Packaging checklist for CRAN release

For a high-level overview of the release process see the Apache Arrow Release Management Guide.

Before the release candidate is cut:

• [ ] Create a GitHub issue entitled [R] CRAN packaging checklist for version X.X.X and copy this checklist to the issue.
• [ ] Evaluate the status of any failing nightly tests and nightly packaging builds. These checks replicate most of the checks that CRAN runs, so we need them all to be passing or to understand that the failures may (though won't necessarily) result in a rejection from CRAN.
• [ ] Check current CRAN check results
• [ ] Ensure the contents of the README are accurate and up to date
• [ ] Run urlchecker::url_check() on the R directory at the release candidate commit. Ignore any errors with badges as they will be removed in the CRAN release branch.
• [ ] Polish NEWS but do not update version numbers (this is done automatically later).
• [ ] For major releases, prepare tweet thread highlighting new features

Wait for the release candidate to be cut:

• [ ] Release candidate!
• [ ] Create a CRAN-release branch from the release candidate commit

Make pull requests into the autobrew and rtools-packages repositories used by the configure script on MacOS and Windows. These pull requests will use the release candidate as the source.

• [ ] Pull request to modify the apache-arrow autobrew formula to update the release version, SHA256 checksum of the release source file (which can be found in the same directory as the release source file), and any changes to dependencies and build steps that have changed in the copy of the formula we have of that formula in the Arrow repo
• [ ] Pull request to modify the apache-arrow-static autobrew formula to update the version, SHA, and any changes to dependencies and build steps that have changed in the copy of the formula we have of that formula in the Arrow repo
• [ ] Pull request to modify the autobrew script to include any additions made to r/tools/autobrew.
• [ ] Pull request to modify the RTools PKGBUILD script to reflect changes in ci/PKGBUILD, uncommenting the line that says “uncomment to test the rc”.

Prepare and check the .tar.gz that will be released to CRAN.

• [ ] git fetch upstream && git checkout release-X.X.X-rcXX && git clean -f -d
• [ ] Run make build. This copies Arrow C++ into tools/cpp, prunes some unnecessary components, and runs R CMD build to generate the source tarball. Because this will install the package, you will need to ensure that the version of Arrow C++ available to the configure script is the same as the version that is vendored into the R package (e.g., you may need to unset ARROW_HOME).
• [ ] devtools::check_built("arrow_X.X.X.tar.gz") locally
• [ ] Run reverse dependency checks. Currently this is a manual process; however, in the future it may be a crossbow nightly job.

Wait for the official release...

• [ ] Release vote passed!
• [ ] If the release candidate commit updated, rebase the CRAN release branch on that commit.
• [ ] Pick any commits that were made to main since the release commit that were needed to fix CRAN-related submission issues identified in the above steps.
• [ ] Remove badges from README.md
• [ ] Run urlchecker::url_check() on the R directory
• [ ] Create a PR entitled WIP: [R] Verify CRAN release-10.0.1-rc0. Add a comment @github-actions crossbow submit --group r to run all R crossbow jobs against the CRAN-specific release branch.
• [ ] Regenerate arrow_X.X.X.tar.gz (i.e., make build)

Create new autobrew and r-windows PRs such that they use the release instead of the release candidate; ensure linux binary packages are available:

• [ ] PR into autobrew/homebrew-core (apache-arrow autobrew formula)
• [ ] PR into autobrew/homebrew-core (apache-arrow-static autobrew formula)
• [ ] PR into autobrew/scripts
• [ ] PR into r-windows/rtools-packages
• [ ] Ensure linux binaries are available in the artifactory: https://apache.jfrog.io/ui/repos/tree/General/arrow/r

Check binary Arrow C++ distributions specific to the R package:

• [ ] Upload the .tar.gz to win-builder (r-devel only) and confirm (with Nic, who will automatically receive an email about the results) that the check is clean. This step cannot be completed before Jeroen has put the binaries in the MinGW repository, i.e. here, here, and here.
• [ ] Upload the .tar.gz to MacBuilder and confirm that the check is clean
• [ ] Check install.packages("arrow_X.X.X.tar.gz") on Ubuntu and ensure that the hosted binaries are used
• [ ] devtools::check_built("arrow_X.X.X.tar.gz") locally one more time (for luck)

Submit!

• [ ] Upload arrow_X.X.X.tar.gz to the CRAN submit page
• [ ] Confirm the submission email

Wait for CRAN...

• [ ] Accepted!
• [ ] Tag the tip of the CRAN-specific release branch
• [ ] Add a new line to the matrix in the backwards compatability job
• [ ] (patch releases only) Update the package version in ci/scripts/PKGBUILD, dev/tasks/homebrew-formulae/autobrew/apache-arrow.rb, r/DESCRIPTION, and r/NEWS.md
• [ ] Update the packaging checklist template to reflect any new realities of the packaging process.
• [ ] Wait for CRAN-hosted binaries on the CRAN package page to reflect the new version
• [ ] Tweet!