LTS Enablement Stack

Fri Aug 10 21:05:52 UTC 2012

Hi Everyone,

At UDS-Q we began discussions for how we will provide enablement stack
offerings in the Precise 12.04 LTS release, eg. provide the 12.10 Kernel
and X.org in 12.04 beginning with the 12.04.2 point release.  We
captured plenty of feedback during these discussions and noted numerous
areas which still needed sorting as we move through the Quantal devel
cycle [A,B,C].  Logistics regarding support time frames, image seeding,
and upgrade paths/policies were all of specific concern.  With the
Quantal devel cycle well under way and the 12.04.2 point release a few
months away, I've been attempting to drive many of the remaining areas
of concern to a resolution.  I thought I would take this opportunity to
share a current status of where we are.  Please note I've marked some
items "[TBD]" as they are still undergoing review and discussion:

 1. For the 12.04.2 CD's, we will default to the new Quantal enablement
    stack.  Due to size limitations we are unable to provide options for
    both the Quantal enablement stack and the original Precise stack.
 2. [TBD] For the 12.04.2 DVD's, we will default to the new Quantal
    enablement stack but are also actively investigating the possibility
    of providing an option to allow users to remain on the original
    Precise stack.
 3. The 12.04.0 and 12.04.1 point releases will be archived and
    available at old-releases.ubuntu.com.
 4. For the 12.04.2 CD's (and possibly the 12.04.2 DVD's if we are
    unable to provide an option to remain on the original Precise stack
    for the DVD's), we will message that anyone installing and wishing
    to remain on the original 12.04 stack to please install from the
    12.04.0 or 12.04.1 media and update.
 5. We only intend to support enablement stack package combinations in
    12.04 which are derived from the same release, eg. the 12.10 X.org
    must be used in conjunction with the 12.10 kernel and vice versa. 
    Intermixing a 12.10 enablement kernel with the 12.04 X.org stack or
    a 12.10 enablement X.org stack with a 12.04 kernel will not be
    officially tested nor supported.
 6. Anyone running with the original Precise stack will not be
    automatically updated to the new Quantal enablement stack.  Users
    can electively choose to install the Quantal (or newer) enablement
    stack meta package if they wish to do so.
 7. Additionally, anyone upgrading to Precise will not be automatically
    upgraded to the new Quantal enablement stack.  Again, they can
    electively choose to do so by manually installing the appropriate
    meta package.
 8. The original 12.04 stack in Precise will remain supported for the
    usual 5yr life cycle of the LTS release.
 9. Anyone running with the newer Quantal enablement stack will remain
    on that stack until the following 14.04 LTS enablement stack is
    available and supported in 12.04.  Users will *not* be automatically
    rolled forward to interim non-LTS enablement stack offerings.
      * If anyone is interested in updating to newer enablement stack
        offerings in Precise as they become available, we will provide
        series specific meta packages which they can manually choose to
        install.  We will also provide a rolling release meta package
        for those who do want to roll forward automatically.  Again,
        this will be an elective package install and not mandatory.
10. When an interim non-LTS enablement stack offering (ie Q|R|S
    enablement stack in P) reaches it's EOL, users will be automatically
    rolled forward to the 14.04 LTS enablement stack, eg 12.10
    enablement stack users will be automatically upgraded to the 14.04
    enablement stack in Precise upon the 12.10 enablement stack reaching
    it's EOL.  This will ensure a continuous line of support.  See item
    11 below for follow on discussions.
11. [TBD] The interim non-LTS enablement stacks (ie Q|R|S enablement
    stacks in P) will only be supported in Precise from the time they
    appear in a point release through the remainder of their natural
    release life cycle, eg the 12.10 enablement stack will be supported
    for 15mo in Precise due to the 3mo offset between 12.10's official
    release and the 12.04.2 point release.
      * There are concerns that 12.10 will EOL at the same time 14.04 is
        released.  Some are in favor of driving a more rigorous QA
        effort of the 14.04 enablement stack in 12.04 to ensure an
        immediate and smooth transition to the 14.04 enablement stack on
        the day the 12.10 enablement stack EOL's.  This would also
        likely result in an increased level of quality for the initial
        14.04 release due to the extra testing focus.  Others are
        however more conservative and would prefer we not offer the
        14.04 enablement stack in Precise until the 14.04.1 time frame. 
        We commonly message that users should not be using an LTS
        release for production environments until the .1 release.  It
        seems reasonable that we should message the same advice for the
        enablement stacks and subsequently not automatically upgrade
        users of the 12.10 enablement stack until the 14.04.1 time
        frame.  This provides an additional 3mo window where we would
        benefit from bug fixes and overall testing we receive in the
        initial months following 14.04's release.  However, the
        disadvantage here is this extends the support window of the
        12.10 enablement stack in Precise beyond it's natural support
        window in it's original 12.10 release.  It produces a larger
        maintenance burden as well as a slightly more complicated policy
        which would need to be messaged.
12. [TBD] Anyone running an R or S enablement stack in Precise might
    have an unexpected result if they upgrade their entire system to
    Quantal.  The packages offered in the R/S enablement stack would
    supersede the Quantal packages.  This still needs further discussion
    for an appropriate upgrade policy/expectation for anyone in this
    scenario.
13. Apport has and will be updated to allow bug reporting in Precise
    against the enablement stacks.  These bugs will also be
    appropriately tagged to assist in searching.

Please feel free to raise any additional questions/concerns which may
not have been addressed above.  I'll also try and provide updates for
the "TBD" items as they come to a resolution.

Thanks,
Leann

[A]
https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/security-q-kernel-backports
[B] https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/desktop-q-xorg-lts-updates
[C]
https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/qa-q-assuring-kernel-quality

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