Greetings, Tech Board - The backports team has been playing with a proposal for about a year now that we'd like to finally submit to you folks.
Currently, during the period between FeatureFreeze and release (about 1/3 of the cycle!), it's impossible to upload either new packages or new features to Ubuntu (freeze exceptions excluded). Post-release, this is an issue already addressed by the backports process. We'd like to propose extending the use of backports by opening the backports pocket for uploads and Debian syncs at FeatureFreeze, and then copying the contents of the backports pocket to the x+1 release when it opens, similar to what we do already for SRUs. We would still enforce the current backports requirements (the package must "build, install, and run", any reverse-dependencies must still work with the new package, and all uploads must be approved by a backporter). These requirements are stronger than those for general archive uploads, so we don't believe that there is significant risk to post-release archive quality of x+1. I see a handful of potential issues with this, and I only have answers for some of them, so if the TB is generally interested in the idea, I'd certainly appreciate feedback and suggestions: - Skew between backports (and therefore x+1) and the main archive: bugfixes in release not making it into backports, versions in release superseding those in backports, etc. In general, I think we would want a mechanism to invalidate packages in the backports pocket whenever that package is uploaded to the release pocket, and possibly to the proposed pocket, though I don't know what that is. - Archive admin workload. All backports currently require some action from archive admins. For no-source-change uploads, an archive admin runs a script on the archive master. For source-change uploads, because they are uploaded post-release, they are automatically put into the unapproved queue. Additionally, new packages have to go through sourceNEW and binNEW. Our proposal would create additional work for the archive admins near release time, which may be problematic. - Upload privileges. I believe that currently anybody on ~ubuntu-dev can upload any package to the backports pocket, and backporters can approve backports of packages they otherwise would not be able to upload. The backports team would prefer to maintain that - would it be sufficient to ensure that manual backports uploads always go through unapproved? - Component isolation. All packages in the backports pocket build with all components enabled. This means that if we copy binaries to x+1, we could be copying binaries built against packages from the wrong component. It might make sense to only pocket copy source packages into the x+1 release, instead of all packages. If the TB approves this, the backports team would gladly take responsibility for proposing patches to Launchpad, ubuntu-dev-tools, ubuntu-archive-tools, and anything else we've forgotten that needs modification to support the new workflow. I know this is rather late notice, but I'll go ahead and add this to tomorrow's meeting agenda in the hopes that there's time to discuss it. I'm also generally available for in-person or IRC discussion. Thanks, -- ubuntu-backports mailing list ubuntu-backports@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-backports