Jan Damborsky wrote:
> Hi Ethan,
>
>
> Ethan Quach wrote:
>>
>>
>> Jan Damborsky wrote:
>>> Hi Evan,
>>>
>>>
>>> Evan Layton wrote:
>>>> Hi Folks,
>>>>
>>>> We are in need of your input on requirements for the version
>>>> compatibility work.
>>>>
>>>> Some draft examples of requirements that we're looking at are:
>>>> * Define the versions of the installations we will support
>>>> o 1 to 1 match for live CD and pkg based installs.
>>>
>>> Just to clarify, by LiveCD installs, you mean using cpio transfer 
>>> mechanism ?
>>>
>>> As far as pkg based installs are concerned, how 1:1 match 
>>> requirement maps
>>> to the existing IPS versioning scheme ? Will it be always assured 
>>> that this
>>> information can be derived from AI manifest ?
>>
>> With what we currently have in the manifest, it is impossible to 
>> assure this
>> by inspecting the manifest. We would need to *require* that the specific
>> build be in given in the manifest, not just the repo and branch.
>
> ok.
>
>>
>>> How 1:1 match requirement will affect scalability with respect to 
>>> number of AI images
>>> administrator will have to maintain ?
>>
>> Not sure what you're asking here. Are you thinking of a particular
>> implementation? In general, I don't think the CVERS problem is
>> going to be solved on the server. To keep the client modular, its
>> got to be able to validate whatever its given at run time anyway.
>
> Sorry about the confusion - I probably I misunderstood 1 to 1 match 
> requirement
> mentioned in the requirement list above. I assumed that it means that
> IPS version of bits to be installed has to be the same as IPS version 
> AI image
> was created from. But it seems that 'version' word relates to version 
> mechanism
> established by CVERS project - is it correct ?
> What establishes CVERS version - how is it determined - what are the 
> inputs to
> define it ?
>
>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> o possible mismatch for image based installs such as
>>>> replicated images.
>>>> * Define the behavior when a mismatch is detected
>>>> o which do we handle and which do we flag as an error.
>>>
>>> When IPS transfer mechanism is used for the installation, I am 
>>> thinking if
>>> there might be possibility to get rid of this problem or move it to 
>>> the more
>>> explored area by using similar IPS mechanism we have on running 
>>> system when
>>> we do the updates.
>>>
>>> For now IPS fresh install is one step process - just 'pkg install' 
>>> packages
>>> listed in AI manifest of the version specified in AI manifest.
>>>
>>> The another approach might be to do the fresh install as two step 
>>> process:
>>>
>>> [1] install the system with the same version as booted AI image and 
>>> do the all
>>> post install config stuff.
>>> [2] If version specified in AI manifest is newer, use 'pkg 
>>> image-update'
>>> mechanism to update the installed bits to the required version.
>>>
>>> Not sure, if this approach is viable, but it seems that the 
>>> incompatibility
>>> problem would move to the area being used and explored.
>>>
>>> There are issues we would need to check with IPS team, but before 
>>> starting
>>> that more detailed discussion, I am wondering, if it is even worth to
>>> consider that approach.
>>
>> It doesn't seem to solve the problem for when an older build is wanted.
>> i.e. you can't image-update backwards.
>
> That is correct. So if I understand correctly, the requirement is to 
> support
> both installation of older IPS bits as well as newer IPS bits 
> comparing to
> the ones AI image was created from ? What is the need to support 
> installation
> of older bits ?

The same need as for supporting the installation of newer bits.
What is it about installing newer bits that makes it more of a
desired use case than the corollary?

The general case I thought we are trying to solve is that if
there is no technical reason why bld X should fail to install
X-1 or X+1, why should it not be supported, or why should
we prevent that?

>
>>
>> In general, using IPS's pkg ideology to ensure the contents of the IMAGE
>> is intact is a good idea. So moving any and all, if possible, of our 
>> ICTs
>> into pkg contents is what we are driving towards. But their are 
>> structural
>> pieces outside of the IMAGE -- disk, zpool, grub, etc -- that pkg 
>> doesn't
>> touch and we still need to consider those in the CVERS problem.
>
> I am currently aware of need to manually run 'zpool upgrade' in order
> to 'upgrade' ZFS pool to the latest version, do we happen to know if 
> there are
> other incompatibilities pkg 'image-update' currently doesn't take care 
> of and
> how they are handled ?

The one we know of is updating grub on the disk.  We currently
handle this be pushing that responsibility to the be_activate()
code.


thanks,
-ethan

>
> Thank you,
> Jan
>

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