path: root/Master/tlpkg/doc/releng.txt

$Id$
Public domain. Release engineering for TeX Live, that is,
notes on putting together the pretest and yearly release.

See ./packages.txt for info on regular updates, adding/removing platforms, etc.

Coordinate/announce schedule with:
 maintainers of: engines, LaTeX, GUST font, asymptote, context, texworks
 other parts of collection: protext, ctan, mactex.
 general lists

Check if pretest mirrors need renewing, talk to mirror admins if so:
 https://tug.org/texlive/mirmon/
 /home/httpd/html/texlive/mirmon/tlpretest-mirrors.txt

To stop updating of certain packages before the general freeze:
 tlpkg/dev/tlnet-disabled-packages.txt

To run test builds (if developing infrastructure changes) without
affecting production dirs, see:
 tlpkg/bin/tltestnet


 Part I. Preparation; can/should be done before pretest starts.

1. Ask tldistro for patches.

2. Check for upstream releases: {libs,texk,utils}/README

3. Check/update copyright years: *.pm, tlmgr*, install-tl, tlpkg/installer

4. When finalizing sources (any time in the new year, can be early,
    before initial builds in any case),
   update version numbers, years, copyright years,
   and/or remove /dev suffix in
     (if not already done, of course; don't double-increment)
     (and write ChangeLog entries):
  top level version.ac
  dvipdfm-x:configure.ac dvipdfmx.c xbb.c
  dvipsk:   configure.ac NEWS dvips.c dvips.h afm2tfm.c dvips.texi
  mendexk,
  upmendex: COPYRIGHT main.c
  kpathsea: version.ac NEWS kpsewhich.c doc/kpathsea.texi  # not texmf.cnf
  ptexenc:  version.ac
  web2c:    NEWS doc/web2c.texi
            hitexdir/      # ask mruckert
  	    mplibdir/mp.w  # ask lscarso
            ptexdir/ptex-base.ch,ptex_version.h              # ask jpdev
            pdftexdir/pdftex.web pdftexdir/pdftex_version.h  # ask thanh
            xetexdir/xetex.web xetexdir/xetex_version.h      # ask jkew
            lib/printversion.c
  check *.c *.h sources in above for needed copyright year updates too.
  check tlpkg/dev/srclist.txt for automake major version update.
  check tlpkg/installer/curl/curl-ca-bundle.crt for update,
    at https://curl.se/ca, though should have been done by tl-update-auto.
  then reautoconf (~4min), rebuild (~25min).
  install-tl, tlmgr.pl (copyright only)
  run ~karl/bin/tlversions to see+compare engine/etc. versions
  commit updates.

5. doc: write updates for pretest.html, but leave commented out until start.
 - check NEWS/CHANGES/etc. files for all engines and major programs;
   ask developers as needed.
 - diff new and old bindirs to see if there are interesting new programs:
  \ls /usr/local/texlive-rel/bin/x86_64-linux >/tmp/now
  \ls $ib >/tmp/new
  comm -3 /tmp/now /tmp/new >/tmp/bd
 - in general, writing these news items takes considerable time, but
   it's important, because this summary of changes is what users want to know.
 - if new kpathsea file types (kpsewhich --help-formats), update kpathsea.texi.
 - see also doc item below for more necessary updates after pretest starts.
 
6. During the pretest, we want to keep updating tlnet. But we cannot do
that from the trunk, since the trunk will have the new binaries and
other changes. Therefore, we set up a branch for release YYYY where we
will continue to commit normal package updates and update tlnet, while
the trunk is updating tlpretest for YYYY+1.

The branch must be created right before the first pretest-specific
commit (which is the next item, in Part II). Ensure *.pm are updated in
Build/source first.

  cd /home/texlive/branch
  rm -rf * .[^.]* # empty completely; be sure .svn et al. are gone
  rev=65870 # for 2023 (svn info in trunk)
  tlyear=`date +%Y -d "last year"`; echo $tlyear # previous release
  umask 022 # keep TL files non-group-writable
  branch=branch$tlyear.final
  svn copy -r $rev \
    -m"$branch branch based on r$rev" \
    svn://tug.org/texlive/trunk svn://tug.org/texlive/branches/$branch
  # make working checkout:
  time svn co svn://tug.org/texlive/branches/$branch . >&/tmp/out # ~45min

Do not create it earlier and merge from trunk, because then all the
packages which got updated in the meantime, and have been updated in
tlnet, will get new revision numbers (from the commit after the merge)
and get updated again.


 Part II. Building pretest from trunk (and tlnet from branch).

0. Ensure that /home/texlive/branch from before last pretest-specific
commit is created, clean, and up to date: see item 6 just above.

0b. In crontab, disable "update tlnet from trunk" entry,
and also disable cron.synctl entry so it doesn't interfere/lock
the repo while we're working.

1. Set up tlpretest:
Update /home/ftp/texlive/tlpretest/README.md.
Empty tlpretest except for that README and 00_TIME.txt (used for mirmon).

2. Prepare for pretest in cron.tl, with these temporary settings (will
   reset below):
critical=--critical	 # tlcritical needed for new release version
tl_update_auto=false     # keep files as-is for now
net_frozen=true 	 # stay local for now, no update of tlpretest
catalogue_compare=false  # avoid for initial test
First build happens below, after many more changes; don't start it yet.

4. After setting up for pretest (not before), basic updates for release year:
Master/.mkisofsrc
Master/release-texlive.txt
Master/tlpkg/TeXLive/TLConfig.pm -- $ReleaseYear and think about $MinRelease
Master/tlpkg/TeXLive/TLUtils.pm  -- $mactex_darwin and -darwin strings
Master/tlpkg/bin/tl-update-images
Master/tlpkg/bin/tl-update-messages 
Master/tlpkg/bin/tl-update-tlnet
Master/texmf-dist/web2c/texmfcnf.lua
Master/texmf-dist/web2c/texmf.cnf  # from Build/.../kpathsea
  (also ensure that the Build and Master texmf.cnf files are in sync)

5. Ensure version numbers in sources are updated; see list above.
Then install new binaries with tl-update-bindir. Ask tlbuild.
Add new executables to appropriate .tlpsrc files (likewise removals).
  (svn status bin/x86_64-linux | grep '^[^M]')
Add any man pages for the new executables (from Build/source/inst/...)
Add new scripts to linked_scripts if not already handled.
Run tl-update-asy --build on tug to make new support files ready.

6. Run tex \\end to check that dynamic mktexfmt works. 
Ensure that web2c/texmf.cnf is updated for the current year (per above).

6a. Check that all formats build ok:
fmtutil-user --all >&/tmp/fua
egrep -i 'ERROR|failed' /tmp/fua

6b. For karl@tug.org: leave new ~karl/.texlive`date +%Y` for bnb.
Also, for ConTeXt:
  mtxrun --generate >&/tmp/mtxgen
  context --luatex --generate >&/tmp/cltxgen

7. Check for Build-maintained updates to config files, new files, etc.
(might have to merge back if Master was mistakenly updated):
  diff -ru0 --exclude=man --exclude=info \
    Build/source/inst/texmf-dist Master/texmf-dist

7b. HiTeX: make install in hitexdir/tex and hitexdir/doc.

7c. Asymptote: install new runtime files per tl-update-asy.

8. Now, finally, try a first update of tlpretest:
  env force_rebuild=true ~karl/bin/cron.pretest  # ~15min
This will fail because the pretest dir is not yet set up, but
that's ok; the idea is to check the output and ensure all is basically ok.
The complaints about unknown "svn status output line"s are ok.
It's likely that .tlpsrc files will need to be adjusted for new binaries.
When removing platforms, have to remove from /home/texlive/trunk.

8a. svn commit all the above.

9. After the trial build goes ok, set up tlpretest:
  cd /home/ftp/texlive/tlpretest
  cp -ar ../tlnet/[a-u]* .  # omit tlnet/README*; about 3min
  env force_rebuild=true cron.pretest  # will update repository, hopefully
We use cp -a because we want to start with exactly the last tlnet,
and not recreate all packages, so that a file with a given name is never
rewritten. See recreate comments in tl-update-tlpdb and tl-update-containers.

9b. Sanity check: Do an installation as a normal user from the new
tlpretest, and keep this installation updated daily as normal users do,
that is, with tlmgr update --self --all.

9c. Update other automatically-built binary sets, 
and ask tlbuild to build all (including asymptote).

9d. In 2020, as a special case, after a first successful build, this was run:
  tl-fix-container-links
In order to make all the archive/*.tar.xz files into versioned symlinks,
so a given tarball will not be regenerated unless the content changes.
This was a one-time event, but left here as an example for the unknown future.

10. As of 2021, we want to keep updating tlnet from the new branch, as
described in item I.6. For safety, let's do a trial build from the new
branch to a temporary destination, say /home/texlive/trial-tlnet, before
updating the real tlnet.  Initialize this dir as above with tlpretest, item 9:
  mkdir /home/texlive/trial-tlnet
  cd /home/texlive/trial-tlnet
  chmod g-s .
  rm -rf *
  time cp -ar ~ftp/texlive/tlnet/[a-u]* .  # omit tlnet/README*
  umask 002
  chmod -R u+w,go-w,a+rX-st --changes *    # avoid lots of chmods in cron.tl
  #
  # also make an empty working directory for the build:
  mkdir /home/texlive/trial-work

10a. Edit ~karl/bin/cron.tl (these trial values are commented out):
- use /home/texlive/trial-tlnet instead of $ftp/tlnet for tlnet_dir;
- add --testlocation=/home/texlive/trial-work to tl-update-tlnet invocation.

10b. To do the test branch build:
  env force_rebuild=true cron.branch
Assuming it goes ok, then undo the edits.
There will be no linked_scripts dir (no build done), but that's ok;
we won't be installing binaries from a build.

11. In cron.tl, set critical= , net_frozen=false, and
    return to regular catalogue_compare=true biweekly updates.
    In the crontab, enable the pretest entries,
    and re-enable cron.synctl.

12. Life and daily updates resume: run c2a to update trunk->tlpretest,
    c2b to update branch->tlnet. Of course, don't update the branch if a
    particular package requires the new binaries, e.g., asymptote.
    
13. Announce: make new pretest.html live; mention pretest has started
    on texlive/index.html and tug's home page (at least).
    Email tex-live@tug.org.


A. At some point during the pretest:
  Update gpg expiration, see tlpkg/gpg/tl-key-extension.txt;
    do not fail to do this, or the key will expire and cause lots of hassle.
  Run tl-update-linked-scripts to ensure consistency.
  In Master/tlpkg, update bundled Windows programs as needed:
    dviout texworks tlgs tlperl tlpsv
  In tlpkg/installer, update xz lz4 wget if needed (+ Master/source).
  Update readme-html.dir/readme.en.html if needed (hopefully not),
    run tlpkg/bin/htmltext to create readme-txt.dir/README.EN
    and tell tldoc / all translators to update.

B. Specifics for tlperl update:
  cd $pg
  find tlperl -type f | \grep -v README.TEXLIVE | sort >/tmp/now
  zipinfo -1 newperl.zip | \grep -v /\$ | sort >/tmp/new
  unzip -q newperl.zip  # replace All files
  comm -13 /tmp/now /tmp/new >/tmp/c2
  comm -23 /tmp/now /tmp/new >/tmp/c1
  wc -l /tmp/c1 /tmp/c2 # should be about 100-200, not 1500+
  svn rm `cat /tmp/c1`
  svn add --parents --no-auto-props `cat /tmp/c2`
  svn status | fgrep \? # shouldn't be any besides newperl.zip
  find tlperl -name \*.dll -o -name \*.exe | xargs svn propset svn:executable 1
  find tlperl -type d -empty | xargs svn rm  # repeat until no output
  update tlperl/README.TEXLIVE
  svn commit when ready ...

C. Build a test ISO image for initial TeX Collection testing:
  In tl-update-images, ensure V= the new YYYY and target=/.../test
  env images_frozen=false cron.pretest
  After successful image build, update /home/ftp/texlive/Images/test/README
  and email tldistro@tug.org for info/review.
  Can disable image building again after the initial build for a while.

M. As pretest proceeds, update the doc:
  Update texlive-en.tex (+ .pdf, .html), tell tldoc to translate.
    Update year numbers by one,
    example text menus and GUI screenshots,
    write news section,
    update "Builders of the binaries" and "Translators of this manual",
    any new people to thank,
    and changes throughout if behavior has changed.
  Engine/etc. doc updates:
    . run tl-update-news, which copies simple files to the runtime.
    . pdftex/mpost/luatex maintainers should update their manuals
      from their repositories (doc/manual/ and manual/ subdirs for the
      first two) to the runtime.
    . consider updates of core man pages in Build/source/texk/web2c/man.
  Update tlbuild.texi text, then
    xs=.../Build/source
    W=$xs/Work
    make -C $W/doc script-links tlbuild-incl.texi readme-files readme-install
  Remake updmap,fmtutil man pages with help2man (install latest from source):
    tm=.../Master
    make -C $W/texk/texlive/tl_support xupdmap.1 xfmtutil.1
    x1=`(unset CDPATH; cd $tm/texmf-dist/doc/man/man1; pwd)`
    They must be moved from /tmp into both Master and Build by hand:
      cp -p /tmp/xupdmap.1 $x1/updmap.1
      cp -p /tmp/xfmtutil.1 $x1/fmtutil.1
      cp -p /tmp/xupdmap.1 $xs/texk/texlive/tl_support/updmap.1
      cp -p /tmp/xfmtutil.1 $xs/texk/texlive/tl_support/fmtutil.1
    Also update them in ~www/texlive/doc/*.html:
      cp -p /tmp/xupdmap.1.html $lw/doc/updmap.html
      cp -p /tmp/xfmtutil.1.html $lw/doc/fmtutil.html
    While we're here, let's update the other generated html files:
      xx=$tm/texmf-dist/scripts/texlive
      lw=~www/home/httpd/texlive
      pod2html --cachedir=/tmp $xx/tlmgr.pl >$lw/doc/tlmgr.html
      pod2html --cachedir=/tmp $tm/install-tl >$lw/doc/install-tl.html
    Update copies in the Master tree (also done nightly in tl-update-auto):
      cp -pf $lw/doc/{tlmgr,install-tl}.html $tm/texmf-dist/doc/texlive
  Man pages from Build to Master (after doing a build):
    tl-update-man # consider removals from output, if any binaries are gone
    # check /tmp/so.rules against man1/Makefile, update if needed.
    make -C $x1/..  # remakes pdfs
    # files to add:
    svn status $x1 | sed -n 's/^\?//p'
    svn add `!!`
  Texinfo manuals from Build to Master:
    tl-update-txi
  Don't forget to commit everything (texmf-dist/doc, Build/source, ...).

N. Really test during, and at end, of pretest that
    (really! don't leave it for post-release failure)
  .fmt's sharable are across endian/word-different platforms,
  including luatex:
    tlpkg/bin/tl-check-fmtshare RHOST:RDIR
  where RHOST is a host you can ssh to with different specifications
  than the local host, and RDIR is a TL:Build/source/Work/texk/web2c/
  build directory. (Must build TL there first before running, naturally.)
  Nelson Beebe has a wide variety of hosts available.

O. Test that basic interactive Metafont is still working:
    mf '\drawdot (50,50); showit;'  % and from * prompt

W. Two days before the final pretest (i.e., to-be-published) build:
  Update Build/source/tardate.ac && reautoconf.
  Put date into NEWS and ChangeLog files above,
    plus all web2c/*/ChangeLog except cwebdir luatexdir *tiedir windows.
  tlmgr version number in texmf-dist/scripts/texlive/NEWS.
  Run make distclean in Build/source/utils/asymptote
    to avoid that build junk ending up in the source tarball.
  In cron.tl, force catalogue_compare=true for final syncs.
  Set images_frozen=false so we get the new sources,
    or can run tl-update-images --tar-source-only
    and --tar-devsource-only to just build the necessary tarballs
    for Master/source if you don't want to do a whole build.
  Tell developers no more commits: tlbuild, dvipdfmx, tex-live, tldoc, luigi.
  Run build, by hand or by cron.

X. The day before the final pretest:
  In cron.tl, catalogue_compare=false to avoid skew.
  In cron job, undo --no-adjust-repo, else install-tl-unx won't go to ctan.
  Update Master/source (if not earlier):
    xz wget windows-src texlive*source mactexdoc install-tl-unx.tar.gz 

Y. The day of the final tlnet-from-branch build, which may or may not
   also be the day of the final tlpretest-from-trunk build:
 Set frozen=>1 in branch TLConfig.pm.
 Can wait for nightly rebuild,
   or run the two builds by hand with:
     env force_rebuild=true cron.pretest
     env force_rebuild=true cron.branch

Z. After final build, to do total freeze:
  In cron.tl, set *_frozen=true.
  Also, check catalogue_compare=false.
  For double protection, disable the nightly cron jobs.
  Also, in /l/bin/mirror-ctan, disable Catalogue updates,
    to avoid unnecessary changes if we have to rebuild the final image.

Z0. Preserve Catalogue as of the freeze, for the sake of
    post-freeze updates, e.g.,
tar -C /home/httpd/html -czf ~karl/tmp/catalogue-freeze.tgz catalogue
    If such post-freeze updates are required (let's hope not),
    see tlpkg/archive/tlnet-by-hand.txt.

Z1. When sure it's going to fly, ask for torrents to be created. In 2022,
  Tim Stewart <timoteostewart1977@gmail.com>
  made the one that worked. Ask him when final pretest appears stable,
  don't wait for release (ideally).


 Part III. Making the big release.

1. The updates. The basic idea is to move the archives already built,
not rebuild anything at this point.

- unmount live install of last year's:
umount /home/ftp/texlive/Contents/live

hx=/home/ftp/historic/systems/texlive
prev=`date -d "last year" +%Y`; echo $prev
this=`date +%Y`; echo $this
mkdir $hx/$this
chgrp texlive !$
chmod g+ws !$
ls -ld !$
ls !$ # should be empty

cd /home/ftp/texlive/Images
cp -pv README.md $hx/$prev/
mv -v *.iso* *.torrent* $hx/$prev/
ls # should be only README and test/ left.
mv -v test/texlive*.iso* .
mv -v test/texlive*.tar.xz* $hx/$this/	# tar version only in historic
update README.md (touch even if no real changes needed)
   and test/README (pretest over)

- mactex (from tlpretest)
hm=/home/ftp/historic/systems/mactex
mkdir $hm/$prev/
cd ~ftp/tex/mactex
chgrp mactex *; chmod g+w *
mv -v *.pkg* $hm/$prev
ls # should be only MacTeXtras.zip* and related left.
mv -v ~ftp/texlive/tlpretest/*.pkg* .
#
# make generic symlinks:
ln -s mactex-basictex-20230314.pkg BasicTeX.pkg
ln -s mactex-ghostscript-10.0.0-20230218.pkg Ghostscript.pkg
ln -s mactex-20230314.pkg MacTeX.pkg
#
# and checksums for them:
for f in *.pkg; do echo $f; md5sum $f >$f.md5; sha512sum $f >$f.sha512; done
#
edit README
chgrp mactex *; chmod g+w *
mkdir $hm/$this/
ls !$ # should be empty
cp -pv Extras*.pdf mactex-MacTeXtras*.zip $hm/$this

- move rest of tlnet to historic, as tlnet-final:
We keep updating the $prev release while doing the pretest for $this,
 so moving the current tlnet is what's needed:
mkdir $hx/$prev/tlnet-final
chgrp texlive !$
chmod g+s !$
ls -ld !$
ls !$ # should be empty
cd /home/ftp/texlive/tlnet
mv [a-z]* $hx/$prev/tlnet-final
rm -i TEXLIVE_20* # remove old signal file

- move tlpretest to tlnet, to make the release
mv ../tlpretest/[a-z]* .
update README.md (update year, check for other changes)
   and ../tlpretest/README.md (pretest over)
cp install-tl-unx.tar.gz install-tl.zip $hx/$this/
touch TEXLIVE_$this # empty file to signal new version

- Source directory for CTAN:
fx=/home/ftp/tex
ls $fx/texlive/Source/* # ensure last year's sources
rm -f !$  # yep, remove them, we have have them in historic
cp -av $tm/source/{install-tl,texlive-,windows-src-}*z $fx/texlive/Source/
cp -av $tm/source/{install-tl,texlive,windows-src}*README $fx/texlive/Source/

- historic copy of TL web pages:
cd /home/httpd/html/texlive
mkdir $hx/$prev/web/
cp *.html !$
ls !$/bugs.html   # disable header.html ssi in that bugs.html

- copy full (unpruned) tlpdb to historic:
# the pre-pruned tlpdb directory is created by tl-update-images.
preprune=/home/ftp/texlive/Images/test/preprune-tlpdb
ls -l $preprune # ensure tlpdb and xz and checksums
tgz=/tmp/texlive-${this}0321-tlpdb-full.tar.gz # release date, not today's
(cd $preprune && tar cvzf $tgz texlive.tlpdb texlive.tlpdb.*5*)
mv $tgz $hx/$this/
rm -rf $preprune

- email ctan@ctan.org.
  update local CTAN area, just to avoid mirroring everything back again.
  Need to do this after the night's mirror-ctan is done, since CTAN
  won't have updated yet, most likely.
cd /home/ftp/texlive/tlnet
cy=/home/ftp/tex-archive/systems
rm -rf $cy/texlive/tlnet/*; cp -ar * $cy/texlive/tlnet/
rm $cy/texlive/Images/*; cp -a ../Images/*.* $cy/texlive/Images/
rm $cy/texlive/Source/*; cp -a $tm/source/{install-tl,texlive-,w32tex-}*z $cy/texlive/Source/
rm $cy/mac/mactex/*; cp -a $fx/mactex/* $cy/mac/mactex/


2. tug.org stuff:
umount /home/ftp/texlive/Contents/live
edit fstab for year
mount /mnt/tl
cd /mnt/tl
TEXLIVE_INSTALL_NO_RESUME=1; export TEXLIVE_INSTALL_NO_RESUME
echo i | time nice -19 perl install-tl # do full install to default location
  # takes about 40min
rm /usr/local/texlive-rel && ln -s texlive/$this /usr/local/texlive-rel
ls !$
newsrc=!$/source
mkdir $newsrc
chgrp texlive !$; chmod g+ws !$
cp -pv $tm/source/{install-tl,texlive,windows-src}*.tar.?z $newsrc
ls -l !$
cd /usr/local/texlive
mount /home/ftp/texlive/Contents/live
umount /mnt/tl
#
# hardlink new release against previous
cd /usr/local/texlive
newrel=`date +%Y`
oldrel=`date -d "last year" +%Y`
head -1 $newrel/release-texlive.txt \
        $oldrel/release-texlive.txt # make sure they're right
df .; time nice -19 hardlink -v -c $newrel $oldrel; df .
#
# make files unwritable, we should never change;
# but keep directories writable, else backup-external fails.
find /usr/local/texlive-rel/ -type f -print | xargs chmod a-w,a+r
find /usr/local/texlive-rel/ -type d -print | xargs chmod a+rwX
#
# run backup-local -texlive to do rsync -H to backup root.

- update ~www/texlive web pages (search for $prev and $prev-1):
  acquire* - general
  bugs.html - news from pretest.html, also case of $prevprev at bottom
  build.html - platform list
  custom-bin.html - remove any old, add any new
  doc.html - platform list, translation list
  pretest.html - done for this year, transfer bugs and news
  quickinstall.html - paths
  upgrade.html - whether possible or not
  tlmgr-news.html - from texmf-dist/scripts/texlive/NEWS
  index.html - dates
  and site home page: ~www/index.html
check for new Texinfo manuals to link to html versions, and if any,
make a new link in:
  ~www/texinfohtml/

3. make tag + branch for this year's release:
Before: Determine revision number from 
 https://tug.org/pipermail/tex-live-commits/
Also, look at https://tug.org/svn/texlive/tags/ to get subnum
 and https://tug.org/svn/texlive/branches/ to avoid duplication.
rev=66589
subnum=0 # increment as necessary if multiple branches needed
tlyear=`date +%Y`; echo $tlyear # maybe previous year during pretest, as above
# rerun without echo after checking
echo svn copy -r $rev \
 -m"texlive-$tlyear.$subnum tag based on r$rev" \
 svn://tug.org/texlive/trunk \
 svn://tug.org/texlive/tags/texlive-$tlyear.$subnum
#
svn copy -r $rev \
  -m"branch$tlyear branch based on r$rev" \
  svn://tug.org/texlive/trunk \
  svn://tug.org/texlive/branches/branch$tlyear[.$subnum]
  # add .$subnum to branch name (and in comment) if not making the first,
  # but no .$subnum for the first branch.

  It's the same command, just different destinations.
  https://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.8/svn.branchmerge.html

  We do both a branch and a tag so that it's possible to easily compare
  the current state of the branch with its starting point (the tag).

3a. To check out the branch, for critical source fixes for the sake of
    during-the-year rebuilds or for the distros, if they request it:
this=`date +%Y`; echo $this  # whatever year is appropriate
cd /home/texlive
rm -rf branch # when starting a new year on tug
mkdir branch
cd branch
nice svn co svn://tug.org/texlive/branches/branch$this/Build/source . >&out
tail out

  Edit (inside the branch) as needed.
    For example, to diff luatex:
      cd /home/texlive/branch/texk/web2c/luatexdir
      diff -u2r . /home/texlive/trunk/Build/source/texk/web2c/luatexdir >/tmp/u
      # of course check that diffs include all and only the desired changes.
      # when good:
      patch -p0 </tmp/u
  Do a test build:
    cd /home/texlive/branch
    ./Build
    # test resulting binaries as needed.
  Commit revised sources to branch:
    svn commit -m'sync to branch: luatex 1.17.0 post-release fix for safety.
  Ask for rebuilds, e.g.,
    https://tug.org/pipermail/tlbuild/2021q2/004885.html
    https://tug.org/pipermail/tlbuild/2021q2/004920.html
  Commit new binaries and anything else needed to trunk.
  When (enough) rebuilds are done that the changes are stable,
    make another tag:
  brev=nnnnn  # branch commit revision, e.g., 51236
  btag=yyyy.n # next branch tag, e.g., 2021.3
#svn copy -r $brev -m"texlive-$btag tag based on r$brev, with <whatever> fix" \
#   svn://tug.org/texlive/branches/branch2021 \
#   svn://tug.org/texlive/tags/texlive-$btag
  (Using urls makes for an immediate commit, which is what we want.)

By the way, in the event of a mistaken delete, the material is best
recovered with, where 57911 is the good revision to restore from:
  svn merge -r HEAD:57911 .
so as to keep the version history, which retrieving the files and
re-adding would not do. (But renamed files are not handled, it seems.)

3b. Back to our update job.
- increment source versions, increment year+libversions and append /dev:
Build/source/{version.ac,texk/{kpathsea,ptexenc}/version.ac
reautoconf
cd Build/source
svn status
svn commit -m"tl$YY/dev" .

- confirm cron.pretest and cron.branch are disabled.
- update ~karl/bin/cron.tl and reenable cron.trunk when feel ready:
critical=           # for trunk
images_frozen=true  # for all
net_frozen=false
all_frozen=false
catalogue_compare=true intermittently
tl_update_auto=true
#
Also disable  cron.synctl /home/texlive/branch  and enable plain cron.synctl.
#
Also re-enable Catalogue updates in mirror-ctan.

- announcements:
CTAN @ ISO update: remove old version, MacTeX.
Dick @ updating MacTeX web pages.
tldev: Siep @ windows.html, Norbert @ debian,updmap-kanji.html.
pdftex maintainers @ updating pdftex sources with sync-pdftex.sh + tag.
tex-live, tldistro @ release made.
tlcommitters: repo open.

 after TC release:
- texcollection
hy=/home/ftp/historic/systems
mkdir -p $hy/texcollection/$this/packaging
#
# copy files from DVD:
mount /mnt/tc
cd /mnt/tc
ls -lt # check that it's the current release!
cp -pR *.* setup /home/ftp/historic/systems/texcollection/$this
#
# copy ctan snapshot for TUG members:
du -h ~www/members/ctan2*.tar # just to compare
mkdir $hy/ctancd/$prev
mv ~www/members/ctan2*.tar !$
ls -lt ctan/ | head # note date of last update
nice -19 tar cf ~www/members/ctan`date +%y`-0410.tar ctan # update date!
chmod a=r ~www/members/ctan2*.tar
ls -l !$; du -h !$
# edit members/index.html
#
cd && umount /mnt/tc
#
cd $hy/texcollection/$this/packaging
# copy in files from texcollection svn:
svn update ~/src/texcollection/
cp -p ~/src/texcollection/$this/packaging/* .
#
# make small image for web page:
pdftoppm -r 222 texcoll-label.pdf temp
pnmcrop temp*.ppm | pnmtopng >~www/texcollection/texcollection$this.png
cp texcoll-cover.pdf ~www/texcollection/texcollection$this.pdf
#
~www/texcollection/index.html
~www/store/index.html
/home/httpd/cgi-bin/tug-common.pl
~www/forms/current/memberapp.html 
#
~www/rss/tug.xml
~www/index.html