Add a simple release guide

docs/release_guide.pod

@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+=head1 release_guide.pod - guide to NQP releases
+
+NQP's development release cycle is intimately tied to Rakudo's release
+cycle.  There is no separate, independent release cycle for NQP.
+
+Parrot releases the third Tuesday of each month; Rakudo will generally
+issue its own development release soon after the Parrot release (Usually
+within a few days).  To accomplish this, NQP must be tagged for release
+immediately prior to the Rakudo release.
+
+=head2 Steps to create an NQP release
+
+
+=over 4
+
+=item 1.
+
+Edit NQP's F<tools/build/PARROT_REVISION> file to contain the latest tag
+of the Parrot repository corresponding to Parrot's monthly release.  For
+Instance, running C<git tag> on an up-to-date Parrot repository will
+show something like this:
+
+    ...
+    RELEASE_3_7_0
+    RELEASE_3_8_0
+    RELEASE_3_9_0
+    REL_0_0_5
+    V1
+
+In this example the latest release of Parrot is 3.9.0, so the string
+RELEASE_3_9_0 should be placed in F<tools/build/PARROT_REVISION>
+
+Once F<tools/build/PARROT_REVISION> has been set to the Parrot release,
+it must not be changed until after the Rakudo release.  In other words,
+we want each monthly release of Rakudo to be able to be built using the
+immediately prior release of Parrot.
+
+=item 2.
+
+Tag NQP by its release month ("YYYY.MM")
+
+  $ git tag -a -m"tag release YYYY.MM" YYYY.MM    # e.g., 2011.10
+  $ git push --tags
+
+=item 3.
+
+Update F<tools/build/NQP_REVISION> in your Rakudo repository to contain
+the tag you just set on NQP.
+
+    $ cd ~/git/rakudo
+    $ echo "2011.10" > tools/build/NQP_REVISION
+
+=item 4.
+
+Continue with the Rakudo release since that's currently the only reason
+to have an NQP release.
+
+=back
+