release process for alpha3

[Jeffrey Dever <js...@sympatico.ca>]

Hello all,
I'm trying to fine tune the release process for HttpClient.  In 
particular, what is packaged and how.  I would like to simplify and 
minimize the release package.  Please comment as I would like to do 
somthing like this for the pending alpha3 build this weekend.

For the last build I just used the maven defaults which creates 4 
packages: a source and a binary tree compressed with tar.gz and zip.  I 
think that this is quite inefficient.  The binary jar is small and is 
really the only thing that differentiates between the source package. 
 Also there is no need for both tar.gz and zip.  Lets face it: any 
platform that supports zip will support tar.gz.  The users of HttpClient 
are programmers which will be able to handle either compression method 
on their desktops.

I just want to provide a single release package.  This package would 
contain most everything in cvs, plus the generated api and website. 
 Some exceptions would be some of the unmaintained files (like 
PROPOSAL.html), the xdocs which would be unneeded, and the maven stuff 
which is not widely used at the moment.

This single release package would be put on the usual jakarta and apache 
release sites plus the jar file which would be put on ilibibo for maven use.

Requirements for a release package:
-can use out of the box
-has complete documentation
-can compile the src/java tree out of the box (with ant)
-has the apache license
-only contains apache products governed by the license
-can compile and run the tests (with libraries present)


Here is a sample directory tree:

LICENSE.txt
build.properties.sample
build.xml
docs/
       api/
src/
    conf/
    examples/
    java/
    test/
    test-webapp/
lib/
    commons-httpclient.jar
    commons-logging.jar

Re: release process for alpha3

[Ryan Hoegg <rh...@isisnetworks.net>]

Mike Bowler wrote:

> Ryan Hoegg wrote:
>
>> The reason is that I want to support people who already have the 
>> httpclient library, but also streamline adoption by people who don't. 
>> That means making a jar available that they can download, drop in the 
>> classpath, and forget about.  I am currently leaning towards pointing 
>> users to the HttpClient download page instead of including a 
>> binary-only release on our page.
>
> Is there a reason you can't just point them to the binary only release 
> that's in the maven repository?
>
> http://www.ibiblio.org/maven/commons-httpclient/jars/

No, that sounds like a great idea.

Carry on with your release plan. :)

--
Ryan Hoegg
ISIS Networks
http://www.isisnetworks.net

Re: release process for alpha3

[Mike Bowler <mb...@GargoyleSoftware.com>]

Ryan Hoegg wrote:
> The reason is that I want to support people who already have the 
> httpclient library, but also streamline adoption by people who don't. 
> That means making a jar available that they can download, drop in the 
> classpath, and forget about.  I am currently leaning towards pointing 
> users to the HttpClient download page instead of including a binary-only 
> release on our page.

Is there a reason you can't just point them to the binary only release 
that's in the maven repository?

http://www.ibiblio.org/maven/commons-httpclient/jars/


-- 
Mike Bowler
Principal, Gargoyle Software Inc.
Voice: (416) 822-0973 | Email  : mbowler@GargoyleSoftware.com
Fax  : (416) 822-0975 | Website: http://www.GargoyleSoftware.com

Re: release process for alpha3

[Ryan Hoegg <rh...@isisnetworks.net>]

Hi Jeffrey,

As a representative of a project that wants to embed this library in our 
app and is dealing with options for including the httpclient.jar or 
requiring a separate download, I would like to request a release package 
that includes only the binaries.  No source, no javadoc, no tests, no 
build scripts.

The reason is that I want to support people who already have the 
httpclient library, but also streamline adoption by people who don't. 
 That means making a jar available that they can download, drop in the 
classpath, and forget about.  I am currently leaning towards pointing 
users to the HttpClient download page instead of including a binary-only 
release on our page.

--
Ryan Hoegg
Apache XML-RPC / http://ws.apache.org/xmlrpc
ISIS Networks
http://www.isisnetworks.net

Jeffrey Dever wrote:

> I just want to provide a single release package.  This package would 
> contain most everything in cvs, plus the generated api and website. 
> Some exceptions would be some of the unmaintained files (like 
> PROPOSAL.html), the xdocs which would be unneeded, and the maven stuff 
> which is not widely used at the moment.
>
> This single release package would be put on the usual jakarta and 
> apache release sites plus the jar file which would be put on ilibibo 
> for maven use.
>
> Requirements for a release package:
> -can use out of the box
> -has complete documentation
> -can compile the src/java tree out of the box (with ant)
> -has the apache license
> -only contains apache products governed by the license
> -can compile and run the tests (with libraries present)