Note: See ReleaseProcessDraft for a more specific (and updated) list.

Brief approximation:

• Ensure Alpha name and number have been updated in label.xml, mainmenu.xml​, mod.json​, and Pyrogenesis.cpp​.
• Feature freeze + regenerate the translation templates via updateTemplates.py​ and the translations (for backup purposes) via pullTranslations.py​
• Test for release blocking bugs (minimum 5 days, promised to the translators)
• Commit freeze + pull final version of translations for this version and check for vandalism
• Edit the remove-incomplete-translations.sh script to include all languages that need to be in the release (Include only >90% languages supported by our fonts and font system - see progress ​on Transifex)
• Test some more
• Change the MUC room for the lobby in default.cfg​ and on the server. (Maybe reset the rankings)
• Change the bot's welcome message to notify users that a new version is available.
• Check that SVN compiles and runs on Linux
• Check that SVN compiles and runs on Linux (Gentoo) with --without-pch
• Check that SVN compiles and runs on Windows
• Check that SVN compiles and runs on OS X
• Run Windows autobuilder (or build manually with VS 2008 if autobuild is down - update svn_revision.txt first!)
• Update public trunk checkout
• Ensure it is clean (svn st --no-ignore)
• Check that debug/unnecessary files are excluded from the Windows installer script source/tools/dist/0ad.nsi​
• Run source/tools/dist/build.sh​
• Build OS X app bundle:
  • Requires OS X and Xcode
  • Read documentation in build-osx-bundle.sh, update options if necessary (defaults work with Xcode 4.2+ and Lion)
  • Run build-osx-bundle.sh --release, by default it creates a 64-bit 10.7+ compatible bundle, ~/0ad-export/0ad.app
  • Package app into DMG (as outlined ​here and ​here)
    • Use Disk Utility to create an uncompressed DMG large enough to hold 0ad.app
    • Set background image, build/resources/dmgbackground.png
    • Copy 0ad.app and Applications shortcut, arrange icons, set folder view options as desired
    • Create a bzip2-compressed DMG with ​hdiutil: hdiutil convert 0ad.dmg -format UDBZ -o 0ad-[version]-alpha-osx64
• Test on Windows:
  • Delete %localappdata%\0ad\cache
  • Extract release
  • Run pyrogenesis.exe, check everything seems to work
  • Run Atlas.bat, check everything seems to work
  • Delete %localappdata%\0ad\cache
  • Build Debug version, check everything seems to work
  • Run test project
• Test on Linux:
  • Delete ~/.cache/0ad
  • Extract release
  • Build with config=debug, run test_dbg, run game, run editor
  • Build with config=release, run test, run game, run editor
• Test on OS X:
  • Delete ~/Library/Caches/0ad/
  • Mount release DMG
  • Run 0ad and test that it works on e.g. Snow Leopard and Lion
  • Test Atlas (main menu > Tools & Options > Scenario Editor)
  • Delete ~/Library/Caches/0ad/
• Update OBS packages ​0ad, ​0ad-data:
  • Update version numbers in 0ad.changes, 0ad.dsc, 0ad.spec
  • Replace .tar.gz with new version
• Update ​PPA packages (ping ricotz on IRC):
  • Find an Ubuntu machine.
  • Copy source/tools/dist/ubuntu/ into a place for packaging
  • Update changelog files
  • Update build.sh version number
  • Run build.sh. (Optionally disable the debuild -b lines because they're not needed, we only require the source packages.)
  • dput ppa:wfg/0ad <source.changes>
• On error goto beginning
• Upload releases to ​http://releases.wildfiregames.com/
• Verify sha1sums on server
• Upload to Sourceforge:

  rsync -v --progress -e ssh 0ad-${SVNREV}-*.{exe,gz,xz} philiptaylor,zero-ad@frs.sourceforge.net:/home/frs/project/z/ze/zero-ad/releases/
  

• Update release redirects to point to SF
• Update release pages (links, file sizes, checksums?):
  • LatestReleaseWindows
  • LatestReleaseMac
  • LatestReleaseLinux
• Announce release:
  • Official website ​http://play0ad.com
  • Forum
  • Update Alpha version on official website (Settings > General > Tagline)
  • Update download pages on official website (​http://play0ad.com/download/mac, ​http://play0ad.com/download/win, ​http://play0ad.com/download/source)
  • Official social media platforms (​Facebook, ​Twitter, ​Google+.)
  • ModDB/IndieDB
  • Freecode
  • Freegamer
  • E-mail regular bloggers/reporters
• ?
• Profit

Building on EC2

Sign up to EC2. Create an EC2 instance (Ubuntu 14.04, 64-bit, c3.xlarge). ssh into it (as user 'ubuntu').

screen

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install zip cmake nsis p7zip-full

# Standard dependencies for building the game:
sudo apt-get install build-essential libboost-dev libboost-filesystem-dev   \
    libboost-signals-dev libcurl4-gnutls-dev libenet-dev libminiupnpc-dev   \
    libnspr4-dev libnvtt-dev libogg-dev libopenal-dev libpng-dev            \
    libsdl2-dev libvorbis-dev libwxgtk2.8-dev libxcursor-dev libxml2-dev    \
    subversion zlib1g-dev libgloox-dev libicu-dev

sudo mkdir /mnt/0ad
sudo chown ubuntu:ubuntu /mnt/0ad
cd /mnt/0ad
svn co http://svn.wildfiregames.com/public/ps/trunk/ 0ad
cd 0ad/build/workspaces
./update-workspaces.sh -j4
cd gcc
make -j4
mkdir /mnt/0ad/dist
cd /mnt/0ad/dist
cp ../0ad/source/tools/dist/build.sh .
cp ../0ad/source/tools/dist/remove-incomplete-translations.sh .
nano build.sh
# change PREFIX 
./build.sh
rsync -avP 0ad-*.{tar.gz,tar.xz,exe} philip@zaynar.co.uk:/var/www/releases/rc/

Then delete the EC2 instance so you don't keep paying for it.

The whole process takes about 2 hours.