[lubuntu-users] Lubuntu's repository

[Simon Quigley]

Hello,

A couple corrections here.

On 11/11/2017 12:23 PM, Israel wrote:
> On 11/11/2017 02:23 AM, Joe Smith wrote:
>> Hi there,
>>
>> I wanted to know about Lubuntu's repository out of curiosity.
>>
>> Does Lubuntu have its own repository, or does it use Github as its
>> repository for its programs, if Lubuntu uses Github as their
>> repository then does Lubuntu validate all the programs or does Github?
>>
>> Kind regards
>> Joe Smith
>>
>>
> Hi,
> 
> Lubuntu uses Launchpad to host the code for building the packages
> (desktop meta package, artwork, etc..) on Ubuntu's servers.  The Ubuntu
> build servers use the normal Debian way for checking and validating
> things.

We have some differences, for example, Ubuntu extends Debian's Britney
tool to provide extra verification such as running autopkgtests and
installability tests before releasing for general installability. This
is done via use of a -proposed partial suite, and then when ready, it
migrates for people to install. Debian is different in that once
something is uploaded to Unstable, binaries become available as soon as
they are done building, so stability is not guaranteed.

> They use lintian for the Debian package lint checks,and
> pbuilber to compile it

Actually, this is incorrect. Launchpad uses sbuild to build the
packages, then once that is done, the binaries get published to the
-proposed pocket. Then from there, in this order, package suitability
for general installation is determined:
 1. If the package has autopkgtests, run them. If any of the package's
binaries have reverse dependencies with autopkgtests, run those too
against the new binaries. All tests must either pass or be "hinted"
(failures are OK) by a member of the release team.
 2. Run installation tests with the binaries into the release pocket. If
the package isn't installable, it doesn't migrate. This avoids broken
systems on major library transitions.
 3. Make sure there are no bugs filed against the package with the
"block-proposed" tag.

More documentation is available here:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ProposedMigration

> and make the packages which does some pretty
> strict checking of the the packaging.  This is all validated via APT.

Well, not directly by apt. Checksumming of the binaries is done on
Launchpad and after apt downloads the packages, it verifies the
integrity of the binaries.

> Lubuntu packages are directly included in the Ubuntu repositories (not a
> PPA)

Correct, and for any Ubuntu flavor as well as Ubuntu itself, all of the
packages are in one central archive.

> LXDE/Qt hosts their code on Github.  I am not sure what they use for
> their builds.  But this is the compiled code (the panel, filemanager,
> etc...), Lubuntu doesn't really write many compiled programs/packages,
> though IIRC there may be a GTK app written in Vala for something, but I
> may be mistaken.

Right, gilir might know more about that but for right now we don't have
any programs we wrote ourself.

We also do nothing on GitHub, although with the new work done by the
Ubuntu Server Team, packaging might be available on Git, and we might be
able to mirror the packaging which goes into the archive on GitHub. More
information on the development of this tooling is available here:
https://insights.ubuntu.com/2017/07/24/developing-ubuntu-using-git/

I hope this clears up any confusion.

-- 
Simon Quigley
tsimonq2 at lubuntu.me
tsimonq2 on freenode and OFTC
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