[ubuntu-cloud] Archive triggered Cloud Image builds

[Ben Howard]

For years, Canonical has built the Ubuntu Cloud Images based on time.
Generally, we build daily Cloud Images for the development release daily
with the stable releases being built twice a week.

The problem with this method is that we end up with redundant builds
with no functional differences between serials. For example, if you look
at the package manifests for Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, the daily builds often
have no difference between the package sets. Also, publishing the same
image to our various Clouds when the builds are not needed costs resources.

In looking at this problem, we decided that the best approach to is to
do archive triggered builds as opposed to time-based builds. Archive
triggered builds are done by monitoring the difference between the
latest builds and packages available in the archive. If the archive has
newer packages, then a build is kicked.

Recently we moved the build process for Ubuntu 14.10 from time-based to
triggered builds. Since there is a lot that happens behind the scenes in
distributing Ubuntu to the various Clouds, we are going to slowly change
10.04, 12.04 and 14.04 to be triggered over the next few weeks.

Thanks,
Ben

-- 


Ben Howard
ben.howard at canonical.com
Canonical
GPG ID 0x5406A866



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