Pre-release checklist

What's left between the current state and a public 1.0 on GitHub + Clojars. Categorized by who owns it.

Legend:

• ⏳ todo
• 🚧 in progress
• ✅ done
• ❓ decision needed (no obvious right answer)

Blocking — must do before publishing

Repo + identity

• ✅ Mirror the repo to GitHub. The repo is available at github.com/mbjarland/clj-ant, which is the location Clojars' io.github.* verified-group policy checks.

• ✅ Claim the verified group io.github.mbjarland on Clojars. The group is verified and matches the artifact coordinates in build.clj.

• ⏳ Tag v1.0.0-alpha.1 (suggest pre-1.0 to start). Lets users know APIs may evolve based on real-world feedback during the alpha period. Final 1.0 once external usage settles.

Build / publish

• ✅ Add a deploy task to build.clj. build/deploy uses slipset/deps-deploy and the existing :build alias to publish the jar + generated POM to Clojars.

• 🚧 Wire CLOJARS_USERNAME / CLOJARS_PASSWORD deploy token. GitHub secrets are configured, but rotate the exposed Clojars token before pushing a release tag.

Continuous integration

• ✅ .github/workflows/ci.yml running on every push:

  - clj -T:build javac
  - clj -M:test
  - clj -T:build jar
  

  The workflow tests JDK 8, 11, 17, and 21.

Strongly recommended — before public announcement

Code

• ✅ Lower javac --release from 11 to 8 in build.clj. Our Java bridge uses nothing JDK 11+; Ant itself supports JDK 8. Lowering broadens compatibility for free.

• ✅ Bump deps to latest safe versions:

  • metosin/malli 0.16.4 → 0.20.1
  • nrepl/nrepl 1.3.0 → 1.7.0 (alias only)
  • tools.build v0.10.5 → v0.10.13

  Stay on Clojure 1.11.4 (1.12.0 exists but 1.11 has broader user base; nothing in clj-ant requires 1.12). Ant 1.10.17, ant-jsch 1.10.17, mwiede/jsch 0.2.25 are already latest.

Documentation

• ✅ README "Status" banner. Make the alpha state explicit:

  Pre-1.0 alpha. Architecture is stable; surface APIs may shift slightly during the alpha period based on real-world feedback. Once 1.0 lands, semver applies normally.

• ✅ Getting Started snag-fix in README. First-time users must run clj -T:build javac once when working from source; the contributor quickstart documents that step prominently.

• ❓ Babashka pod manifest for the registry. https://github.com/babashka/pod-registry — optional. Lets bb users do (pods/load-pod 'mbjarland/clj-ant) instead of spelling out ["clojure" "-M:pod"]. Worth doing once stable.

Nice to have — post-launch

• ✅ CHANGELOG.md with real unreleased entries. It now follows keepachangelog.com format and can be promoted into tagged release notes when the first alpha is cut.

• ❓ cljdoc auto-publish. Free with Clojars; just needs the artifact to land. cljdoc reads doc/ folder and assembles a hosted reference site at cljdoc.org/d/io.github.mbjarland/clj-ant.

• ❓ Migrate tasks.clj out of git history? It's a 16k-line generated file. Bloats clones. Could move to an artifact resource generated at jar-build time. Open question — the REPL ergonomics rely on it being on the classpath.

• ❓ Squash the development history before 1.0? 35+ commits with detailed messages — useful for archaeology, possibly noisy for newcomers. A squash to ~10 commits along architectural seams could read better.

Things to be honest about in advertising

Do advertise as battle-tested:

• Data model (element, as-child, Element record)
• AST construction (UnknownElement / RuntimeConfigurable bridge)
• from-xml round-trip
• Sessions and prepare/run
• The babashka pod
• SSH bundling (Terrapin-fixed)
• Broad kaocha test suite / multiple rounds of external review

Don't over-promise on:

• clj-ant.spec and the :by-parent introspection paths — added late, no real users yet.
• Pod streaming protocol stability — works but small surface.
• Scale claims beyond verified bounds — lazy-resources proven to ~10k entries via test, not actual million-file production.

Suggested order of operations

1. Claim Clojars verified group.
2. Wire CLOJARS_USERNAME / CLOJARS_PASSWORD secrets.
3. Cut v1.0.0-alpha.1, push tag.
4. Confirm the release workflow deployed the tag-derived version.
5. Wait for cljdoc to pick up; share link in README.