1. Make sure the date and version number are correct in ChangeLog, ChangeLog.win32, ChangeLog.API and po/ChangeLog
2. Update NEWS
3. Grab the most recent FAQ from the web site
4. Change version number at the top of configure.ac
5. Check gaim.spec.in, make sure that "%define beta 4" is commented/uncommented appropriately
6. Tag the repository

   svn copy https://svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/gaim/branches/v2_0_0 \
       https://svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/gaim/tags/$TAG \
       -m "Tagging Gaim release $VERSION"
   

7. Check out the tagged code

   svn co https://svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/gaim/tags/$TAG gaim
   

8. Run ./autogen.sh
9. Run make dist
10. Copy gaim-$VERSION.tar.gz to a temp directory, gunzip it, then bzip2 it
11. Sign the two tarballs

    gpg -ab gaim-$VERSION.tar.gz
    gpg -ab gaim-$VERSION.tar.bz2
    gpg --verify gaim-$VERSION.tar.gz.asc gaim-$VERSION.tar.gz
    gpg --verify gaim-$VERSION.tar.bz2.asc gaim-$VERSION.tar.bz2
    

12. Build the SRPM

    rpmbuild -ta --sign --with avahi --with dbus --with meanwhile \
        --with sasl --with silc --with tcl gaim-$VERSION.tar.bz2
    

99. Increment version number in libgaim/version.h