Automatically sync new packages until feature freeze

[Emmet Hikory]

On Jan 22, 2008 1:51 AM, Lucas Nussbaum wrote:
> On 21/01/08 at 13:53 +0100, Michael Bienia wrote:
> > On 2008-01-20 23:19:58 +0100, Lucas Nussbaum wrote:
> > > I'm not 100% sure it's a good idea, but what about doing the same for
> > > packages which aren't a new upstream release? If the Debian maintainer
> > > uploaded a new debian-specific version, it's likely to be a bug-fixing
> > > upload. It might be harder to automatize, but still...
> >
> > The new revision might introduce a versioned build-dependency on an
> > other package with a new upstream version and we would either have to
> > complete the transition or undo the change.
>
> Ok ; but, it isn't much harder to import new debian-specific versions
> provided that they are still installable and buildable in Ubuntu.

    It's precisely that test that makes it a manual process.  For the
most part, until feature freeze, any package that builds, installs,
and doesn't break anything is suitable for sync, and several people
watch the variation and request syncs to reduce variance.  The
downside of the manual process is that some packages do not get needed
attention.  After feature freeze, the RC bug checker is used to try to
get all RC bugs closed in Debian also closed in Ubuntu, perhaps from a
sync, maybe a merge, and sometimes pulling minimal patches to address
the specific issue from the Debian package and adding them to the
exisitng Ubuntu package.

    I believe the solution to this is more hands and more eyes.  On
the other hand, if there were sufficient resources available to
autobuild all Debian updates for non-modified packages against Ubuntu
and automate the installation/upgrade/removal testing, this could be a
source of sync candidates (although it may still be nice to have a
human check to make sure nothing went wrong).

-- 
Emmet HIKORY