1Here are most of the steps we (maintainers) follow when making a release.
2
3* Start from a clean, up-to-date git directory on "master":
4
5    make -k maintainer-clean || { ./configure && make maintainer-clean; }
6    git checkout master
7    git pull origin master
8
9* Ensure that the latest stable versions of autoconf, automake, etc.
10  are in your PATH.  See the buildreq list in bootstrap.conf for
11  the complete list of tools.
12
13* Ensure that you have no uncommitted diffs.  This should produce no
14  output:
15
16    git diff
17
18* Ensure that you've pushed all changes that belong in the release:
19
20    git push origin master
21
22* Check that the NixOS/Hydra autobuilder is reporting all is well:
23
24    http://hydra.nixos.org/jobset/gnu/bison-master
25
26* Run the following command to download any new translations:
27
28    ./bootstrap && ./configure
29
30* Pre-release testing: ensure that the following command succeeds:
31
32    make check syntax-check distcheck
33
34* To (i) set the date, version number, and release TYPE on line 3 of
35  NEWS, (ii) commit that, and (iii) tag the release, run
36
37    # "TYPE" must be stable, beta or alpha
38    make release-commit RELEASE='X.Y TYPE'
39
40* Run the following to create release tarballs.  Your choice selects the
41  corresponding upload-to destination in the emitted gnupload command.
42  The different destinations are specified in cfg.mk.  See the definitions
43  of gnu_ftp_host-{alpha,beta,stable}.
44
45    make release RELEASE='X.Y TYPE'
46
47* Test the tarball.  Copy it to a few odd-ball systems and ensure that
48  it builds and passes all tests.
49
50* While that's happening, write the release announcement that you will
51  soon post.  Start with the template, $HOME/announce-bison-X.Y
52  that was just created by that "make" command.
53
54Once all the builds and tests have passed,
55
56* Run the gnupload command that was suggested by your "make release"
57  run above, or run
58
59    make upload RELEASE='X.Y TYPE'
60
61* Wait a few minutes (maybe up to 30?) and then use the release URLs to
62  download all tarball/signature pairs and use gpg --verify to ensure
63  that they're all valid.
64
65* Push the NEWS-updating changes and the new tag:
66
67    v=$(cat .prev-version)
68    git push origin master tag v$v
69
70* Announce it on Savannah first, so you can include the savannah.org
71  announcement link in the email message.
72
73  Go to the news-submission form:
74
75    https://savannah.gnu.org/news/submit.php?group=bison
76
77  If it does not work, then enable "News" for the project via this link:
78
79    https://savannah.gnu.org/project/admin/editgroupfeatures.php?group=bison
80
81  Write something like the following:
82
83    Subject: bison-X.Y released [stable]
84    +verbatim+
85    ...paste the announcement here...
86    -verbatim-
87
88  Then go here to approve it:
89
90    https://savannah.gnu.org/news/approve.php?group=bison
91
92* Send the announcement email message.
93
94* After each non-alpha release, run
95
96    make web-manual-update
97
98  to update the on-line manual accessible at
99
100    http://www.gnu.org/software/bison/manual/
101