Paul Jones, author for the popular Solar PHP framework, has posted the secret to his success of being able to release five versions of the framework in seven days - an automatic release process.
But what I want to talk about in this entry is the release process itself. With the help of Greg Beaver (indirectly) and Clay Loveless (directly), Solar now has a moderate-length PHP script that handles almost all aspects of the release process automatically. Usage is at the command line; issue "php release.php" for a test run, or "php release.php commit" for a full release-and-commit cycle.
With any luck, the lessons I've learned here will be of use to someone else; with more luck, perhaps someone else will see possible improvements and mention them here. Read on for a narrative of how the script came to be.
He not only talks about the package, he also goes through the three iterations that it took to get the package where it is today. It has evolved from a simple PEAR package, to an automatically adjusting PEAR package, and enhancing it to add administrative functionality to maintaining it. He notes that there are still a few manual tasks that have to be done, but overall, it's a nice and easy process.
