following:

for source_version in $(echo ${IUK_SOURCE_VERSIONS:?}); do
    if [ "$(dpkg-query --showformat '${Version}\n' --show squashfs-tools)" != 1:4.3-3.0tails4 ]; then
        echo 'ERROR! Your squashfs-tools probably does not honor SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH so any generated IUKs will *not* be reproducible!'
        break
    fi
    echo "Generating IUK file from ${source_version:?} to ${VERSION:?}"
    sudo su -c "cd ${IUK_CHECKOUT:?} && \
      SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH=$SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH \
      LC_ALL=C \
      TMPDIR=\"${TMPDIR:-/tmp}\" \
      PERL5LIB=\"${PERL5LIB_CHECKOUT:?}/lib\" \
        ./bin/tails-create-iuk \
           --squashfs-diff-name \"${VERSION:?}.squashfs\"           \
           --old-iso \"${ISOS:?}/tails-amd64-${source_version:?}.iso/tails-amd64-${source_version:?}.iso\" \
           --new-iso \"${ISOS:?}/tails-amd64-${VERSION:?}.iso/tails-amd64-${VERSION:?}.iso\"          \
           --outfile \"${ISOS:?}/Tails_amd64_${source_version:?}_to_${VERSION:?}.iuk\""
done

Note that developer tools for creating IUK and upgrade-description files are primarily developed and tested on Debian sid. They may therefore occasionally be broken on Debian stable. As of December 2018 they work fine on Debian Stretch.

Note that we do not yet build IUKs on Jenkins, otherwise here would be a great point to compare its IUKs with yours.

Prepare upgrade-description files

Prepare upgrade-description files (see the upgrade-description files specification for details).

In most cases the example command below is exactly the one you should run. But in order to tell whether you're in one of the exceptional cases when you have to adjust that command, it's important that you understand what follows.

At this step, we use the tails-iuk-generate-upgrade-description-files tool in order to:
1. Create a new upgrade-description for the version being released and for the next one, that expresses that no upgrade is available for these ones yet.
  
  This is what the --version and --next-version arguments in the example command below do. You do not need to modify them.
2. For every previous release listed in $IUK_SOURCE_VERSIONS, i.e. those that will have a direct incremental upgrade path to the version being released: create or update its upgrade-description file to advertise this direct incremental upgrade path.
  
  This is what the --previous-version arguments generated by the example command below do. You do not need to modify that part.
3. For every recently supported previous release that's not listed in $IUK_SOURCE_VERSIONS (i.e. releases that have no direct incremental upgrade path to the version being released):
  - If there's a multi-step incremental upgrade path from this previous version to the version being released (e.g. by first upgrading to a version that's in $IUK_SOURCE_VERSIONS): tell the users of that old version to go through this multi-step incremental upgrade path, i.e. leave its upgrade-description file unmodified (it already advertises the first step of this multi-step path).
    
    To do so, ensure you do not manually pass this previous release to --previous-version. The example command below does the right thing in this respect already, so this constraint only matters if you have other reasons to modify the command.
  - Else, if there's no incremental upgrade path, be it direct or multi-step, from this previous version to the version being released (which happens for example when releasing Tails based on a new version of Debian and when we unintentionally broke incremental upgrades recently): tell the users of that old version they need to manually upgrade to the version being released.
    
    To do so, pass this previous version to --previous-version. You need to do this manually as the example command below won't do it automatically.
Run this command, after adjusting it if needed as explained above:
```
 ( cd ${IUK_CHECKOUT:?} && \
 ./bin/tails-iuk-generate-upgrade-description-files \
     --build-target amd64 \
     --version "${VERSION:?}" \
     $( \
         if [ "${DIST:?}" = stable ]; then
             echo \
                 --next-version "${NEXT_PLANNED_MAJOR_VERSION:?}" \
                 --next-version "${NEXT_PLANNED_MAJOR_VERSION:?}~rc1" \
                 --next-version "${NEXT_PLANNED_BUGFIX_VERSION:?}" \
                 --next-version "${NEXT_POTENTIAL_EMERGENCY_VERSION:?}" \
         else
             echo --next-version $(echo ${VERSION:?} | sed -e 's,~.*$,,')
         fi
     ) \
     $( \
         for version in ${IUK_SOURCE_VERSIONS:?}; do
            echo "--previous-version ${version:?}"
         done \
     ) \
     --iso "${ISO_PATH:?}" \
     --iuks "${ISOS:?}" \
     --release-checkout "${RELEASE_CHECKOUT:?}" \
     --major-release "${MAJOR_RELEASE:?}" \
     --channel "${DIST:?}"
)
```

Create an armoured detached signature for each created or modified upgrade-description file.

 cd "${RELEASE_CHECKOUT:?}" && \
 find "${RELEASE_CHECKOUT:?}/wiki/src/upgrade/" \
    -type f -name upgrades.yml | \
    while read udf; do
        if [ -n "$(git status --porcelain "${udf:?}")" ]; then
            for x in 1 2 3; do
                gpg -u "${TAILS_SIGNATURE_KEY:?}" --armor \
                    --detach-sign "${udf:?}" \
                && break
            done
            mv --force "${udf:?}.asc" "${udf:?}.pgp"
            ( \
              cd ${IUK_CHECKOUT:?} && \
              ./bin/tails-iuk-check-upgrade-description-file "${udf:?}" \
            ) || break
        fi
    done

Add and commit the upgrade-description files and their detached signatures to the Git branch used to prepare the release ($WEBSITE_RELEASE_BRANCH):

 ( \
   cd "${RELEASE_CHECKOUT:?}" && git add wiki/src/upgrade && \
   git commit -m "Update upgrade-description files." && \
   git push origin ${WEBSITE_RELEASE_BRANCH:?} \
 )

Copy the generated UDFs for the previous releases to the test channel in $MASTER_CHECKOUT, modify their content accordingly, sign them, commit and push:

 ( \
   cd ${MASTER_CHECKOUT:?} && \
   git fetch && \
   git merge origin/master && \
   for old_version in $(echo ${IUK_SOURCE_VERSIONS:?}); do
     release_udf="wiki/src/upgrade/v1/Tails/${old_version:?}/amd64/${DIST:?}/upgrades.yml" && \
     test_udf="wiki/src/upgrade/v1/Tails/${old_version:?}/amd64/test/upgrades.yml" && \
     mkdir -p "$(dirname "$test_udf")" && \
     git show origin/${WEBSITE_RELEASE_BRANCH:?}:${release_udf:?} \
       | sed -e "s/channel: ${DIST:?}/channel: test/" > ${test_udf:?} && \
     gpg -u "${TAILS_SIGNATURE_KEY:?}" --armor --detach-sign ${test_udf:?} && \
     mv ${test_udf:?}.asc ${test_udf:?}.pgp && \
     git add ${test_udf:?}* ; \
   done && \
   git commit -m "Add incremental upgrades on the test channel for Tails ${VERSION:?}" && \
   git push origin master:master \
 )

Prepare the image description file for Tails Verification

If preparing a RC, skip this part.

Update the image description file (IDF) used by the browser extension:

./bin/idf-content \
   --version "${VERSION:?}" \
   --iso "${ISO_PATH:?}" \
   --img "${IMG_PATH:?}" \
   > "${RELEASE_CHECKOUT:?}"/wiki/src/install/v2/Tails/amd64/stable/latest.json && \
( cd "${RELEASE_CHECKOUT:?}" && \
  git add wiki/src/install/v2/Tails/amd64/stable/latest.json && \
  git commit -m "Update IDF file for Tails Verification." )

Done with OpenPGP signing

Unplug your OpenPGP smartcard and store it away, so you don't plug it back semi-mechanically later on.

Beware! If your have to plug your OpenPGP smart card or reassemble the key again after this point it invalidates everything done for the reproduction of this release so it has to be started from the beginning:

the original text is restored on the pad, and
some tester follows it from scratch, and
the Trusted Reproducer follows awaits the new input from said tester and then starts from scratch.

So please try to avoid this!

Upload images

Sanity check

Verify once more that the Tor Browser we ship is still the most recent (see above).

Publish the ISO, IMG, and IUKs over HTTP

Upload the IUKs to our rsync server:

for source_version in $(echo ${IUK_SOURCE_VERSIONS:?}); do
   rsync --partial --inplace --progress -v \
      "${ISOS:?}/Tails_amd64_${source_version:?}_to_${VERSION:?}.iuk" \
      rsync.lizard:
done

While waiting for the IUKs to be uploaded, you can proceed with the next steps.

Upload the ISO and USB image signatures to our rsync server:

scp "${ISO_PATH:?}.sig" "${IMG_PATH:?}.sig" rsync.lizard:

Copy the ISO and USB images to our rsync server, verify their signature, move them in place with proper ownership and permissions and update the time in project/trace file on our rsync server and on the live website (even for a release candidate):

cat "${RELEASE_CHECKOUT:?}/wiki/src/tails-signing.key" \
   | ssh rsync.lizard gpg --import
ssh rsync.lizard << EOF
   wget \
      "https://nightly.tails.boum.org/build_Tails_ISO_${RELEASE_BRANCH:?}/builds/${MATCHING_JENKINS_BUILD_ID:?}/archive/build-artifacts/tails-amd64-${VERSION:?}.iso" \
      "https://nightly.tails.boum.org/build_Tails_ISO_${RELEASE_BRANCH:?}/builds/${MATCHING_JENKINS_BUILD_ID:?}/archive/build-artifacts/tails-amd64-${VERSION:?}.img" && \
   gpg --verify tails-amd64-${VERSION:?}.iso{.sig,} && \
   gpg --verify tails-amd64-${VERSION:?}.img{.sig,}
EOF

ssh rsync.lizard << EOF
  sudo install -o root -g rsync_tails -m 0755 -d \
     /srv/rsync/tails/tails/${DIST:?}/tails-amd64-${VERSION:?} && \
  sudo chown root:rsync_tails tails-amd64-${VERSION:?}.{iso,img}* && \
  sudo chmod u=rwX,go=rX tails-amd64-${VERSION:?}.{iso,img}* && \
  sudo mv tails-amd64-${VERSION:?}.{iso,img}* \
          /srv/rsync/tails/tails/${DIST:?}/tails-amd64-${VERSION:?}
EOF

TRACE_TIME=$(date +%s) &&
echo ${TRACE_TIME:?} | ssh rsync.lizard "cat > /srv/rsync/tails/tails/project/trace" && \
[ -n "${MASTER_CHECKOUT:?}" ] && \
echo ${TRACE_TIME:?} > "${MASTER_CHECKOUT:?}/wiki/src/inc/trace" &&
(
   cd "${MASTER_CHECKOUT:?}" && \
   git commit wiki/src/inc/trace \
      -m "Updating trace file after uploading the ISO and USB images for ${VERSION:?}." && \
   git push origin master
)

Once the IUKs are uploaded, move them IUKs in place with proper ownership and permissions and update the time in project/trace file on our rsync server and on the live website (even for a release candidate):

ssh rsync.lizard << EOF
  sudo chown root:rsync_tails Tails_amd64_*_to_${VERSION:?}.iuk && \
  sudo chmod u=rwX,go=rX Tails_amd64_*_to_${VERSION:?}.iuk && \
  sudo mv Tails_amd64_*_to_${VERSION:?}.iuk \
          /srv/rsync/tails/tails/${DIST:?}/iuk/
EOF

TRACE_TIME=$(date +%s) &&
echo ${TRACE_TIME:?} | ssh rsync.lizard "cat > /srv/rsync/tails/tails/project/trace" && \
[ -n "${MASTER_CHECKOUT:?}" ] && \
echo ${TRACE_TIME:?} > "${MASTER_CHECKOUT:?}/wiki/src/inc/trace" &&
(
   cd "${MASTER_CHECKOUT:?}" && \
   git commit wiki/src/inc/trace \
      -m "Updating trace file after uploading the IUKs for ${VERSION:?}." && \
   git push origin master
)

Announce, seed and test the Torrent

Check if there's enough space on our Bittorrent seed to import the new ISO and USB images:

ssh bittorrent.lizard df -h /var/lib/transmission-daemon/downloads

If not, list already running Torrents:

ssh bittorrent.lizard transmission-remote --list

… set $ID to the oldest one and delete it (do this both for the ISO and USB image):

ssh bittorrent.lizard -t "${ID:?}" --remove-and-delete

… and finally check disk space again:

ssh bittorrent.lizard df -h /var/lib/transmission-daemon/downloads

Now you can announce and seed the Torrent for the release you're preparing:

cat "${RELEASE_CHECKOUT:?}/wiki/src/tails-signing.key" \
   | ssh bittorrent.lizard gpg --import
for type in iso img ; do
   image_filename="tails-amd64-${VERSION:?}.${type:?}"
   scp \
      "${ISOS:?}/${image_filename:?}.torrent" \
      "${ISOS:?}/${image_filename:?}/${image_filename:?}.sig" \
      bittorrent.lizard: && \
   ssh bittorrent.lizard << EOF
      mkdir --mode 0755 "${image_filename:?}" && \
      mv "${image_filename:?}.sig" \
         "${image_filename:?}/" && \
      cd "${image_filename:?}" && \
      wget \
         "https://nightly.tails.boum.org/build_Tails_ISO_${RELEASE_BRANCH:?}/builds/${MATCHING_JENKINS_BUILD_ID:?}/archive/build-artifacts/${image_filename:?}" && \
      gpg --verify ${image_filename:?}{.sig,} && \
      cd && \
      chgrp -R debian-transmission "${image_filename:?}" && \
      chmod -R go+rX,g+w "${image_filename:?}" && \
      mv \
         "${image_filename:?}" \
         /var/lib/transmission-daemon/downloads/ && \
      transmission-remote --add ${image_filename:?}.torrent \
                          --find /var/lib/transmission-daemon/downloads/
EOF
done

Test that you can start downloading the ISO and USB images with a BitTorrent client.

ISO history

Push the released ISO and USB images and their artifacts (.buildlog, .build-manifest, and .packages files) to our Tails ISO history git-annex repo, so that our isotesters can fetch them from there for their testing. How to do so is described in the ISO_history.mdwn document in the RM team's Git repo.

Testing

Using check-mirrors, choose a fast mirror that already has the tentative ISO and USB images. E.g. https://mirrors.kernel.org/tails/ or https://mirrors.wikimedia.org/tails/ are reliable and have plenty of bandwidth.
```
 ./check-mirrors.rb --allow-multiple --fast --channel ${DIST:?} \
     --ip $(dig +short mirrors.kernel.org | tail -n1) \
     tails-amd64-${VERSION:?}
```
Email tails-testers@boum.org to ask them to test the tentative ISO and USB images, pointing them to the up-to-date mirror you've found previously.
Email tails@boum.org and potential contributors (see manual_testers.mdwn in the internal Git repository) that tests may start:
- point them to the up-to-date mirror you've found previously
- make it clear what's the deadline
- make it clear where and how you expect to get feedback
- attach the Torrent
- attach the .packages file
Make sure someone is committed to run the automated test suite.
Make sure that enough people are here to run the tests, that they report their results in due time, and that they make it clear when they're leaving for good.
Fill the holes and make sure that the automated and manual test suites are done in due time. Clock and report this work separately from your RM'ing work.
Triage test results, reproduce bugs as needed, decide what the next step is and make sure it happens: add to known issues? file ticket? release blocker? improve the test description (steps, expected outcome)?

Update the website and Git repository

What follows in this section happens on the $WEBSITE_RELEASE_BRANCH branch in ${RELEASE_CHECKOUT:?}:

cd "${RELEASE_CHECKOUT:?}" && \
   git checkout "${WEBSITE_RELEASE_BRANCH:?}"

If preparing a final release

Skip this part if preparing a RC.

Rename, copy, garbage collect and update various files:

cp "${ISO_PATH:?}.sig" \
   "${IMG_PATH:?}.sig" \
   "${ARTIFACTS:?}/tails-amd64-${VERSION:?}.build-manifest" \
   "${ARTIFACTS:?}/tails-amd64-${VERSION:?}.packages" \
   "${ISOS:?}/tails-amd64-${VERSION:?}".{iso,img}.torrent \
   "${RELEASE_CHECKOUT:?}/wiki/src/torrents/files/" && \
git rm \
   "${RELEASE_CHECKOUT:?}/wiki/src/torrents/files/tails-amd64-${PREVIOUS_VERSION:?}."{build-manifest,iso.sig,img.sig,packages,iso.torrent,img.torrent} && \
LC_NUMERIC=C ls -l -h ${ISO_PATH:?} | \
   cut -f 5 -d ' ' | sed -r 's/(.+)([MG])/\1 \2B/' \
   > "${RELEASE_CHECKOUT:?}/wiki/src/inc/stable_amd64_iso_size.html" && \
LC_NUMERIC=C ls -l -h ${IMG_PATH:?} | \
   cut -f 5 -d ' ' | sed -r 's/(.+)([MG])/\1 \2B/' \
   > "${RELEASE_CHECKOUT:?}/wiki/src/inc/stable_amd64_img_size.html" && \
gpg --check-trustdb && \
LANG=C TZ=UTC gpg --no-options --keyid-format long --verify "${ISO_PATH:?}.sig" "${ISO_PATH:?}" 2>&1 | \
   sed 's/ /\&nbsp;/g;s/</\&lt;/;s/>/\&gt;/;s/$/<br\/>/g' > \
   "${RELEASE_CHECKOUT:?}/wiki/src/inc/stable_amd64_iso_gpg_signature_output.html" && \
LANG=C TZ=UTC gpg --no-options --keyid-format long --verify "${IMG_PATH:?}.sig" "${IMG_PATH:?}" 2>&1 | \
   sed 's/ /\&nbsp;/g;s/</\&lt;/;s/>/\&gt;/;s/$/<br\/>/g' > \
   "${RELEASE_CHECKOUT:?}/wiki/src/inc/stable_amd64_img_gpg_signature_output.html"

Ensure our technical writer has written the announcement for the release in wiki/src/news/version_${TAG:?}.mdwn.

Write an announcement listing the security bugs affecting the previous version in wiki/src/security/Numerous_security_holes_in_${PREVIOUS_VERSION:?}.mdwn in order to let the users of the old versions know that they have to upgrade. Date it a few days before the images to be released were built. Including:

if we are not shipping Linux from Debian stable, the list of CVE fixed in Linux since the one shipped in the previous release of Tails; you can find them in the relevant changelog e.g.:
the list of DSA fixed in packages we ship since those that were in the previous release of Tails: https://www.debian.org/security/#DSAS
the list of BSA fixed in packages we ship since those that were in the previous release of Tails: https://lists.debian.org/debian-backports-announce/
the list of MFSA fixed by the Tor Browser update: https://www.mozilla.org/security/announce/

If preparing a release candidate

Skip this part if preparing a final release.

Copy the signatures and the Torrent into the website repository:

cp "${ISO_PATH:?}.sig" \
   "${IMG_PATH:?}.sig" \
   "${ISOS:?}/tails-amd64-${VERSION:?}".{iso,img}.torrent \
   "${RELEASE_CHECKOUT:?}/wiki/src/torrents/files/"

Write the announcement for the release in ${RELEASE_CHECKOUT:?}/wiki/src/news/test_${TAG:?}.mdwn, including:

Update the meta title directive.
Update the meta date directive.
Document important config changes that persistence users have to do themselves (e.g. the Pidgin proxy settings change in 9925321 breaks all existing persistent profiles).
Document known issues.

This snippet can help to convert the copied changelog's ticket references to links:

sed -i 's@#\([0-9]\{4,5\}\)@<a href="https://redmine.tails.boum.org/code/issues/\1">#\1</a>@g' \
    wiki/src/news/test_${TAG:?}.mdwn

In any case

Generate PO files for the announcements and record the last commit before putting the release out for real:

./build-website && \
git add wiki/src && \
git commit -m "Releasing version ${VERSION:?}"

Then, send the PO files for the announcements to tails-l10n@boum.org so that they get translated shortly, perhaps even soon enough to integrate them before pushing the release out officially.

Go wild!

Wait for the HTTP mirrors to catch up

Test downloading the ISO, USB image, and IUK over HTTP.

Make sure every active mirror in the pool has the new version:

./check-mirrors.rb --channel ${DIST:?} --allow-multiple --fast \
    tails-amd64-${VERSION:?}

Ask tails-mirrors@boum.org to drop those that are lagging behind and notify their administrators.

Sanity checks

Check the outcome of the "Testing" section above.
Wait for the Mozilla security advisory to be published.
While waiting, if preparing a major release, you can drop the post for Tor blog: see the "Tor blog" section below. If you do that, uncheck the Publish checkbox and click Save to save the draft.
Verify once more that the Tor Browser we ship is still the most recent (see above).

Push

Git

Push the last commits to our Git repository and put master in the following state:

( cd "${RELEASE_CHECKOUT:?}" && \
  git push origin \
      "${WEBSITE_RELEASE_BRANCH:?}:${WEBSITE_RELEASE_BRANCH:?}" \
      devel:devel \
) && \
( cd "${MASTER_CHECKOUT:?}" && \
  git fetch && \
  git merge origin/master && \
  git merge "origin/${WEBSITE_RELEASE_BRANCH:?}" && \
  echo "stable" > config/base_branch && \
  git commit config/base_branch \
      -m "Restore master's base branch." \
)

Finally, push the master branch to make the changes go live on our website:

( cd "${MASTER_CHECKOUT:?}" && \
  git push origin master:master \
)

The release is now public! Woo!

Check translation are correct

Once the push is over and the live website is build, check that each news/version_${VERSION} HTML pages looks OK in all supported languages.

Bug tracker

Skip this part if preparing a release candidate.

Mark all issues fixed in this release as Status: Resolved in our bug tracker. For a list of candidates, see:

the issues in Fix committed status;
the "Fix committed" section on the Release Manager View for ${VERSION:?} in Redmine.

Select these issues with the checkboxes in the first column, then right click on the list to display the context menu, and finally change the Status there. Relationships between tickets will likely prevent you from closing all these issues at once, but at least you can process them in several smaller batches instead of one by one.

Postpone to next release any remaining open issue for the version you've just released. Use the right-click contextual menu to do so in one single batch.

Then, mark the just-released Redmine milestone as done: go to the target version page, click Edit, and set Status to Closed.

Tickets linked from the website

Go through the tickets linked from the documentation and support sections of the website and point our lead technical writer (sajolida) to the tickets that might be resolved in this release.

cd "${MASTER_CHECKOUT:?}" && \
find wiki/src/{doc,support} -name "*.mdwn" -o -name "*.html" | xargs cat | \
    ruby -e 'puts STDIN.read.scan(/\[\[!tails_ticket\s+(\d+)[^\]]*\]\]/)' | \
    while read ticket; do
        url="https://redmine.tails.boum.org/code/issues/${ticket:?}"
        url_content=$(curl --fail --silent ${url:?})
        if [ "${?}" -ne 0 ] || [ -z "${url_content:-}" ]; then
            echo "Failed to fetch ${url:?} so manually investigate #${ticket:?}" >&2
            continue
        fi
        ticket_status="$(echo "${url_content:?}" | \
            sed -n 's,^.*<div class="status attribute"><div class="label">Status:</div><div class="value">\([^<>]\+\)</div></div>.*$,\1,p')"
        if [ -z "${ticket_status:-}" ]; then
            echo "Failed to find the status of #${ticket:?}" >&2
            continue
        fi
        if [ "${ticket_status:?}" != "New" ] && \
           [ "${ticket_status:?}" != "Confirmed" ] && \
           [ "${ticket_status:?}" != "In Progress" ]; then
            echo "It seems ticket #${ticket:?} has been fixed (Status: ${ticket_status:?}) so please find all instances in the wiki and fix them. Ticket URL: ${url:?}"
        fi
    done

Remember that ticket expressions, e.g. <a href="https://redmine.tails.boum.org/code/issues/1234">#1234</a>, can span several lines, so finding the ones reported by the above code might be harder than git grep "tails_ticket 1234".

Twitter

Check in the comments of the ticket for the release notes if the technical writers have prepared a tweet. Otherwise tweet a simple link to the release notes:

Tails x.y is out: https://tails.boum.org/news/version_x.y/

Tor blog

XXX: move most of this to the list of things that can be done while waiting for manual test results, replace "Save and publish" there with "Save and keep unpublished", and keep only the "Save and publish" step here (+ adjust Authoring Information → Authored on since the date of the draft creation won't be correct). I didn't do this yet as it would conflict with the changes I've done for #12629 in painful ways.

We announce major releases on the Tor blog:

Generate a Tor Blog-friendly post; please go through it manually, and look at the previews, to make sure it looks sane!

ikiwiki --setup ikiwiki.setup \
        --render wiki/src/news/version_${VERSION:?}.mdwn | \
    tidy --wrap 99999 | \
    sed '0,/^<div id="content" role="main">$/d' | \
    sed '/^<div id="footer" class="pagefooter" role="contentinfo">$/,$d' | \
    sed '/^<div class="toc">$/,+7d' | \
    sed '/^<p><img [^<>]*\/><\/p>$/d' | \
    sed '/^<\/div>$/d' | \
    sed 's@<a name[^<>]*></a>@@g' | \
    sed 's@href="\.\./@href="https://tails.boum.org/@g' | \
    sed 's@src="\./@src="https://tails.boum.org/news/@g' | \
    sed 's@\(\.en\)\?.html@/@g' \
    > /tmp/tor-blog-post.html
    cat >> /tmp/tor-blog-post.html <<EOF
<h1>Support and feedback</h1>
<p>For support and feedback, visit the <a href="https://tails.boum.org/support/">Support section</a> on the Tails website.</p>
EOF

login to the Tor blog
click Content → Add content → Blog Post
add these tags:
- tails
- anonymous operating system
- tails releases
set Title to "New Release: Tails $VERSION"
choose Filtered HTML as the Text format in the blog post editor
copy the text you have prepared into the Post Body textarea of the blog post editor
open Comment Settings and verify that comments are Closed
open Promotion Options and check Promoted to front page
click Preview and ensure everything is OK
click Save and publish

Amnesia news

Subscribe to amnesia-news@. It's the only reliable way to check if the next step has worked (the online web archive is not refreshed immediately).
Log in and accept the release announcement, that's been automatically sent to amnesia-news@ on an hourly basis, and is stuck in the moderation queue.

Prepare for the next development cycle

XXX: adapt / fork for release candidates. In the meantime, read all this, and skip what does not make sense for a RC.

If you just released a new stable release, remove the previous stable release from:
- our rsync server: ssh rsync.lizard rm -rf /srv/rsync/tails/tails/stable/tails-amd64-${PREVIOUS_VERSION:?}/
- our Bittorrent seed: get the previous release's Transmission IDs (ISO and USB image) with ssh bittorrent.lizard transmission-remote --list and then delete them with ssh bittorrent.lizard transmission-remote -t "${PREVIOUS_VERSION_TRANSMISSION_ID:?}" --remove-and-delete then re-run ssh bittorrent.lizard transmission-remote --list and make sure everything looks good
Remove any remaining RC for the just-published release from rsync.lizard:/srv/rsync/tails/tails/alpha/

Remove IUKs that are more than 9 months old from /{stable,alpha}/iuk on the rsync server:

first check that it's not going to remove anything we want to keep:

ssh rsync.lizard /bin/sh -c \
    \"find /srv/rsync/tails/tails/alpha  \
           /srv/rsync/tails/tails/stable \
           -type f -name '*.iuk' -mtime '+270' \
           -not -name '*~test_*~test.iuk' -ls \
    \"

then actually delete the files:

ssh rsync.lizard /bin/sh -c \
    \"find /srv/rsync/tails/tails/alpha  \
           /srv/rsync/tails/tails/stable \
           -type f -name '*.iuk' -mtime '+270' \
           -not -name '*~test_*~test.iuk' -delete \
    \"

Check how much space our mirrors need:
```
 ssh rsync.lizard du -sh /srv/rsync/tails
```
Compare it to the minimum disk space we ask of our mirror operators (30 GiB) and determine if any further action is needed to either reduce our usage by deleting stuff, or asking them to give us more space.

Delete Git branches that were merged:

 cd "${MASTER_CHECKOUT:?}" && \
 git checkout master && \
 git fetch && \
 git submodule update && \
 bare_repo=$(mktemp -d)
 git clone --bare --reference "${MASTER_CHECKOUT:?}" \
    gitolite@d53ykjpeekuikgoq.onion:tails \
    "${bare_repo:?}" && \
 PYTHONPATH=lib/python3 ./bin/delete-merged-git-branches \
    --repo "${bare_repo:?}" && \
 rm -rf "${bare_repo:?}"

On the stable and devel branches, remove all old versions that were never released from wiki/src/upgrade/v1/Tails and debian/changelog. Explanation: the post-release APT repository steps from the previous stable release will usually have had us prepare for an emergency release that was never made.
Thaw the packages that were granted freeze exceptions.
Pull master back and merge it into stable, and in turn into devel
Thaw, on the devel branch, the time-based APT repository snapshots that were used during the freeze. This should generally be a no-op but if there was some hiccup earlier it could be needed.
Follow the post-release custom APT repository documentation. This includes some git operations, like creating an appropriate "dummy changelog entry" in the debian/changelog file.
Make sure there are upgrade-description files for any new versions that were added in the debian/changelog file since the last release. Background: From time to time the UDF generation/update step isn't perfect and entries might be missing from wiki/src/upgrade/v1/Tails/<VERSION>/<ARCH>/<CHANNEL>.

Verify that the snapshots used in the release branch are ok, e.g. they use the correct snapshots, and they were bumped appropriately (they should expire after the next planned major release date). Look carefully at the output of this command:

 cd "${RELEASE_CHECKOUT:?}" && \
 git checkout "${RELEASE_BRANCH:?}" && \
 for dir in config/APT_snapshots.d vagrant/definitions/tails-builder/config/APT_snapshots.d; do
 (
     echo "${dir:?}:"
     cd "${dir:?}" && \
     for ARCHIVE in * ; do
         SERIAL="$(cat ${ARCHIVE:?}/serial)"
         if [ "${SERIAL:?}" = 'latest' ]; then
             EXPIRY='never'
             if [ "${ARCHIVE:?}" != 'debian-security' ]; then
                 echo "Warning: origin '${ARCHIVE:?}' is using the 'latest' snapshot, which is unexpected" >&2
             fi
         else
             if [ "${ARCHIVE:?}" = 'debian-security' ]; then
                 DIST='stretch/updates'
             else
                 DIST='stable'
            fi
            EXPIRY="$(curl --silent "http://time-based.snapshots.deb.tails.boum.org/${ARCHIVE:?}/dists/${DIST:?}/snapshots/${SERIAL:?}/Release" | sed -n 's/^Valid-Until:\s\+\(.*\)$/\1/p')"
         fi
         echo "* Archive '${ARCHIVE:?}' uses snapshot '${SERIAL:?}' which expires on: ${EXPIRY:?}"
     done
     echo ---
 )
 done

Push the resulting branches.
Make sure Jenkins manages to build all updated major branches: https://jenkins.tails.boum.org/.
Make sure you pushed all changes in every of our Git repo (including our Debian packages ones).
Delete the Release Manager View for ${VERSION:?}_ Redmine custom query.
Ensure the next two releases have their own Release Manager View.
On the roadmap, update the Due date for the Holes in the Roof so that this section appears after the next release.
If you are the release manager for the next release too, look at the tasks that must be done at the beginning of your shift in the release manager role page. Otherwise, kindly remind the next release manager about this :)

Requirements

Environment

Pre-freeze

Coordinate with Debian security updates

Sanity check

Freeze

Major release

Bugfix release

Common steps for bugfix and major releases

Update included files

Upgrade bundled binary Debian packages

Upgrade Tor Browser

Upgrade Tor Browser AppArmor profile

Upgrade Thunderbird

Upgrade custom packages for VeraCrypt integration

Update PO files

When preparing an actual release

Major release

Bugfix release

Update other base branches

Update more included files

Changelog

Included website

Merge master

version number

Website translations

Call for translation

Enable OpenPGP signing

If you have an OpenPGP smart card

Otherwise: importing the signing key

Build the almost-final image

Tag the release in Git

Prepare the versioned APT suites

Build images

Sanity check

SquashFS file order

Build the final image

Generate the OpenPGP signatures and Torrents

Prepare incremental upgrades

Build the Incremental Upgrade Kits

Prepare upgrade-description files

Prepare the image description file for Tails Verification

Done with OpenPGP signing

Upload images

Sanity check

Publish the ISO, IMG, and IUKs over HTTP

Announce, seed and test the Torrent

ISO history

Testing

Update the website and Git repository

If preparing a final release

If preparing a release candidate

In any case

Go wild!

Wait for the HTTP mirrors to catch up

Sanity checks

Push

Git

Check translation are correct

Bug tracker

Tickets linked from the website

Twitter

Tor blog

Amnesia news

Prepare for the next development cycle

Related pages