packaging X11R7.2

[Colin Watson]

On Thu, Feb 08, 2007 at 10:20:20AM +0200, Timo Aaltonen wrote:
>    Keeping xorg in shape is a community effort right now, so despite the 
> looming UVF in <gasp> 8 hours I (and others on #ubuntu-devel) started to 
> package the practically-already-released X.org X11R7.2 last night. So far 
> I've updated all the libraries (~27 packages), and now I'm doing the 
> app-directory from the 7.2 tree.

This is a great start; thank you very much for stepping up to take care
of this. As you may have noticed, our resources are distinctly finite in
this area at the moment.

We can make a UVF exception for this under a few conditions (given its
size and complexity):

  * You need to be willing to commit to following this through so that
    we don't get left in the lurch for Feisty. :-)

  * A core developer [insert name here] needs to be willing to put their
    name on this as the coordinator.

  * Some further core developers [insert names here] need to take
    responsibility for reviewing and sponsoring this and future fixes.
    Those developers don't necessarily need to be X experts, and
    wouldn't necessarily need to volunteer to take on continuing
    maintenance in the form of bug handling and the like, but should
    have some familiarity with X in order to review the changes
    effectively. (Several members of the Canonical distro team expressed
    an interest in helping out here.)

  * We need an estimate for approximately how long it should take to
    complete the task of updating packages and taking account of any
    major changes in maintainer scripts (e.g. xorg.conf generation
    and/or migration if necessary).

  * As much as possible should be syncs from Debian, to take advantage
    of shared maintainership and make reviews easier; we should continue
    monitoring for later syncs than our initial versions in case of
    further bug fixes.

  * You and anyone else working on this should join the ubuntu-x-swat
    team in Launchpad and monitor and attempt to respond to incoming bug
    reports regarding the new packages; for post-UVF uploads it's
    especially important to be aware of new problems as quickly as
    possible.

  * The work should be done in incremental stages (e.g. prototypes,
    libraries, server/drivers, client programs) each of which leaves the
    system working, in order that if the work runs over schedule we can
    stop without having to roll back all of X (noting in particular that
    rolling back libraries that change shlibdeps is very difficult).

  * If unexpected problems crop up, the release manager (Tollef Fog
    Heen) needs to be informed as soon as possible, and should add
    relevant milestones to bugs as necessary.

We would definitely like to support this effort, as it helps us remain
state-of-the-art and seems likely to result in a number of worthwhile
bug-fixes; we just need to make sure our backs are covered.

Thanks a lot,

-- 
Colin Watson                                       [cjwatson at ubuntu.com]