Requirements

Maven 2.2.1

Only this version is currently supported.

GPG key

Before releasing for the first time you have to generate a GPG key and publish it.

Download GPG from http://www.gnupg.org/download/, follow the instructions and install it to your system. Verify your gpg installation by running gpg with the version flag, i.e. gpg --version
Execute gpg --gen-key and answer the questions. Most of the time you can use the default.
Execute gpg --list-sigs "your real name" && gpg --armor --export "your real name" and visit http://pgp.mit.edu/ to distribute your public key, so users can verify your files. This webpage contains a form where you have to copy your key.
Update https://github.com/SonarSource/sonar/blob/master/KEYS by expanding this file with your key

Maven settings

Add your codehaus credentials to maven settings. Edit the file ~/.m2/settings.xml and add the server :

SSL certificate

The Codehaus SSL certificate must be available into the Java Virtual Machine :

Download startssl-CA.pem and startssl-Intermediate.pem from this page.
Execute the command for both certificates (password is changeit):

Add this to a profile in ~/.m2/settings.xml, with you gpg key :

Or complete MAVEN_OPTS (but the first solution is better) with:

Procedure

The following steps should be run chronologically:

All the JIRA issues have been tested by their owner and are closed. Integration tests are added and of course pass with all the supported databases (Derby, Mysql, Oracle, Postgresql, SQLServer).
Check the Quality requirements of source code:
1. The SQALE index must be A between two releases
2. The SQALE remediation factor must not increase
3. There should not be any blocker or critical violations
Publish first release candidate (see bellow)
Do extensive tests :
1. Test all versions of Internet Explorer (including v.6)
2. Test migration from previous release
  1. Technical upgrade is automatically tested by integration tests
  2. Export Nemo database and manually test migration
3. Do sanity checks
4. Run non-regression tests : launch previous version and version under test. Analyze commons-logging and commons-collection in both environments and compare results (homepage, dashboard, drilldowns, timemachine, clouds, hotspots, code viewers, configuration).
5. Run performance tests
Complete technical documentation (web services, new extension points)
Upgrade http://nemo.sonarsource.org
Wait for community's feedback
Publish new release candidate and repeat tests as long as the release is not perfect.
Publish the final release (see bellow).

How to publish the first release candidate

Create a new GIT branch
1. git checkout -b release-<final version, not suffixed by '-RC'>
Create release version
1. Execute the following command and type answers like: release=2.11-RC1, tag=2.11-RC1, next dev version=2.11-SNAPSHOT
  mvn release:prepare release:perform -Prelease -Darguments=-Dgpg.passphrase=thephrase
Upload the files target/checkout/sonar-application/target/sonar-<version>.* to webdav repository https://dav.codehaus.org/dist/sonar/
Connect to https://nexus.codehaus.org and close the staging repository.
Release the staging nexus repository if artifacts must be deployed into central repository.
Push changes
1. git push origin release-<version>
2. git push --tags
Increase version of master branch :
1. git checkout master
2. mvn versions:set -DgenerateBackupPoms=false -DnewVersion=<next SNAPSHOT version>
3. git commit -am "Upgrade version to <next SNAPSHOT version>"
4. git push
Update the environment variable $SONAR_SNAPSHOT_VERSION of SonarSource CI server
Send an email to dev@sonarsource.com
Install RC on Dory

How to publish next release candidates

Update the local GIT repository
1. git checkout release-<final version, not suffixed by '-RC'>
2. git pull origin release-<final version, not suffixed by '-RC'>
Create release version
1. Execute the following command and type answers like: release=2.11-RC2, tag=2.11-RC2, next dev version=2.11-SNAPSHOT
  mvn release:prepare release:perform -Prelease
Upload the files target/checkout/sonar-application/target/sonar-<version>.* to webdav repository https://dav.codehaus.org/dist/sonar/
Connect to https://nexus.codehaus.org and close the staging repository.
Release the staging nexus repository if artifacts must be deployed into central repository.
Push changes
1. git push origin release-<version>
2. git push --tags

How to release final version

Release new version in Jira
Checkout the release branch
1. git checkout release-<version>
Set release version
1. mvn versions:set -DgenerateBackupPoms=false -DnewVersion=<version>
2. git commit -am "Release <version>"
Deploy artifacts to maven repository
1. mvn clean deploy -Prelease
Upload the files sonar-application/target/sonar-<version>.* to the webdav repository https://dav.codehaus.org/dist/sonar/.
Publish Javadoc to http://www.sonarsource.org/docs
1. Execute the script subprojects/tools/upload-sonar-javadoc.sh located in SonarSource internal repository
Connect to https://nexus.codehaus.org, close and release the staging repository.
Tag and push to remote GIT repository
1. git tag <version>
2. git push origin releases
3. git push --tags
Merge master branch
1. git checkout master
2. git merge release-<version>. Be careful of conflicts of versions in pom files.
3. git push
Wait for the maven plugin to be published into the Maven central repository : http://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/codehaus/sonar/sonar-maven-plugin/. Then the release can be made official.
Upgrade http://nemo.sonarsource.org
Update the download page, the homepage and the roadmap page
Update the documentation, including Plugin versions matrix and upgrade guide
Add the release to Update Center (hosted at SonarSource)
Roll Integration Tests over (hosted at SonarSource)
Post an announcement to the blog, to the mailing-lists announce@sonar.codehaus.org, user@sonar.codehaus.org and dev@sonar.codehaus.org
Tweet the release
Drink some champagne with all the team !

Release Sonar