* gdbint.texinfo (Releasing GDB): Add section ``Versions and

Branches''.

gdb/doc/ChangeLog

@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2002-03-18  Andrew Cagney  <ac131313@redhat.com>
+
+	* gdbint.texinfo (Releasing GDB): Add section ``Versions and
+	Branches''.
+
 2002-03-18  Andrew Cagney  <ac131313@redhat.com>
 
 	* gdbint.texinfo (Releasing GDB): Add the section``Branch Commit

gdb/doc/gdbint.texinfo

@@ -4817,11 +4817,111 @@ files @file{gdb.info*} in the distribution.  Note the plural;
 @code{makeinfo} will split the document into one overall file and five
 or so included files.
 
+
 @node Releasing GDB
 
 @chapter Releasing @value{GDBN}
 @cindex making a new release of gdb
 
+@section Versions and Branches
+
+@subsection Version Identifiers
+
+@value{GDBN}'s version is determined by the file @file{gdb/version.in}.
+
+@value{GDBN}'s mainline uses ISO dates to differentiate between
+versions.  The CVS repository uses @var{YYYY}-@var{MM}-@var{DD}-cvs
+while the corresponding snapshot uses @var{YYYYMMDD}.
+
+@value{GDBN}'s release branch uses a slightly more complicated scheme.
+When the branch is first cut, the mainline version identifier is
+prefixed with the @var{major}.@var{minor} from of the previous release
+series but with .90 appended.  As draft releases are drawn from the
+branch, the minor minor number (.90) is incremented.  Once the first
+release (@var{M}.@var{N}) has been made, the version prefix is updated
+to @var{M}.@var{N}.0.90 (dot zero, dot ninety).  Follow on releases have
+an incremented minor minor version number (.0).
+
+Using 5.1 (previous) and 5.2 (current), the example below illustrates a
+typical sequence of version identifiers:
+
+@table @asis
+@item 5.1.1
+final release from previous branch
+@item 2002-03-03-cvs
+main-line the day the branch is cut
+@item 5.1.90-2002-03-03-cvs
+corresponding branch version
+@item 5.1.91
+first draft release candidate
+@item 5.1.91-2002-03-17-cvs
+updated branch version
+@item 5.1.92
+second draft release candidate
+@item 5.1.92-2002-03-31-cvs
+updated branch version
+@item 5.1.93
+final release candidate (see below)
+@item 5.2
+official release
+@item 5.2.0.90-2002-04-07-cvs
+updated CVS branch version
+@item 5.2.1
+second official release
+@end table
+
+Notes:
+
+@itemize @bullet
+@item
+Minor minor minor draft release candidates such as 5.2.0.91 have been
+omitted from the example.  Such release candidates are, typically, never
+made.
+@item
+For 5.1.93 the bziped tar ball @file{gdb-5.1.93.tar.bz2} is just the
+official @file{gdb-5.2.tar} renamed and compressed.
+@end itemize
+
+To avoid version conflicts, vendors are expected to modify the file
+@file{gdb/version.in} to include a vendor unique alphabetic identifier
+(an official @value{GDBN} release never uses alphabetic characters in
+its version identifer).
+
+Since @value{GDBN} does not make minor minor minor releases (e.g.,
+5.1.0.1) the conflict between that and a minor minor draft release
+identifier (e.g., 5.1.0.90) is avoided.
+
+
+@subsection Branches
+
+@value{GDBN} draws a release series (5.2, 5.2.1, @dots{}) from a single
+release branch (gdb_5_2-branch).  Since minor minor minor releases
+(5.1.0.1) are not made, the need to branch the release branch is avoided
+(it also turns out that the effort required for such a a branch and
+release is significantly greater than the effort needed to create a new
+release from the head of the release branch).
+
+Releases 5.0 and 5.1 used branch and release tags of the form:
+
+@example
+gdb_N_M-YYYY-MM-DD-branchpoint
+gdb_N_M-YYYY-MM-DD-branch
+gdb_M_N-YYYY-MM-DD-release
+@end example
+
+Release 5.2 is trialing the branch and release tags:
+
+@example
+gdb_N_M-YYYY-MM-DD-branchpoint
+gdb_N_M-branch
+gdb_M_N-YYYY-MM-DD-release
+@end example
+
+@emph{Pragmatics: The branchpoint and release tags need to identify when
+a branch and release are made.  The branch tag, denoting the head of the
+branch, does not have this criteria.}
+
+
 @section Branch Commit Policy
 
 The branch commit policy is pretty slack.  @value{GDBN} releases 5.0,