RELEASING: Remove a meaningless step from the release process.

The entire "make sure the code you want is in place" thing is part of
a larger release process that we don't document here at all. Instead,
we just focus here on the mechanics of pushing things out once the
larger process has determined the code is ready.

And the fewer steps there are, the better, (for making the
release-process as painless as possible and for avoiding any
mistakes).

diff --git a/RELEASING b/RELEASING
index a8a4643ba81cd86084a1e789dc34ce16766b8602..8e628d7f44f8a361de1f4f591e1a51ee9665fc44 100644 (file)
--- a/RELEASING
+++ b/RELEASING
@@ -1,16 +1,22 @@
-Here are the steps to follow to create a new notmuch release:
+Here are the steps to follow to create a new notmuch release.
 
-1) Verify that what you want to release is committed. The release
-   process will release the code from the current HEAD commit.
+These steps assume that a process (not described here) has already
+been followed to determine the features and bug fixes to be included
+in a release, and that adequate testing by the community has already
+been performed. The little bit of testing performed here is a safety
+check, and not a substitute for wider testing.
 
-2) Verify that the NEWS file is up to date.
+OK, so the code to be released is present and committed to your git
+repository. From here, there are just a few steps to release:
+
+1) Verify that the NEWS file is up to date.
 
        Read through the entry at the top of the NEWS file and see if
        you are aware of any major features recently added that are
        not mentioned there. If so, pleas add them, (and ask the
        authors of the commits to update NEWS in the future).
 
-3) Increment the libnotmuch library version in lib/Makefile.local
+2) Increment the libnotmuch library version in lib/Makefile.local
 
        See the instructions there for how to increment it. The
        command below can be useful for inspecting header-file changes
@@ -26,7 +32,7 @@ Here are the steps to follow to create a new notmuch release:
 
        Commit this change.
 
-4) Run "make VERSION=X.Y release" which will perform the following steps:
+3) Run "make VERSION=X.Y release" which will perform the following steps:
 
    For the X.Y version, we'll generally just increment Y. But for
    major milestones of usability we're increment X as well.
@@ -49,7 +55,7 @@ Here are the steps to follow to create a new notmuch release:
        * Push that tag
        * Provide some text for the release announcement (see below).
 
-5) Send a message to notmuch@notmuchmail.org to announce the release.
+4) Send a message to notmuch@notmuchmail.org to announce the release.
 
        Use the text provided from "make release" above, (if for some
        reason you lose this message, "make release-message" prints