Perl/CPAN Package Release Checklist

1. Review TODO file.
2. Adjust years in copyright statements and version numbers:

   grep -r <year> .
   grep -r <old-ver> .

3. Adjust dependencies in Build.PL and debian/control.

   sed -nr 's/^ *(use|require) +([A-Z][^; ]*).*/\2/p' $(find . -name '*.pm') | sort -u

4. Commit all changes to version control system.
5. Update changelogs:

   Describe all changes since last release in CHANGES and debian/changelog:

   svn log -r <old-rev>:HEAD | less

   cvs log -rrel-<old-ver>:: 2>&1 | less

   Commit changelogs to version control system.

6. Update package meta-data:

   perl Build.PL
   ./Build manifest
   ./Build distmeta

   Commit package meta-data files to version control system.

7. Build tarball:

   ./Build dist
   ./Build distclean

8. Build Debian package:

   svn-buildpackage -rfakeroot -uc -us

   dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -us -uc -tc -I.svn

   dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -us -uc -tc -ICVS

9. Check Debian package for policy compliance:

   lintian -i ../*.changes

   If any problems are found, fix them and start again from step 3.

10. Release-tag version controlled files:

    svn cp . ../tags/<new-ver>; svn ci $_

    cvs tag rel-<new-ver>

Thanks to Julian Mehnle for this list. It is considered by the author to be public domain.