Foundations Team Weekly Report, 2009-08-12

Fri Aug 14 21:52:41 BST 2009

For minutes of previous meetings, please see
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FoundationsTeam.

== Present ==

 * RobbieWilliamson - chair
 * ColinWatson
 * EvanDandrea
 * JamesWestby
 * LarsWirzenius
 * MatthiasKlose
 * MikeTerry
 * MuharemHrnjadovic
 * ScottJamesRemnant
 * SteveLangasek

== Apologies ==

 * MichaelVogt

== Agenda ==
 * Status Updates on
[[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FoundationsTeam/ReleaseStatus/Karmic|Karmic Deliverables]]
  * Alpha 4
   *
[[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FoundationsTeam/ReleaseStatus/Karmic#Cloud_Setup_in_Installer|Cloud
Setup in Installer]] - Defer to Alpha 5?
   *
[[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FoundationsTeam/ReleaseStatus/Karmic#Grub2_as_Default|Grub2
as Default]] - '''Done''', but still needs some cleanup work:
    * Blinking cursor
    * The flashes of text that still happen
    * ''Possible'' zero delay work
   *
[[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FoundationsTeam/ReleaseStatus/Karmic#Installer_Support_for_ISCSI|Installer
Support for ISCSI]] - '''Done'''
   *
[[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FoundationsTeam/ReleaseStatus/Karmic#Multiarch_Support_for_gcc,_binutils,_dpkg,_and_apt|Multiarch
Support]]
   *
[[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FoundationsTeam/ReleaseStatus/Karmic#Power_Management_Infrastructure_Cleanup|Power
Management Infrastructure Cleanup]]
   *
[[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FoundationsTeam/ReleaseStatus/Karmic#Migration_Assistant_Redesign|Migration
Assistant Redesign]]
   *
[[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FoundationsTeam/ReleaseStatus/Karmic#Option_to_Install_Updates_on_Shutdown|Install
Updates on Shutdown]] - Deferred to Alpha 5/6 (need to confirm when mvo returns)
   *
[[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FoundationsTeam/ReleaseStatus/Karmic#Encrypted_Swap|Encrypted
Swap]]
   *
[[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FoundationsTeam/ReleaseStatus/Karmic#More_Robust_Python_Packaging|More
Robust Python Packaging]] - Defered to Alpha 5/6 (need to confirm when mvo returns)
  * Missing Milestones
   *
[[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FoundationsTeam/ReleaseStatus/Karmic#eGlibC_Adoption|eGlibc
Adoption]]
    * Also missing a blueprint
   *
[[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FoundationsTeam/ReleaseStatus/Karmic#Archive_Reorganization_Phase_1|Archive
Reorganization Phase 1]]
    * Not specifically tied to the release, so I'm assuming '''Ubuntu 9.10'''
milestone?
   *
[[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FoundationsTeam/ReleaseStatus/Karmic#Copyright_Licensing_for_Packages|
Copyright Licensing for Packages]]
   *
[[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FoundationsTeam/ReleaseStatus/Karmic#Speedup_.debs_Downloads_with_rsync_POC|Zsync
work]]
   *
[[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FoundationsTeam/ReleaseStatus/Karmic#Pre-unpacking_of_Packages_During_Download|Pre-unpacking
of Packages During Download]]
 * Sponsorship queue
 * Missing Objectives from
  * Steve
  * James
  * Evan
 * Good news
 * AOB

== Outstanding actions from last meeting ==

## List outstanding items and an update on their progress if appropriate

== Actions from this meeting ==
 * Robbie to update the team release status wiki for Karmic deliverables
['''Done''']

## List new action items

## Now follows a section for each agenda item
## == Title ==
## commentary

== Activity reports ==

=== Colin Watson ===
 * DebConf; trip report to follow separately.

 * Karmic sprint.

 * Restored dmraid support to parted (#392246).

 * Merged: grub-installer, partman-base, partman-partitioning

 * Feature work:
  * foundations-karmic-server-installer-improvements:
   * Merged all patches upstream, with help from Max Vozeler.
  * foundations-karmic-iscsi-installer-support:
   * Wrote partman-iscsi.
   * Fixed up several bugs in open-iscsi, e.g. #306678.
   * Integrated iSCSI target login with "no disks found" installer UI.
   * Dropped much of old open-iscsi installer integration, superseded by the above.
   * Stopped requiring iscsi=true.
   * Preseeding partially working but still needs some attention for Kickstart
to be viable.
   * Adjusted initramfs-tools to load virtio_net, making KVM testing easier.
   * Hoovered up initramfs-tools patch to fix ip= (LP: #364626).
   * Made sure network devices are always included in initramfs if booting with
/ on iSCSI.
   * Arranged to retry initramfs network configuration for a while until it works.
   * Done!
  * foundations-karmic-grub2:
   * Added hidden timeout support, used by default; update installer to match.
(Some bugs caused by this, as the upgrade process could be smoother.)
   * Adjusted menu theme.
   * Some work on visually-smooth GRUB->kernel transition, though turns out to
be tricky due to kernel-side issues (see
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/kernel-team/2009-August/006773.html).
  * foundations-karmic-cloud-setup-in-server-installer:
   * Designed new Avahi-based scheme for cloud installation.
   * Added udebs to avahi.
   * Added Eucalyptus tasks.
  * archive-reorganisation-permissions:
   * Sent batch of developer interview mails.

 * Fixed console-setup #392218 (/etc/default/console-setup ignored on boot),
which turned out to be a busybox bug (gzip missing in   initramfs).

 * Nightmare ia32-libs update (#277069, #305860, #389510, #393503).

 * Made hw-detect stop installing acpi, acpid, and acpi-support-base if acpi is
available.

 * Made kernel-wedge's error behaviour a bit more helpful, at Tim's request
(#410221).

 * Wrote a debhelper addon for germinate, massively simplifying all the
   *-meta packaging.

 * Sponsorship:
  * iso-codes #409410.
  * system-config-kickstart #409261, #409270, #409352, #409368, #409554.
  * pax #406858.

 * Technical Board meeting (chaired).

=== Evan Dandrea ===
 * Platform sprint

=== James Westby ===
==== DebConf ====

  * Attended my first DebConf.
  * Useful discussions with vcs-pkg.org people.
  * Plenty of discussions about Debian/Ubuntu collaboration.

==== Sprint ====

  * Sprinted with jml. Mainly focused on eliminating blockers to declaring
source package branches generally ready for use.
    - Fixed some LP bugs and worked towards getting the permissions changes
done. Got my first change to LP accepted.
    - Requested a bugfix to the python-wadllib package on jubany as we will need
it when the permissions changes land.
  * Also discussed how we will create the branches for the new distroseries. We
have a proposed plan but need to experiment to test whether it can be done quick
enough.
  * Ran a query on the LP db to update the package<->branch links where a bug
meant that they weren't all set as requested at creation.
  * Also worked with Muharem on a merge-package command. The implementation is
mostly there and he is now working on tests. Should be in before Feature Freeze.
  * Presented on Distributed Development. Important for many new people who
weren't well-versed in the plans. Important for others to see the progress.
There was plenty of interest expressed, and we are tantalisingly close to
seriously dogfooding it.
  * Presented on daily builds as well. Multiple teams spoke to me about getting
up and running.
  * The usual impromptu debugging/assistance/discussion sessions that take place
at a sprint.

==== Distributed Development ====

  * > 125,000 branches, ~10,000 packages imported.
  * Improvements to the importer to make it better in terms of both throughput
and latency.
  * Stopped it from falling over occasionally due to launchpadlib's cache not
being multi-process safe.

==== Daily Builds ====

  * Worked on the documentation further. It doesn't yet cover all the features,
but it covers all the things needed to get started.
  * Fixed some bugs and implemented some small features.
  * Blogged about bzr-builder.
  * Started a discussion in the dailydebs-team about "what makes a good daily
package?"

==== Kerneloops ====

  * Finished the work to split the submission from the main process with testing
that the original use still works.
  * Made the changes to apport needed to get basic functionality.
  * Will perhaps make a PPA available first, though getting the changes in soon
after alpha 4 may be better.

==== Other =====

  * Some archive-admin work, though I had a swap day on my nominated half-day.
  * Some sponsoring.
  * Fixed a couple of bugs that were getting in my way.

=== Lars Wirzenius ===
 * Attended Debconf9. Liased, leveraged, synergized, and so on with a number
Debian people. Gave a talk and BOF on piuparts (with Holger Levsen). Cooked up a
bug exchange format proposal with Don Armstrong.
 * Attended karmic sprint. Participated in some (e)glibc bug fixing, did some
further zsync and debdelta research. Discussed these things with Launchpad team
and Colin Watson. cdimage.ubuntu.com now generates .zsync files for ISO images
(zsync seems to use much less bandwidth than rsync), and I have a strategy for
Packages files and .deb downloads. Launchpad-dev indicates they might have at
least Packages.zsync files generated in September.
 * Prototyped a way to show kernel oops messages in a compact form that can be
decoded by OCR or such, for times when the whole message can't be visible.
  * http://blog.liw.fi/posts/kernel-oops-compression/

=== Matthias Klose ===
 * Platform sprint

=== Michael Vogt ===
 * Platform sprint

=== Mike Terry ===
 * Platform sprint

=== Muharem Hrnjadovic ===
 * Platform sprint
==== Distributed development ====
  * Implemented "merge-package" bzr command, see
lp:~al-maisan/bzr-builddeb/merge-package
  * Started adding tests and polishing the branch for review.

=== Scott James Remnant ===
 * Platform sprint

=== Steve Langasek ===
 * Platform sprint