Steps to take before starting on the first pretest in any release sequence:
-0. The release branch (e.g. emacs-24) should already have been made
+0. The release branch (e.g. emacs-25) should already have been made
and you should use it for all that follows. Diffs from this
branch should be going to the emacs-diffs mailing list.
1. git pull # fetch from the repository
git status # check for locally modified files
+ Ensure that you have a clean, unmodified state.
+ If you switched in-place from another branch to the release branch,
+ there could be inappropriate generated ignored files left over.
+ You might want to use "git status --ignored" to check for such files,
+ or some form of "git clean -x". It's probably simpler and safer to
+ make a new working directory exclusively for the release branch.
+
2. Regenerate the etc/AUTHORS file:
M-: (require 'authors) RET
M-x authors RET