ubuntu-advantage-tools SRU exception policy review

[Steve Langasek]

On Thu, Oct 05, 2023 at 12:30:31AM +0100, Robie Basak wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 14, 2023 at 05:39:50PM +0100, Robie Basak wrote:
> > This is now ready for feedback and review. We will need sign-offs from
> > the Pro client developers (the subset of the Server Team that is
> > maintaining this package) as well as the SRU team, Release Team and
> > Technical Board. Please see the wiki page for details.

> There's been no feedback, and I understand the SRU team are generally
> happy with this. So can we move to sign-offs, please?

> Release team: please sign off on "Feature freeze in the development
> release shall not apply".

I have been reluctant to sign off on this as written because it could be
taken to imply that all freezing in the development cycle is ignorable for
these purposes.  While FeatureFreeze starts out fairly relaxed, as we
progress to the end of the development cycle the Release Team deliberately
becomes more and more strict on exceptions until, around 3 weeks before
release, the actual freeze is STRICTER than the requirements for SRUs with
the simple rationale that unlike a bad SRU, we cannot roll back a bad freeze
exception that finds its way into the release pocket and onto a release
image if the breakage is discovered too late.

But this all falls under "FeatureFreeze", we don't have any separate freeze
checkpoints to externally communicate this gradual ratcheting, it's instead
a judgement call by the Release Team.

So by saying the feature freeze does not apply, I don't want to wrongly give
an impression that these other issues are automatically ignorable, or that
the Release Team is bound by agreement to ignore them.

I do not immediately have proposed alternate language that I think
appropriately addresses this concern, but as you've been waiting for a
response for some time now, I wanted to make sure to surface this.  (And
apologies for not mentioning it sooner when considering the document, as I
was focused on considering the proposed exception with an SRU lens at the
time.)

> Reference document: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuAdvantageToolsUpdates

-- 
Steve Langasek                   Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS
Debian Developer                   to set it on, and I can move the world.
Ubuntu Developer                                   https://www.debian.org/
slangasek at ubuntu.com                                     vorlon at debian.org
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