Update Creating-releases.md [skip ci]
@@ -5,9 +5,10 @@ short-description: Creating releases
# Creating releases
In addition to development, almost all projects provide periodical
-source releases. These are standalone packages (usually either in tar
-or zip format) of the source code. They do not contain any revision
-control metadata, only the source code.
+source releases. These are standalone packages (usually either in
+tar or zip format) of the source code. They do not contain any
+revision control metadata, only the source code. Meson provides
+a simple way of generating these, with the `meson dist` command.
Meson provides a simple way of generating these. It consists of a
single command *(available since 0.52.0)*:
@@ -23,17 +24,37 @@ ninja dist
```
This creates a file called `projectname-version.tar.xz` in the build
-tree subdirectory `meson-dist`. This archive contains the full
-contents of the latest commit in revision control including all the
-submodules (recursively). All revision control metadata is removed.
-Meson then takes
-this archive and tests that it works by doing a full compile + test +
-install cycle. If all these pass, Meson will then create a SHA-256
-checksum file next to the archive.
-
-**Note**: Meson behaviour is different from Autotools. The Autotools
-"dist" target packages up the current source tree. Meson packages
-the latest revision control commit. The reason for this is that it
-prevents developers from doing accidental releases where the
-distributed archive does not match any commit in revision control
-(especially the one tagged for the release).
+tree subdirectory `meson-dist`. This archive contains the full contents
+of the latest commit in revision control including all the submodules
+(recursively). All revision control metadata is removed. Meson then
+takes this archive and tests that it works by doing a full
+`compile` + `test` + `install` cycle. If all these pass, Meson will
+then create a `SHA-256` checksum file next to the archive.
+
+
+## Autotools dist VS Meson dist
+
+Meson behaviour is different from Autotools. The Autotools "dist"
+target packages up the current source tree. Meson packages the latest
+revision control commit. The reason for this is that it prevents developers
+from doing accidental releases where the distributed archive does not match
+any commit in revision control (especially the one tagged for the release).
+
+
+## Include subprojects in your release
+
+The `meson dist` command has `--include-subprojects` command line option.
+When enabled, the source tree of all subprojects used by the current build
+will also be included in the final tarball. This is useful to distribute
+self contained tarball that can be built offline (i.e. `--wrap-mode=nodownload`).
+
+
+## Skip build and test with `--no-tests`
+
+The `meson dist` command has a `--no-tests` option to skip build and
+tests steps of generated packages. It can be used to not waste time
+for example when done in CI that already does its own testing.
+
+So with `--no-tests` you can tell Meson "Do not build and test generated
+packages.".
+
