= WHAT BELONGS IN trunk/app =

trunk/app should contain only the files needed for the actual Google App

Engine application "image".  Support code that is not part of the application

image belongs elsewhere, such as in trunk/scripts, for example.

= THIRD PARTY CODE =

Third-party code that is *not* part of the application image (the Google App

Engine SDK in trunk/thirdparty/google_appengine, for example) belongs in

trunk/thirdparty (see also trunk/thirdparty/README).

Third-party code that is part of the application image is placed in a package

subdirectory in trunk/app, such as trunk/app/django, for example.

If the third-party package is a single Python source file, place the code in

trunk/app/<package>/__init__.py, so that it can simply be imported using,

for example:

import feedparser

(The trunk/app/feedparser package is a good example of this approach.)

== THIRD PARTY LICENSES ==

Third-party code must also include a license text file, named LICENSE or

COPYING, in the package subdirectory.  If the third-party package subdirectory

is maintained automatically with a tool such as svn_load_dirs.pl (which

removes files, such as license text files, that were added later to the

"target" directory), place the license text file in the trunk/app directory

and add the package name as a suffix (LICENSE.django is an example of this

case).

= CREATING AN OFFICIAL RELEASE =

== CREATING THE RELEASE CANDIDATE BRANCH AND TAGGING A RELEASE ==

Steps (currently done by hand, but too be scripted in the future) to make

a release:

1) Set the "version:" field in the app.yaml.template file to a "release

   candidate" release string.  Version strings cannot contain dots

   (periods) and have some other restrictions.  As a result, the format

   of the release-candidate "version:" field needs to be:

     A-B-YYYYMMDD

   where:

   * A is a major number (currently '0' until at least GSoC functionality

     is completely implemented)

   * B is a (possibly multi-digit) minor number that is increased whenever

     there is a major increase in functionality (some major GSoC or GHOP

     feature, e.g. student sign-ups and proposals, is implemented)

   * YYYY is the four digit year of the release date

   * MM is the (always) two digit month of the release date (zero-padded)

   * DD is the (always) two digit day of the release date (zero-padded)

2) Commit this file *by itself* in its own commit.

3) Use 'svn cp' to create a release branch of /trunk/ in /branches/ with

   exactly the same name as the contents of the "version:" field in the

   app.yaml.template file.  Branch on the specific revision of the commit

4) Finalize the release candidate branch for a push to the live web site.

   Use 'svn cp' to create a tag in /tags/ with exactly the same name as the

   contents of the "version:" field in the app.yaml.template file.  Specify

   the *specific revision* of the commit in step #2 above.

Step #4 might actually be delayed for one or more patch releases, once there

is some sort of User Acceptance Testing (UAT) checklist for a release

candidate, because defects would be patched in the release candidate branch

one or more times before an actual release is tagged.  See the next section

for details.

== PATCHING AND RE-RELEASING AN EXISTING RELEASE CANDIDATE BRANCH ==

To re-release a previously-tagged release branch after a patch for a push to

the live web site:

1) Increment the "patch suffix" of the "version:" field value to the next

   integer (for example, "p1" becomes "p2"), or append "p1" to the end of

   the existing string if this is the first patch release (so the first tagged

   patch release will always be "p1").  For example:

     A-B-YYYYMMDD becomes A-B-YYYYMMDDp1

   and:

     A-B-YYYYMMDDp1 becomes A-B-YYYYMMDDp2

   etc.

2) Commit this file *by itself* in its own commit (after the last batch

   of patches being made to the existing /branches/ release branch).

3) Use 'svn cp' to create a tag in /tags/ with exactly the same name as the

   contents of the new, patched "version:" field in the app.yaml.template

   file.  Specify the *specific revision* of the commit in step #2 above.