llvmlite 0.44.0rc1 Checklist

[kc611]

llvmlite 0.44.0rc1

• Merge to main.
  • Remaining Pull-Requests from milestone: https://github.com/numba/llvmlite/milestone/26
• Create 0.44 release branch release0.44
  • Update CHANGE_LOG in a PR targeting the release branch: Added changelog for 0.44.0rc1 #1096
  • Follow the format of previous CHANGE_LOG entries.
• Get the change-log-PR reviewed and merged.
• merge Fix manylinux wheel builds #1099
• Test HEAD of release branch on buildfarm (pre-tag testing):
  • conda package build and test. (Run ID: llvmlite_318)
  • wheel build. (Run ID: llvmlite_wheel_72)
• Test HEAD of release branch on conda-forge
• Annotated tag v0.44.0rc1 on release branch (llvmlite tags DO have a v prefix). (v0.44.0rc1 tag)
• Build and upload conda packages on buildfarm (check "upload"). (Run ID: llvmlite_319)
• Build wheels and sdist on the buildfarm (check "upload"). (Run ID: llvmlite_wheel_73)
• Verify packages uploaded to Anaconda Cloud and copy to numba/label/main. (Conda files)
• Upload wheels and sdist to PyPI. (upload from ci_artifacts).
• Verify wheels for all platforms arrived on PyPi. (PyPi Link)
• Initialize and verify ReadTheDocs build. RTD Link
• Send RC announcement email / post announcement to discourse group. (https://numba.discourse.group/t/ann-numba-0-61-0rc1-and-llvmlite-0-44-0rc1-are-out/2816)
• Post link to X and Mastodon and anywhere else that is appropriate.

Post Release:

• Clean up ci_artifacts by moving files to subdirectories
• Tag 0.44+1.0dev0 to start new development cycle on main.
• Update release checklist template with any additional bullet points that
  may have arisen during the release.
  • adding bullet to first RC checklist regarding LLVM updates #1112
• Close milestone (and then close this release issue).

[stuartarchibald]

I just noticed that the README.rst in the root of the project is out of date once 0.44 is tagged, it refers to 0.41 onward needing LLVM 14, this release requires that the statement is updated. Similarly an update to the docs is needed to get the inter-sphinx cross referencing from LLVM 15:

llvmlite/docs/source/conf.py

Line 304 in ff09528

'llvm': ('http://llvm.org/releases/14.0.0/docs', None),

[esc]

The checklist must be updated to include a bullet to check and update the compatibility matrix in the README.rst.

[esc]

As a heads up here: we identified some issues with RC1 -- so we will release an RC2. This will however delay the final release which is now expected in early 2025.

[esc]

RC2 checklist is here: #1109

[esc]

The checklist must be updated to include a bullet to check and update the compatibility matrix in the README.rst.

This is now here: #1112