Re: [CentOS-virt] Xen Version update policy

2019-12-16 Thread George Dunlap
On Fri, Dec 13, 2019 at 12:32 AM Steven Haigh  wrote:
>
> On 2019-12-13 04:54, Kevin Stange wrote:
> > I don't want to burden Steven Haigh any, but I wonder if there's a way
> > we could combine some of our efforts to make both "Xen made easy!" and
> > the Virt SIG Xen easier to manage.
>
> I've been thinking about this for a while. The problem has been the
> workflows between myself and the SIG are so far apart, its hard to look
> at how to merge them.
>
> I have full CI between my own git and packages to the mirrors - which is
> good, but has its down sides. I also don't have the restrictions of the
> CentOS build system to deal with - which is great for my workflow ;)

AIUI Anthony's personal build script kicks off a CBS build, runs the
result in osstest (the upstream XenProject's CI system), then pushes
them to testing.

XenProject's CI system is more focused on interoperability with all
the other projects we interact with than on depth of coverage; but
that's just about right for the CentOS packages -- only the packaging
itself should really need to be tested.  Everything else should
already have been tested by upstream partners before the release.

IIRC from the last discussion we had, probably one of the more
annoyingly sticky issues is dealing with different configurations; in
particular different dom0 kernel configurations.  Any major changes
risks having one of our downstreams suddenly stop working.

 -George
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Re: [CentOS-virt] Xen Version update policy

2019-12-16 Thread George Dunlap
On Fri, Dec 13, 2019 at 1:06 PM Nils Meyer  wrote:
> On 13/12/2019 01.31, Steven Haigh wrote:
> > 2) There's no brctl in CentOS 8. The network scripts need to be
> > re-written to use 'ip' instead. To maintain compatibility, the network
> > scripts need to support both brctl and ip commands and use whichever is
> > present on the system.
>
> I think the default is to use Network Manager / nmcli? I'm not sure if
> NM is going to do things with interfaces you created through ip.

For VMs, these interfaces are created by Xen's toolstack when the VM
is started and destroyed by Xen's toolstack when the VM is destroyed;
generally speaking all that's needed is for them to be plumbed into
the bridge with the right mac address.  The guest then does all of its
own DHCP   As long as that can be done via `ip`, there's nothing NM
really needs to do.

 -George
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Re: [CentOS-virt] Xen Version update policy

2019-12-13 Thread Nils Meyer
Hi,

On 13/12/2019 01.31, Steven Haigh wrote:
> 2) There's no brctl in CentOS 8. The network scripts need to be
> re-written to use 'ip' instead. To maintain compatibility, the network
> scripts need to support both brctl and ip commands and use whichever is
> present on the system.

I think the default is to use Network Manager / nmcli? I'm not sure if
NM is going to do things with interfaces you created through ip.

regards
Nils

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Re: [CentOS-virt] Xen Version update policy

2019-12-13 Thread Christoph

It seems to rh/centos has removed the xen code from their kernels... I
was able to boot centos8 as domU but only with an elrepo kernel...
Look at elrepo kernel I think it should do as dom0 to...

---
--
Greetz

Am 13.12.2019 13:41, schrieb Steven Haigh:

The latest bunch of test packages are available here:
http://au1.mirror.crc.id.au/repo/el8/x86_64/

Hopefully, as of a few hours ago, this set should actually install.

Currently, networking won't work as they require brctl - which isn't
in EL8. I've written patches for this, but they'll probably end up
being part of a cleanup of everything in /etc/xen/scripts/

Problem is, they're probably too late for the 4.13.0 release - so I'll
have to carry them myself for a while until they hit the git staging
area within Xen.

I don't have a kernel capable of being a Dom0 as yet - so that's still
at a roll your own or obtain elsewhere status.

The source for all this is here:
https://git.crc.id.au/netwiz/xen413

Yes, I take patches.

Steven Haigh

 net...@crc.id.au  https://www.crc.id.au

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Re: [CentOS-virt] Xen Version update policy

2019-12-13 Thread Steven Haigh

The latest bunch of test packages are available here:
http://au1.mirror.crc.id.au/repo/el8/x86_64/

Hopefully, as of a few hours ago, this set should actually install.

Currently, networking won't work as they require brctl - which isn't in 
EL8. I've written patches for this, but they'll probably end up being 
part of a cleanup of everything in /etc/xen/scripts/


Problem is, they're probably too late for the 4.13.0 release - so I'll 
have to carry them myself for a while until they hit the git staging 
area within Xen.


I don't have a kernel capable of being a Dom0 as yet - so that's still 
at a roll your own or obtain elsewhere status.


The source for all this is here:
https://git.crc.id.au/netwiz/xen413

Yes, I take patches.

Steven Haigh

 net...@crc.id.au  https://www.crc.id.au


On Fri, Dec 13, 2019 at 10:11, Christoph  wrote:

hi

if you need someone to test the centos8 pkgs, Im interested :)

---
--
Greetz

Am 13.12.2019 01:31, schrieb Steven Haigh:

On 2019-12-13 04:54, Kevin Stange wrote:
I don't want to burden Steven Haigh any, but I wonder if there's a 
way
we could combine some of our efforts to make both "Xen made easy!" 
and

the Virt SIG Xen easier to manage.


I've been thinking about this for a while. The problem has been the
workflows between myself and the SIG are so far apart, its hard to
look at how to merge them.

I have full CI between my own git and packages to the mirrors - which
is good, but has its down sides. I also don't have the restrictions 
of

the CentOS build system to deal with - which is great for my workflow
;)

I'm prepping packages for CentOS 8 now - but its exposing quite a
number of problems around the main toolsets for Xen - and instead of
just adding my own patch and moving on (ala Fedora's Xen packages),
I'm trying to get fixes in upstream where possible.

My todo list currently includes:
1) Replace all #! that include env python to a specific python
version/binary. ie /usr/bin/python or /usr/bin/python3. The configure
portions of this are complete, but the scripts need to be altered to
have the detected python version populated.

2) There's no brctl in CentOS 8. The network scripts need to be
re-written to use 'ip' instead. To maintain compatibility, the 
network

scripts need to support both brctl and ip commands and use whichever
is present on the system.

3) UEFI support needs to be tested. The preferred UEFI boot method 
for

Dom0 is to use grub to then boot Xen - but this needs to be tested.

So while me moving to try and get these fixed upstream is great - it
should make everyone's job easier in the long term. Although I have
the same problem as the SIG - there's just not enough people to test 
/

patch stuff. The more we deep dive into 4.13, the further away I can
see the release happening :(

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Re: [CentOS-virt] Xen Version update policy

2019-12-13 Thread Christoph

hi

if you need someone to test the centos8 pkgs, Im interested :)

---
--
Greetz

Am 13.12.2019 01:31, schrieb Steven Haigh:

On 2019-12-13 04:54, Kevin Stange wrote:

I don't want to burden Steven Haigh any, but I wonder if there's a way
we could combine some of our efforts to make both "Xen made easy!" and
the Virt SIG Xen easier to manage.


I've been thinking about this for a while. The problem has been the
workflows between myself and the SIG are so far apart, its hard to
look at how to merge them.

I have full CI between my own git and packages to the mirrors - which
is good, but has its down sides. I also don't have the restrictions of
the CentOS build system to deal with - which is great for my workflow
;)

I'm prepping packages for CentOS 8 now - but its exposing quite a
number of problems around the main toolsets for Xen - and instead of
just adding my own patch and moving on (ala Fedora's Xen packages),
I'm trying to get fixes in upstream where possible.

My todo list currently includes:
1) Replace all #! that include env python to a specific python
version/binary. ie /usr/bin/python or /usr/bin/python3. The configure
portions of this are complete, but the scripts need to be altered to
have the detected python version populated.

2) There's no brctl in CentOS 8. The network scripts need to be
re-written to use 'ip' instead. To maintain compatibility, the network
scripts need to support both brctl and ip commands and use whichever
is present on the system.

3) UEFI support needs to be tested. The preferred UEFI boot method for
Dom0 is to use grub to then boot Xen - but this needs to be tested.

So while me moving to try and get these fixed upstream is great - it
should make everyone's job easier in the long term. Although I have
the same problem as the SIG - there's just not enough people to test /
patch stuff. The more we deep dive into 4.13, the further away I can
see the release happening :(

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Re: [CentOS-virt] Xen Version update policy

2019-12-12 Thread Steven Haigh

On 2019-12-13 04:54, Kevin Stange wrote:

I don't want to burden Steven Haigh any, but I wonder if there's a way
we could combine some of our efforts to make both "Xen made easy!" and
the Virt SIG Xen easier to manage.


I've been thinking about this for a while. The problem has been the 
workflows between myself and the SIG are so far apart, its hard to look 
at how to merge them.


I have full CI between my own git and packages to the mirrors - which is 
good, but has its down sides. I also don't have the restrictions of the 
CentOS build system to deal with - which is great for my workflow ;)


I'm prepping packages for CentOS 8 now - but its exposing quite a number 
of problems around the main toolsets for Xen - and instead of just 
adding my own patch and moving on (ala Fedora's Xen packages), I'm 
trying to get fixes in upstream where possible.


My todo list currently includes:
1) Replace all #! that include env python to a specific python 
version/binary. ie /usr/bin/python or /usr/bin/python3. The configure 
portions of this are complete, but the scripts need to be altered to 
have the detected python version populated.


2) There's no brctl in CentOS 8. The network scripts need to be 
re-written to use 'ip' instead. To maintain compatibility, the network 
scripts need to support both brctl and ip commands and use whichever is 
present on the system.


3) UEFI support needs to be tested. The preferred UEFI boot method for 
Dom0 is to use grub to then boot Xen - but this needs to be tested.


So while me moving to try and get these fixed upstream is great - it 
should make everyone's job easier in the long term. Although I have the 
same problem as the SIG - there's just not enough people to test / patch 
stuff. The more we deep dive into 4.13, the further away I can see the 
release happening :(


--
Steven Haigh

? net...@crc.id.au ? https://www.crc.id.au
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Re: [CentOS-virt] Xen Version update policy

2019-12-12 Thread Kevin Stange
On 12/12/19 8:25 AM, George Dunlap wrote:
> On Mon, Dec 2, 2019 at 5:08 PM Kevin Stange  wrote:
>> I don't really think we should drop a release before its security
>> support ends, unless we have *really clear* communication to repo users
>> as to the life cycles of these builds in advance.
> 
> Indeed, the purpose of this email is in fact to make such a clear
> communication.  Citrix (i.e., Anthony & I) have committed to providing
> up-to-date packages for one version at a time; this is meant to give
> people input into which version that is.  The Virt SIG cannot as a
> whole commit to supporting releases until security support ends unless
> others step up and make commitments to do so.

We should probably provide a matrix of which Xen versions are offered by
the SIG, who is maintaining them, and when they will last be supported
(roughly if it's not 100% clear due to upstream scheduling).

There's a bunch of legacy Xen4CentOS and other confusing Xen docs in the
CentOS documentation that need to be cleaned up, removed, or unified.

I'm happy to continue working on and testing releases for whichever
branch I'm currently on (which is 4.8 right now, but I'm moving on since
upstream is done with security support).  However I can't make
commitments to support or test versions I am not actively running in
production, nor provide specific life cycle guarantees.  I made that
mistake with 4.4, though meltdown was an extenuating circumstance; I
simply couldn't handle that kind of backport myself.

That said, I *may* offer continued support and testing for 4.12 when
4.14's release pushes it out of maintenance by Virt SIG.  That's
something I'm going to have to play by ear, I guess.

I don't want to burden Steven Haigh any, but I wonder if there's a way
we could combine some of our efforts to make both "Xen made easy!" and
the Virt SIG Xen easier to manage.

-- 
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Chief Technology Officer
Steadfast | Managed Infrastructure, Datacenter and Cloud Services
800 S Wells, Suite 190 | Chicago, IL 60607
312.602.2689 X203 | Fax: 312.602.2688
ke...@steadfast.net | www.steadfast.net
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Re: [CentOS-virt] Xen Version update policy

2019-12-12 Thread George Dunlap
On Thu, Nov 28, 2019 at 6:12 PM George Dunlap  wrote:
>
> Hey all,
>
> This mail has been a long time in coming, but with the upcoming
> expiration of security support for Xen 4.8, it's time to start thinking
> about what our update policy will be for the Xen packages in general.
>
> Citrix is committed to officially supporting one Xen version at a time
> through the CentOS Virt SIG.  (Others in the community are welcome to
> support others.)  But we'd like input as to which version the community
> would like to be supported at any one time.
>
> Please express your opinion on each option by replying as follows:
> -2: This is a bad idea, and I would argue against this
> -1: I'm not happy with this, but I wouldn't argue against this.
> 0: No opinion.
> 1: I'm happy with this, but I wouldn't argue for it.
> 2: This is a great idea, and I'd argue for it.
>
> There are several possible options:
>
> 1. Always support the newest option.  This means we get all the newest
> features from Xen in the Virt SIG by default; but also means we get all
> the newest bugs.
>
> 1a. Always support the newest option once it has at least one point
> release.  This balances the newness with a bit of extra testing.
>
> 1b. Always support the second-to-newest version (e.g., when 4.13 comes
> out, switch to 4.12.x)
>
> 2. Always support the oldest security-supported version.  This means we
> get the most stable version of Xen; but it does mean it is several years
> behind as far as features go.  It also means that further bugfixes do
> not happen automatically, and further bugs found will need to be
>
> 3. Always support the oldest fully-supported version.  Reasonably
> stable, reasonably old, still gets bugfixes.
>
> 4. Support a version until it's out of security support, then jump to
> the newest version.  This minimizes the number of upgrades required
> (although may make each upgrade more painful).
>
> 4a.  Support a version until it's out of full support, then jump to the
> newest version.

So the voting results look sort of like this:

1: 0, -2
1a: 1, -1
1b: 1, 2
 -> 1 or 1a or 1b: +2

2:  0, -2
3:  0, 2
4:  0, -1, -1
4a: 0, -2, -1

Meaning 1b, "Always support the second-to-newest version" seems to be
the best fit.

Since a 4.13 release is imminent, I think we'll probably switch to
4.12 as the default / main supported release once that's out, and then
update every release.

 -George
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Re: [CentOS-virt] Xen Version update policy

2019-12-12 Thread George Dunlap
On Mon, Dec 2, 2019 at 5:08 PM Kevin Stange  wrote:
> By supporting only even numbered releases as is the case now, it has not
> been possible to do hot migration based upgrades which means that we
> have to do full reboots of our entire environment every so often.  Right
> now we're running on Xen 4.8 and transitioning to 4.12 directly.  We
> skipped 4.10 because we felt that 4.12 has been out and stable for long
> enough.  Ideally if every major build of Xen were provided we would
> transition by hot migrations up to the next release periodically and
> stay on a security supported release each time one is going toward EOL.
>
> Personally I would love to see at the very least transitional packages
> for each Xen version available to allow for easier hot migrations to the
> latest release, under the assumption that such migrations are considered
> "supported" upstream.  I believe you said this was to be expected in a
> previous conversation we had on IRC.

The original purpose of only doing every other release was to make
sure that maintenance of the packages wouldn't take too much of our
time; but I think at the current state of things, updating ever
release should be fine.  (Particularly now that we've spread out
releases again.)

> I don't really think we should drop a release before its security
> support ends, unless we have *really clear* communication to repo users
> as to the life cycles of these builds in advance.

Indeed, the purpose of this email is in fact to make such a clear
communication.  Citrix (i.e., Anthony & I) have committed to providing
up-to-date packages for one version at a time; this is meant to give
people input into which version that is.  The Virt SIG cannot as a
whole commit to supporting releases until security support ends unless
others step up and make commitments to do so.

> I get why providing updates for 5 major releases concurrently is
> prohibitive for the entire security support period, though if it were
> more automated, maybe it would be easier to manage.

Indeed; I think the main barrier to having the whole thing automated
from xen.git/staging-VV to mirror.centos.org is testing.  If we had at
least a reasonable subset of automated testing between buildlogs and
mirror, I'd feel comfortable with an automated push.  Alternately, if
people were comfortable with "the community has 1 week to test and
object before an automated push happens", we could do that too.

 -George
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Re: [CentOS-virt] Xen Version update policy

2019-12-04 Thread George Dunlap
On Thu, Nov 28, 2019 at 6:12 PM George Dunlap  wrote:
 newest version.
>
> Any other options?

Thanks to everyone who has responded so far.  I plan to collect
responses on 12 December (2 weeks from when I sent the initial email)
and try to make a decision.

 -George
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Re: [CentOS-virt] Xen Version update policy

2019-12-02 Thread Kevin Stange
On 12/2/19 11:08 AM, Kevin Stange wrote:
> On 11/28/19 12:12 PM, George Dunlap wrote:
>> Hey all,
>>
>> This mail has been a long time in coming, but with the upcoming
>> expiration of security support for Xen 4.8, it's time to start thinking
>> about what our update policy will be for the Xen packages in general.
>>
>> Citrix is committed to officially supporting one Xen version at a time
>> through the CentOS Virt SIG.  (Others in the community are welcome to
>> support others.)  But we'd like input as to which version the community
>> would like to be supported at any one time.
>>
>> Please express your opinion on each option by replying as follows:
>> -2: This is a bad idea, and I would argue against this
>> -1: I'm not happy with this, but I wouldn't argue against this.
>> 0: No opinion.
>> 1: I'm happy with this, but I wouldn't argue for it.
>> 2: This is a great idea, and I'd argue for it.
>>
>> There are several possible options:
>>
>> 1. Always support the newest option.  This means we get all the newest
>> features from Xen in the Virt SIG by default; but also means we get all
>> the newest bugs.
>>
>> 1a. Always support the newest option once it has at least one point
>> release.  This balances the newness with a bit of extra testing.
>>
>> 1b. Always support the second-to-newest version (e.g., when 4.13 comes
>> out, switch to 4.12.x)
>>
>> 2. Always support the oldest security-supported version.  This means we
>> get the most stable version of Xen; but it does mean it is several years
>> behind as far as features go.  It also means that further bugfixes do
>> not happen automatically, and further bugs found will need to be
>>
>> 3. Always support the oldest fully-supported version.  Reasonably
>> stable, reasonably old, still gets bugfixes.
>>
>> 4. Support a version until it's out of security support, then jump to
>> the newest version.  This minimizes the number of upgrades required
>> (although may make each upgrade more painful).
>>
>> 4a.  Support a version until it's out of full support, then jump to the
>> newest version.
>>
>> Any other options?
>>
>> For my part, I think 1a, 1b, and 3 are all reasonable options.
> 
> By supporting only even numbered releases as is the case now, it has not
> been possible to do hot migration based upgrades which means that we
> have to do full reboots of our entire environment every so often.  Right
> now we're running on Xen 4.8 and transitioning to 4.12 directly.  We
> skipped 4.10 because we felt that 4.12 has been out and stable for long
> enough.  Ideally if every major build of Xen were provided we would
> transition by hot migrations up to the next release periodically and
> stay on a security supported release each time one is going toward EOL.
> 
> Personally I would love to see at the very least transitional packages
> for each Xen version available to allow for easier hot migrations to the
> latest release, under the assumption that such migrations are considered
> "supported" upstream.  I believe you said this was to be expected in a
> previous conversation we had on IRC.
> 
> I don't really think we should drop a release before its security
> support ends, unless we have *really clear* communication to repo users
> as to the life cycles of these builds in advance.
> 
> I get why providing updates for 5 major releases concurrently is
> prohibitive for the entire security support period, though if it were
> more automated, maybe it would be easier to manage.
> 
> I think the keys are making sure that the lifecycles are clearly
> communicated in advance and that there's a fairly reliable path for
> people to move up to the latest version that is suitable for production
> use.  So I wouldn't say no to a 1 + 1a + 1b configuration, with the idea
> that 1 is effectively "testing" to become stable at 1a, then
> simultaneously always provide 1b as well.  That would, by my
> interpretation mean there are always 2 or 3 supported versions.  Right
> now, 4.12 "stable" and 4.11 "legacy" would be supported.  When 4.13
> comes out, 4.13 would be "testing" but would be fully maintained with
> security and point release updates.  When 4.13.1 is released it would
> become "stable," 4.11 would be deprecated and 4.12 would become "legacy."
> 
> However, during the transitional period maybe we need to commit to
> supporting 4.10 until its security support ends.
> 

I realized I didn't respond in any way to rate the options as requested.
I don't really support any configuration that doesn't provide
overlapping support for at least two versions simultaneously, so I've
added my own options.  Sorry!

1: -1
1a: -1
1b: -1
1 + 1a + 1b: +2
2: -1
3: -1
2 + 3: +1
4: -1
4a: -1

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Re: [CentOS-virt] Xen Version update policy

2019-12-02 Thread Kevin Stange
On 11/28/19 12:12 PM, George Dunlap wrote:
> Hey all,
> 
> This mail has been a long time in coming, but with the upcoming
> expiration of security support for Xen 4.8, it's time to start thinking
> about what our update policy will be for the Xen packages in general.
> 
> Citrix is committed to officially supporting one Xen version at a time
> through the CentOS Virt SIG.  (Others in the community are welcome to
> support others.)  But we'd like input as to which version the community
> would like to be supported at any one time.
> 
> Please express your opinion on each option by replying as follows:
> -2: This is a bad idea, and I would argue against this
> -1: I'm not happy with this, but I wouldn't argue against this.
> 0: No opinion.
> 1: I'm happy with this, but I wouldn't argue for it.
> 2: This is a great idea, and I'd argue for it.
> 
> There are several possible options:
> 
> 1. Always support the newest option.  This means we get all the newest
> features from Xen in the Virt SIG by default; but also means we get all
> the newest bugs.
> 
> 1a. Always support the newest option once it has at least one point
> release.  This balances the newness with a bit of extra testing.
> 
> 1b. Always support the second-to-newest version (e.g., when 4.13 comes
> out, switch to 4.12.x)
> 
> 2. Always support the oldest security-supported version.  This means we
> get the most stable version of Xen; but it does mean it is several years
> behind as far as features go.  It also means that further bugfixes do
> not happen automatically, and further bugs found will need to be
> 
> 3. Always support the oldest fully-supported version.  Reasonably
> stable, reasonably old, still gets bugfixes.
> 
> 4. Support a version until it's out of security support, then jump to
> the newest version.  This minimizes the number of upgrades required
> (although may make each upgrade more painful).
> 
> 4a.  Support a version until it's out of full support, then jump to the
> newest version.
> 
> Any other options?
> 
> For my part, I think 1a, 1b, and 3 are all reasonable options.

By supporting only even numbered releases as is the case now, it has not
been possible to do hot migration based upgrades which means that we
have to do full reboots of our entire environment every so often.  Right
now we're running on Xen 4.8 and transitioning to 4.12 directly.  We
skipped 4.10 because we felt that 4.12 has been out and stable for long
enough.  Ideally if every major build of Xen were provided we would
transition by hot migrations up to the next release periodically and
stay on a security supported release each time one is going toward EOL.

Personally I would love to see at the very least transitional packages
for each Xen version available to allow for easier hot migrations to the
latest release, under the assumption that such migrations are considered
"supported" upstream.  I believe you said this was to be expected in a
previous conversation we had on IRC.

I don't really think we should drop a release before its security
support ends, unless we have *really clear* communication to repo users
as to the life cycles of these builds in advance.

I get why providing updates for 5 major releases concurrently is
prohibitive for the entire security support period, though if it were
more automated, maybe it would be easier to manage.

I think the keys are making sure that the lifecycles are clearly
communicated in advance and that there's a fairly reliable path for
people to move up to the latest version that is suitable for production
use.  So I wouldn't say no to a 1 + 1a + 1b configuration, with the idea
that 1 is effectively "testing" to become stable at 1a, then
simultaneously always provide 1b as well.  That would, by my
interpretation mean there are always 2 or 3 supported versions.  Right
now, 4.12 "stable" and 4.11 "legacy" would be supported.  When 4.13
comes out, 4.13 would be "testing" but would be fully maintained with
security and point release updates.  When 4.13.1 is released it would
become "stable," 4.11 would be deprecated and 4.12 would become "legacy."

However, during the transitional period maybe we need to commit to
supporting 4.10 until its security support ends.

-- 
Kevin Stange
Chief Technology Officer
Steadfast | Managed Infrastructure, Datacenter and Cloud Services
800 S Wells, Suite 190 | Chicago, IL 60607
312.602.2689 X203 | Fax: 312.602.2688
ke...@steadfast.net | www.steadfast.net
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Re: [CentOS-virt] Xen Version update policy

2019-11-28 Thread Karl Johnson
On Thu, Nov 28, 2019 at 1:12 PM George Dunlap  wrote:

> Hey all,
>
> This mail has been a long time in coming, but with the upcoming
> expiration of security support for Xen 4.8, it's time to start thinking
> about what our update policy will be for the Xen packages in general.
>
> Citrix is committed to officially supporting one Xen version at a time
> through the CentOS Virt SIG.  (Others in the community are welcome to
> support others.)  But we'd like input as to which version the community
> would like to be supported at any one time.
>
> Please express your opinion on each option by replying as follows:
> -2: This is a bad idea, and I would argue against this
> -1: I'm not happy with this, but I wouldn't argue against this.
> 0: No opinion.
> 1: I'm happy with this, but I wouldn't argue for it.
> 2: This is a great idea, and I'd argue for it.
>
> There are several possible options:
>
> 1. Always support the newest option.  This means we get all the newest
> features from Xen in the Virt SIG by default; but also means we get all
> the newest bugs.
>
> 1a. Always support the newest option once it has at least one point
> release.  This balances the newness with a bit of extra testing.
>
> 1b. Always support the second-to-newest version (e.g., when 4.13 comes
> out, switch to 4.12.x)
>
> 2. Always support the oldest security-supported version.  This means we
> get the most stable version of Xen; but it does mean it is several years
> behind as far as features go.  It also means that further bugfixes do
> not happen automatically, and further bugs found will need to be
>
> 3. Always support the oldest fully-supported version.  Reasonably
> stable, reasonably old, still gets bugfixes.
>
> 4. Support a version until it's out of security support, then jump to
> the newest version.  This minimizes the number of upgrades required
> (although may make each upgrade more painful).
>
> 4a.  Support a version until it's out of full support, then jump to the
> newest version.
>
> Any other options?
>
> For my part, I think 1a, 1b, and 3 are all reasonable options.
>
> -George
>
>
1a and 1b are good options for me. I currently run 4.12.

Karl
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[CentOS-virt] Xen Version update policy

2019-11-28 Thread George Dunlap
Hey all,

This mail has been a long time in coming, but with the upcoming
expiration of security support for Xen 4.8, it's time to start thinking
about what our update policy will be for the Xen packages in general.

Citrix is committed to officially supporting one Xen version at a time
through the CentOS Virt SIG.  (Others in the community are welcome to
support others.)  But we'd like input as to which version the community
would like to be supported at any one time.

Please express your opinion on each option by replying as follows:
-2: This is a bad idea, and I would argue against this
-1: I'm not happy with this, but I wouldn't argue against this.
0: No opinion.
1: I'm happy with this, but I wouldn't argue for it.
2: This is a great idea, and I'd argue for it.

There are several possible options:

1. Always support the newest option.  This means we get all the newest
features from Xen in the Virt SIG by default; but also means we get all
the newest bugs.

1a. Always support the newest option once it has at least one point
release.  This balances the newness with a bit of extra testing.

1b. Always support the second-to-newest version (e.g., when 4.13 comes
out, switch to 4.12.x)

2. Always support the oldest security-supported version.  This means we
get the most stable version of Xen; but it does mean it is several years
behind as far as features go.  It also means that further bugfixes do
not happen automatically, and further bugs found will need to be

3. Always support the oldest fully-supported version.  Reasonably
stable, reasonably old, still gets bugfixes.

4. Support a version until it's out of security support, then jump to
the newest version.  This minimizes the number of upgrades required
(although may make each upgrade more painful).

4a.  Support a version until it's out of full support, then jump to the
newest version.

Any other options?

For my part, I think 1a, 1b, and 3 are all reasonable options.

-George
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