[ubuntu-cloud] Cloud Image UDS-R Proposal: Automatic Releases

[Eric Hammond]

Ben:

Regular and well-timed updates with reduced exposure to security issues
sounds great to me.

Email announcements every three weeks would probably be good for a
while, just to get us used to the idea that these updates are indeed
happening.

After a few months, ask the list again if the emails continue to be
valuable or of they are getting annoying.

As far as the level of detail goes, I think it's fantastic, but don't
know how much work goes into collecting the information on what changes
between releases.

Even if I don't study all of the specific updates that go into each
updated AMI, there's a sense of comfort knowing that the changes are
tracked and available.

-- 
Eric Hammond


On 10/03/2012 01:59 PM, Ben Howard wrote:
> Over this last cycle I have been putting a bit of thought into the
> Ubuntu Cloud Images build, daily promotion and release process. Of
> concern is making sure that the Ubuntu Cloud Images are of the quality
> and performance that our users both expect and demand.
> 
> At UDS [1,2] this October, I am going to propose a change in the way
> that Ubuntu Cloud Image stable releases are generated and released [3]. 
> Specifically of interest to this audience, I am going to propose that we
> move from the ad-hoc release  cadence -- where a release is need-based
> -- to an automatic release schedule based on the availability of
> security and boot critical packages that normally require a reboot upon
> updating[4].  For most stable released Ubuntu versions, a new version of
> the  cloud images would be made available every three weeks, which
> follows the release cadence of the Kernel SRU team (or ~18 releases per
> stable release per year).  The biggest motivation for  proposing this
> change is to reduce the number of updates upon boot and  to make sure
> that the stable release images are up-to-date.
> 
> One side effect to having an automatic release process is that the email
> announcements of new cloud images will need to change in both content
> and frequency. Are these emails valuable, is the content  sufficient or
> too much or if we released automatically every three  weeks, would it be
> better to discontinue the emails? Or would it be sufficient to capture
> this information on a webpage?
> 
> Before UDS, I wanted to gather feedback from our valued community; any
> feedback, concerns or questions about this proposal would be most
> appreciated. 
> 
> Thanks,
> Ben
> 
> [1] http://uds.ubuntu.com/
> [2] UDS is from 29 October to 01 November 2012
> [3] https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/servercloud-q-cloudtesting
> [4] i.e. kernel, glibc, security updates
> 
>