Here are the steps to follow to create a new pixman release: 1) Ensure that there are no uncommitted changes or unpushed commits, and that you are up to date with the latest commits in the central repository. Here are a couple of useful commands: git diff (no output) git status (should report "nothing to commit") git log master...origin (no output; note: *3* dots) 2) Increment pixman_(major|minor|micro) in configure.ac according to the directions in that file. Use git commit to record this. 3) Make sure that new version works, including - make distcheck passes - the X server still works with the new pixman version installed - the cairo test suite hasn't gained any new failures compared to last pixman version. 4) Use "git commit" to record any changes made in step 3. 5) Generate and publish the tar files by running make PREV=<last version> GPGKEY=<your gpg key id> release-publish If your freedesktop user name is different from your local one, then also set the variable USER to your freedesktop user name. 6) Run make release-publish-message to generate a draft release announcement. Edit it as appropriate and send it to cairo-announce@cairographics.org pixman@lists.freedesktop.org xorg-announce@lists.freedesktop.org 7) Increment pixman_micro to the next larger (odd) number in configure.ac. Commit this change, and push all commits created during this process using git push git push --tags You must use "--tags" here; otherwise the new tag will not be pushed out.