Thinking about SRU

[Benjamin Drung]

Am Sonntag, den 28.10.2012, 21:48 -0500 schrieb Ma Xiaojun:
> SRU stands for Stable Release Updates:
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/StableReleaseUpdates
> 
> I think the When list may need some additions.
> 
> Probably everyone wants latest version if she happens to notice the 
> difference between upstream and Ubuntu.
> 
> I'm in no way suggest that Ubuntu should become rolling released. But I 
> believe we shouldn't let user stick with old version in these two cases.
> 
> 1. Misbehaved Software
> I mean software that doesn't even fulfill its supposed functionality.

This is covered by point four of the "When" section: "Bugs which do not
fit under above categories, but (1) have an obviously safe patch and (2)
affect an application rather than critical infrastructure packages (like
X.org or the kernel)."

The question is: How big is the patch to fix the misbehavior? A
regression has more weight than a bug fix in a stable system. It's
easier to live with a known issue than to suddenly get a regression by
installing the updates.

> Two examples:
> 
> "rar" package:
> RAR format is proprietary, ... (fill suitable bad words here)
> But it indeed support Unicode file name / path well.
> However, current Ubuntu repository stuck with a broken version:
> http://pad.lv/587980

We need to get the fix in the development version first. Then we can
look at the required changes for the stable version.

> "im-switch" package:
> Due to some obscure reasons, this package make IBus indicator works in a 
> probabilistic (like flip a coin) way; the indicator icon may disappear 
> in many situations.
> This bug spans from 11.10 to 12.10.
> http://pad.lv/875435

The fix for this bug is currently going through the SRU process.

> 2. Alpha-quality Software.
> Current many desktop stuff on Linux is indeed Alpha-quality.
> Examples include GNOME, IBus, Unity, ...
> Frequent upgrades are definitely needed. How can we leave users with 
> software that stably crash?
> 
> Point 0 components from GNOME already caused some problem in 12.10. 
> Fortunately they got SRU.
> 
> I guess same principle applies to IBus, though 1.5 bumping should 
> definitely leave to at least R. We should have 1.3.9 for 10.04 and 1.4.2 
> for 11.10/12.04/12.10.
> http://pad.lv/1072172
> http://pad.lv/1072174
>
> Well, I know there is regression risk in any upgrades. But there is no 
> meaning to keep software in stably broken state.

I agree and these kind of fixes are covered by the SRU policy. If IBus
1.4.2 is just a bug-fix release of upstream's 1.4.x branch, a SRU update
should be doable. Just someone needs to prepare the update, do all the
paperwork (test cases, analyze the regression potential).

-- 
Benjamin Drung
Debian & Ubuntu Developer