Steps to a Successful Release
-----------------------------
The following is a step-by-step guide for how to preceed through the releasing
process. For minor releases (0.X.y), steps 0 and 1 have already been done, so
for those the list begins with step 2.
0.  Delay branching as long as possible
    Try to delay additions that forseeably won't make it into the next version
    until the release is not too far off. Once trunk has been branched, you
    have to commit all important changes twice, and it's easy to forget one
    of them.
    At the same time if something big does get introduced it's better to branch
    before doing so seeing how otherwise you'll have to later turn it off in
    branch before the release.
    Thus, you'll need to branch as early as necessary and as lte as possible.
1.  Branch trunk into the new version
    svn cp https://crawl-ref.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/crawl-ref/trunk
    https://crawl-ref.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/crawl-ref/branches/stone_soup-0.X
2.  Update version information
    version.h: Set VER_NUM = 0.X, VER_QUAL = empty.
    Undefine DISPLAY_BUILD_REVISION (not needed for official distributions).
3.  Modify branch as needed
    Turn off all features that are not balanced or finished enough to make it
    into the release. This can be a bit of a hassle, so do try to avoid this in
    the first place. (See 0.)
4.  Wait and fix some bugs
    Wait at least a week for some last minute bug reports. When fixing bugs
    concentrate on the important ones (crashes and gamebreakers), but you
    might also want to handle the trivial ones for extra polishing.
    If you add any last minute feature or bug fixes doublecheck everything,
    so you don't accidentally introduce new bug, and wait at least another
    day for potential bug reports to roll in.
    Reread the entire documentation to make sure it's up to date.
    Also update the change log!
5.  Sanity testing
    Build the binaries (preferably on all platforms) to see if the code
    compiles correctly, then run some basic sanity tests including at least
    the following:
        * start a new game (both prechosen and random)
        * saving/loading
        * being killed
        * level creation for all branches/portal vaults (using &~, &L)
        * accessing all help screens (including the ? submenus)
    If you want to be thorough, play a tutorial for each of the three character
    builds. This way, you get to test melee, spellcasting, and ranged combat,
    and at the same time you can check that the information handed out during
    the tutorial is up to date.
6.  Package the source tarball and zip
    On Linux, run "make package-source" in the source tree to create the source
    tarball and zip. Extract the resulting packages into different folders,
    compile their source and run the basic sanity tests. Also check whether
    the doc, settings and dat subfolders contain all relevant files.
7.  Tag the release
    svn cp https://crawl-ref.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/crawl-ref/branches/stone_soup-0.X
    https://crawl-ref.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/crawl-ref/tags/stone_soup-0.X
    The tags are some sort of frozen state of the source for all releases, so
    this is the last step you take before the actual release. All further
    changes either make it into the next (minor) version, or, if they are
    important bug fixes and happen before the release took place, have to be
    merged into trunk AND branch AND the corresponding tag.
8.  Create a new release on Sourceforge
    Requires SF permissions for file releases.
    The release is generally named by the version number, i.e. 0.X.
    Once it is created, edit the new release:
        * Paste change log and notes into the corresponding fields.
        * Set status to Hidden.
    Use an older release as a guideline (but don't actually modify it!)
    See https://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/sourceforge/wiki/Release%20files%20for%20download
    for some rough explanation of this and some of the following steps.
9.  Checkout the release tag
    svn co https://crawl-ref.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/crawl-ref/tags/stone_soup-0.X
    Do a clean checkout into a new folder, so you don't get any compilation
    stuff into the distribution. Package the source (as described in 6.) and
    build the binaries. If you want you can do some more sanity testing but it
    shouldn't be necessary anymore.
10. Upload the files to Sourceforge
    For this, you could use rsync (on Linux) or FTP.
    See https://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/sourceforge/wiki/File%20management%20service
    for reference. Compare the file sizes to make sure the upload went
    correctly.
11. Edit the release (again)
    On Sourceforge edit the release, select the files you just uploaded, then
    change their properties. Again, use an older release for reference.
    Change release status to Active.
12. Update the homepage
    ssh -t username,crawl-ref@shell.sourceforge.net create
    Go to /home/groups/c/cr/crawl-ref/htdocs.
    Paste the changelog into a newly created 0.X.txt
    Modify index.html to update the version number (the link will always point
    to the most recent release) and add a new news item. For the latter, use
    <a href="0.X.txt">text</a> as a link to the change log.
13. Announce the release
    Post a release announcement to rec.games.roguelike.misc and
    rec.games.roguelike.announce. Also send an email over crawl-ref-discuss.
    If you want you can also write a news item on Sourceforge.
14. Lean back and enjoy the excitement
    -- until the first bug reports roll in. ;)