Release tracking ticket for GHC 9.6.3

This is the release checklist for the %9.6.3 milestone. See #16816 for the template that this was derived from.

Pre-release checklist

• Ensure that submodules are on released tags (the below is produced using this script):
  • libraries/Cabal: version 3.10.1
  • libraries/Win32: version 2.13.3.0
  • libraries/array: version 0.5.5.0
  • libraries/binary: version 0.8.9.1
  • libraries/bytestring: version 0.11.5.2
  • libraries/containers: version 0.6.7
  • libraries/deepseq: version 1.4.8.1
  • libraries/directory: version 1.3.8.1
  • libraries/exceptions: version 0.10.7 + revisions
  • libraries/filepath: version 1.4.100.4
  • libraries/haskeline: version 0.8.2.1
  • libraries/mtl: version 2.3.1
  • libraries/parsec: version 3.1.16.1
  • libraries/pretty: version 1.1.3.6
  • libraries/process: version 1.6.17.0
  • libraries/stm: version 2.5.1.0 + revisions
  • libraries/terminfo: version 0.4.1.6
  • libraries/text: version 2.0.2
  • libraries/time: version 1.12.2
  • libraries/transformers: version 0.6.1.0
  • libraries/unix: version 2.8.1.0
  • libraries/xhtml: version 3000.2.2.1
  • utils/haddock: todo (on haddock-2.29.0-release-1-g6c77e062)
  • utils/hsc2hs: version 0.68.9
• Notify stakeholders of release progress: Julian Ospald <hasufell@posteo.de>, ghc-devs@haskell.org
• [ ] Non-released submodules up-to-date: (not for point releases)
  • [ ] nofib (upstream: ghc/nofib>): todo (on 2009-06-25-442-g2cee928)
  • [ ] libffi-tarballs (upstream: ghc/libffi-tarballs>): todo (on libffi-3.3+git20200501+4f9e20a)
  • [ ] libraries/ghc-bignum/gmp/gmp-tarballs (upstream: ghc/gmp-tarballs>): todo (on heads/master-7-g4f26049)
• Release notes (docs/users_guide/x.y.z-notes.rst) written
• Release notes linked in docs/users_guide/release-notes.rst
• [ ] autoconf scripts updated (see #23759 (comment 527370))
• [ ] Update the Hadrian bootstrap metadata (duplicate of last checklist item)
• [ ] Check that Unicode database in base (libraries/base/cbits/README.Unicode) reflects current standard release (http://www.unicode.org/versions/latest/). (decided against for 9.6.3 on 2023-09-19)
• [ ] LlvmVersion in configure.ac is targetting intended LLVM version (not for point releases)
• [ ] Release notes mentions LLVM version requirement (not for point releases, a consequence of the previous point)
• [ ] llvm-targets file updated (not for point releases)
• Changelogs updated (these can be checked using .gitlab/linters/check-changelogs.sh):
  • libraries/ghc-prim
  • libraries/ghc-bignum
  • libraries/template-haskell
  • libraries/hpc (upstream: hpc/hpc>)
  • libraries/base
• Verify that the backport needed:9.6 label has no more issues/merge requests needing backport
• Verify that all CI builds are green before moving to release checklist
• Update hadrian bootstrap plans for the latest compiler releases:
  • Update hadrian/bootstrap/generate_bootstrap_plans to include any new compiler releases in the last two major release series
  • Drop any plans that are outside of the bootstrap support window
  • Run hadrian/bootstrap/generate_bootstrap_plans and commit the files that it generates
  • Update bootstramp_matrix in .gitlab-ci.yml to reflect the most recent minor release in each major series supported by bootstrapping

Release checklist

• Ensure that the Migration page is up-to-date
• Push a provision provisional release commit to trigger the release builds using git push -o ci.variable="RELEASE_JOB=yes"
• Wait until builds finish; verify that they finished successfully
• Fetch release artifacts TODO: documentation
• Write down a link to the release pipeline here: https://gitlab.haskell.org/ghc/ghc/-/pipelines/84424
• Sign and push release artifacts to downloads.haskell.org [TODO: documentation]
• Submit ghcup metadata upstream:
  • Download the metadata_test.yaml artifact from the ghcup-metadata-release job of the release pipeline
  • Clone ghcup-metadata
  • Integrate the appropriate release section (e.g. ``) into ghcup-metadata/ghcup-0.0.7.yaml
  • Replace the &id<n> identifiers with unique names
  • Open a merge request submitting the metadata upstream
• Make a release tag
• Release/revise GHC-maintained libraries on Hackage using this script:
  • libraries/base
  • libraries/ghc-prim
  • libraries/array
  • libraries/stm
  • libraries/ghc-heap
  • libraries/ghc-compact
  • libraries/ghc-boot
  • libraries/ghc-boot-th
  • libraries/hpc
  • libraries/libiserv
  • libraries/template-haskell
  • libraries/ghc-bignum
• Update ghc/homepage>:
  • Write download page (see ghc/homepage>)
  • Make sure that the Signing Key is correct for the relevant release
  • Add news item to index.html
  • Add link to download.shtml. Be sure to link to the Migration guide.
  • Look over changes locally
  • Add release announcement to GHC blog. Be sure to link to the Migration guide.
  • Push changes to master
• Announce on: GHC developers <ghc-devs@haskell.org>, GHC Users <glasgow-haskell-users@haskell.org>, Haskell Cafe <haskell-cafe@haskell.org>
• Announce on: Haskell Discourse, /r/haskell, Twitter
• Update latest symlink on downloads.haskell.org

Post-release checklist

• Update the Wiki status page
• [ ] Update the language pragma history (not for point releases)
• Mark milestone as closed
• [ ] Update /topic in #ghc (supplanted by status page)
• Update the VersionHistory wiki page
• Set RELEASE=NO
• Create a release tracking ticket for the next release using the template in #16816