Pre Release

1. Commit any pending translation updates
2. Make sure the date and version number are correct in ChangeLog, ChangeLog.win32, ChangeLog.API and po/ChangeLog
3. Update NEWS
4. Grab the most recent FAQ from the web site
5. Change version number at the top of configure.ac
6. Check gaim.spec.in, make sure that "%define beta 4" is commented/uncommented appropriately
7. Make a test tarball and RPM and test to make sure everything works

Release

1. Tag the repository

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

2. Check out the tagged code

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

3. Run ./autogen.sh
4. Run make dist
5. Copy gaim-$VERSION.tar.gz to a temp directory, gunzip it, then bzip2 it
6. 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
   

7. Build the SRPM

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

8. Upload the two tarballs, the two signatures, and the src.rpm
9. Make RPMs for lots of distributions and upload them
   1. Install the src.rpm

      rpm -Uvh gaim-$VERSION-0.src.rpm
      

   2. Edit $rpmbuild/SPECS/gaim.spec and append the distro name to the end of the Release line. For example, ".fc5"
   3. Build

      rpmbuild -ba --sign --with avahi --with dbus --with meanwhile \
          --with sasl --with silc --with tcl $rpmbuild/SPECS/gaim.spec
      

10. Wait a few hours and let people test.
11. Update the Gaim website
    1. Change inc/version.inc.php
    2. Add a news posting to htdocs/news.txt
12. Announce via sourceforge

Post Release

1. Increment version number in libgaim/version.h
2. Update freshmeat.net
3. Update #gaim topic and on-join message