Fwd: Release Verification Checklist

[Hitesh Shah <hi...@apache.org>]

Useful information for folks when verifying releases. (The checklist is still getting firmed up)

thanks
-- Hitesh

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Marvin Humphrey <ma...@rectangular.com>
> Date: November 27, 2013 12:45:51 PM PST
> To: "general@incubator.apache.org" <ge...@incubator.apache.org>
> Subject: Release Verification Checklist
> Reply-To: general@incubator.apache.org
> 
> Greets,
> 
> In response to Bertrand's proposal at <http://s.apache.org/awz>, I've created
> a draft release verification checklist:
> 
>    http://wiki.apache.org/incubator/ReleaseChecklist
> 
> It should be emphasized that completing a checklist like this at release
> points is only one aspect of exercising proper IP stewardship over a codebase.
> The checklist says nothing about code provenance, and while it may catch
> licensing documentation bugs, it does little to guard against the possibility
> of actual licensing violations: bogus header swaps, "borrowed" code pasted
> into files with different licensing, and so on.  We don't generally encounter
> such problems at Apache, but we need to stay vigilant.
> 
> Design notes:
> 
> *   Brevity is important for ease of use.  We don't want to explain what makes
>    for a valid LICENSE and NOTICE in a checklist.
> *   +0 and -0 votes are rare, so they are omitted from the template.
> *   All checklist items are optional.  Of course if you leave everything
>    unchecked, your indifference is going to be entered into the record.
> *   The dictate that all checklist items are optional is explicitly included
>    in the template despite wasting precious space, because otherwise PPMC
>    confusion will cause needless stress and wasted time.
> *   Podlings may wish to augment this template with project-specific
>    modifications, e.g. "Extended tests pass", "RAT report clean".
> *   The `Apache ID` field is intended to allow whoever enters these checklists
>    into the record to copy-and-paste verbatim without having to look up
>    credentials.  Hopefully people will actually fill it in regularly.
> *   There is no field identifying the release candidate because that
>    information will be carried by email subject, filepath in version control,
>    etc.
> *   The checklist text is designed for quick copy/paste into an email.  It
>    must take up as little vertical space as possible so that it is easy to
>    select with a mouse/trackpad gesture.
> *   The textual layout is intended to stack cleanly and to look good when
>    rendered using either fixed-width or variable-width fonts.
> 
> Thoughts?
> 
> Marvin Humphrey
> 
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