Rewrite doc/RELEASING notes

Update the documentation on creating a Monitoring Plugins release, and
convert it to Markdown.

doc/RELEASING

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-NOTES ON RELEASING NEW VERSION OF MONITORING-PLUGINS
-
-*** Pre-release
-git pull
-. tools/devmode, if feeling adventurous
-check compilation, check tinderbox screens
-
-*** Prepare and commit files
-Update NEWS file
-Update AUTHORS if new members
-Update configure.ac and NP-VERSION-GEN with version
-commit NEWS configure.ac NP-VERSION-GEN
-
-*** Create new annotated tag
-git tag -a v2.1.1 -m v2.1.1
-
-*** Push the code and tag to origin
-git push origin master
-git push origin v2.1.1
-
-*** Checkout new version
-rm -fr /tmp/monitoringplug
-# If you need to checkout the tag, don't forget to "checkout master" later to
-# get back to your development branch:
-git checkout tags/v2.1.1
-# Beware: the trailing slash of --prefix is REQUIRED
-git checkout-index --prefix=/tmp/monitoringplug/ -a
-
-*** Build the tarball
-cd /tmp/monitoringplug
-tools/setup
-./configure
-make dist
-
-*** Upload generated tarball to our Project Site
-
-*** Announce new release
-Send email to help, announce with the news text
-Add a news item to https://monitoring-plugins.org

doc/RELEASING.md

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+Releasing a New Monitoring Plugins Version
+==========================================
+
+Throughout this document, it is assumed that the current Monitoring
+Plugins version is 2.2.1, and that we're about to publish version 2.3.
+
+Before you start
+----------------
+
+- Check Travis CI status.
+- Update local Git repository to the current `master` tip.  For a
+  maintenance release (e.g., version 2.2.2), update to the current
+  `maint-2.2` tip, instead.
+
+Prepare and commit files
+------------------------
+
+- Update `NEWS` from `git log --reverse v2.2.1..` output, and specify
+  the release version/date.
+- Update `configure.ac` and `NP-VERSION-GEN` with new version.
+- Update `AUTHORS` if there are new team members.
+- Update `THANKS.in`:
+
+    tools/update-thanks
+
+- Commit the results:
+
+    git commit configure.ac NP-VERSION-GEN AUTHORS THANKS.in
+
+Create annotated tag
+--------------------
+
+    git tag -a v2.3 -m v2.3
+
+Push the code and tag to GitHub
+-------------------------------
+
+    git push monitoring-plugins master
+    git push monitoring-plugins v2.3
+
+Create new maintenance branch
+-----------------------------
+
+_Only necessary when creating a feature release._
+
+    git checkout -b maint-2.3 v2.3
+    git push -u monitoring-plugins maint-2.3
+
+Checkout new version
+--------------------
+
+    rm -rf /tmp/plugins
+    git archive --prefix=tmp/plugins/ v2.3 | (cd /; tar -xf -)
+
+Build the tarball
+-----------------
+
+    cd /tmp/plugins
+    tools/setup
+    ./configure
+    make dist
+
+Upload tarball to our web site
+------------------------------
+
+    scp monitoring-plugins-2.3.tar.gz \
+        plugins@orwell.monitoring-plugins.org:web/download/
+
+Generate SHA1 checksum files on web site
+----------------------------------------
+
+    ssh plugins@orwell.monitoring-plugins.org \
+        '(cd web/download; \
+          $HOME/bin/create-checksum monitoring-plugins-2.3.tar.gz)'
+
+Announce new release
+--------------------
+
+- In the site.git repository,
+
+    - create `web/input/news/release-2-3.md`,
+    - update the `plugins_release` version in `web/macros.py`, and
+
+    git add web/input/news/release-2-3.md
+    git commit web/input/news/release-2-3.md web/macros.py
+    git push origin master
+
+- Post an announcement on (at least) the following mailing lists:
+
+    - <announce@monitoring-plugins.org>
+    - <help@monitoring-plugins.org> (set `Reply-To:` to this one)
+
+- Ask the social media department to announce the release on Twitter :-)
+
+If you want to mention the number of contributors in the announcement:
+
+    git shortlog -s v2.2.1..v2.3 | wc -l
+
+# vim:set filetype=markdown textwidth=72: