[Bug 1155205] Re: FFE Request for Upstart in raring

[Iain Lane]

I think on balance it's probably better to keep it off by default for
Raring. It's easy for people to turn it on if they want it to test
and/or develop user jobs. Seems like an ideal thing to enable right away
in S-cycle.

The rest is fine IMO. I'm happy to approve that as long as we keep an
eye on stability and execute the reversion plans swiftly if necessary.

** Changed in: upstart (Ubuntu)
       Status: New => Triaged

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Title:
  FFE Request for Upstart in raring

Status in “upstart” package in Ubuntu:
  Triaged

Bug description:
  = Overview =

  This bug documents a number of new features we'd like to introduce to
  the upstart package for raring.

  = New Features =

  == Enabling of User Sessions ==

  https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FoundationsTeam/Specs/RaringUpstartUserSessions

  === Rationale ===

  Upstart 1.7, which is already in the archive, provides enhanced user
  sessions. These offer a wealth of benefits as listed on:

  http://upstart.ubuntu.com/cookbook/#session-init

  Further, they are planned for inclusion in raring at the request of
  the Desktop Team (seb128 is a prime contact).

  === Status ===

  The upstart package has now been modified fully to support user
  sessions, but there are a few remaining desktop packages that still
  need work before sessions can be enabled:

   D-Bus: stgraber has a branch in proposed with the required /usr/share/upstart/sessions/dbus.conf job file.
  - ssh-agent: TODO.
  - im-switch: TODO.

  Once the final elements are in place, the default 'ubuntu' desktop
  will migrate from being managed by gnome-session to being manged by
  Upstart. This will require final testing by both the Foundations and
  Desktop teams.

  The actual change necessary to enable the User sessions is to
  uncomment 'ubuntu' in file /etc/upstart-xsessions (which is already in
  the upstart package).

  === Risk ===

  LOW/MEDIUM - although well tested by the Foundations Team who have
  been running desktop sessions managed by upstart for some weeks now,
  once the final elements are ready, another round of testing will be
  required by both the Foundations and Desktop teams.

  === Contingency ===

  Revert to the gnome-session-managed desktop. However, this is
  potentially hampered by bug 1131968.

  == New Upstart Bridge: upstart-file-bridge ==

  The upstart-file-bridge is a now process that will be run both as a
  system job (as root), and as a user session job (1 per Upstart
  Session).

  === Rationale ===

  The upstart-file-bridge provides the ability for Upstart jobs to
  'start on' actual files in the filesystem being created, modified or
  deleted. This allows some of what are currently long-running daemons
  to just run 'on demand'. A good example of this is whoopsie: currently
  it runs all the time, but with the file bridge its Upstart job
  configuration file can be modified to be:

      start on file FPATH=/var/crash/*.crash FEVENT=create
      exec whoopsie

  This will have the effect of only starting whoopsie iff and when crash
  files are created. As such, this is a valuable tool in our ongoing
  efforts to reduce memory consumption and speed up the boot.

  === Status ===

  Branch lp:~jamesodhunt/upstart/file-bridge-MP is currently awaiting
  review to be merged into upstream Upstart. When it passes review and
  is merge into upstream, the intention is to cherry-pick it into
  Ubuntu.

  === Risk ===

  LOW - this is a new facility. If it does not work, any application
  that makes use of it may not start, but can still be started manually
  should the need arise. Additionally, this bridge is not running within
  init itself so any instability will not affect system reliability.

  === Contingency ===

  Disable the bridge if it proves problematic and revert applications
  such as whoopsie to running all the time.

  == Upstart GUI: upstart-monitor ==

  The upstart-monitor is a simple python application that shows upstart
  events (both system-level and session-level) as they occur.

  === Rationale ===

  Now that Upstart is able to manage a user sessions, non-privileged
  users will potentially be able to explore Upstarts benefits for
  themselves without having to worry about destablising their systems.
  This is a huge opportunity for Upstart and any tooling that makes it
  easier to use should be considered IMHO.

  This tool should be extremely useful to newcomers to Upstart and even
  to experienced admins who wish to observe event flows. It also makes
  it significantly easier to write custom session jobs.

  === Status ===

  Branch lp:~jamesodhunt/upstart/upstart-monitor contains the latest
  code. It is 98% (still requires install logic for the icon/.desktop
  file). The intention is to raise an MP on this for lp:upstart within
  the next few days. Once approved, it will be merged into lp:upstart
  then cherry-picked into Ubuntu.

  === Risk ===

  LOW - this tool runs as a non-privileged user and does not provide any
  more information than can currently be ascertained using existing
  tooling - it just puts it into a familiar form.

  === Contingency ===

  Disable/remove the tool.

  == Apport hook ==

  === Rationale ===

  - Upstart currently has no apport hook.
  - We intend to enable User Sessions which expands the scope for upstart so although we have tested the code as thoroughly as possible, if problems occur, an apport hook will be invaluable to simplify the job of both reporting the issue and diagnosing them.

  === Status ===

  The hook is in branch lp:~jamesodhunt/ubuntu/raring/upstart/add-
  apport-hook. It is in the process of being tested.

  === Risk ===

  LOW - this hook is not part of the init daemon itself and is only
  invoked when Upstart crashes.

  === Contingency ===

  Even if this apport hook crashes, apport still allows a problem to be
  reported; it just won't have all the extra attachments the hook is
  designed to capture.

  
  == DEP-8 tests: libtestupstart ==

  === Rationale ===

  The current autopkgtest tests simply run the unit tests. The intention
  is to add a python module that will allow us to write runtime tests
  easily and have them run prior to an upload hitting the archive.

  === Status ===

  I'm currently working on a libtestupstart.py module with is working in
  a very basic fashion.

  === Risk ===

  LOW - if libtestupstart.py itself fails, any DEP-8 tests using it can
  be disabled to return us to the status quo.

  === Contingency ===

  Disable any DEP-8 tests using libtestupstart.py

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