Follow Up from "Let's Discuss Interim Releases"

[Robert Collins]

On 11 March 2013 23:25, Thierry Carrez <ttx at ubuntu.com> wrote:
> Thierry Carrez wrote:
>> Robert Collins wrote:
>>>  - Move the concept of using 'a release of Ubuntu' to using 'a
>>> configuration' - LTS is 'keep my behaviour unchanged', interim
>>> releases are 'give me new features when they are production quality'
>>> and 'development edition' is 'give me new stuff as soon as it enters
>>> the archive'.
>>
>> About LTS mode ('keep my behaviour unchanged') I suspect every n years
>> you'll have to create another LTS mode. For people who want their
>> behaviour unchanged but from a reasonably modern starting point. How do
>> you handle that ?
>
> Elaborating on that, LTS mode is actually "keep me secure with my
> behaviour unchanged". That means backporting security fixes to the
> "behavior unchanged" state. If you don't want to drive your security
> team crazy, you'll need a limited set of discrete states. That's another
> role "releases" (as milestones) fill for you.

I think you misunderstood the definition of configurations. Its not a
discrete state for the security team to care for. It is solely an
option in the various programs which have user visible behaviour that
was all of
a) changed upstream during the LTS lifetime
b) something we thought users might depend on so preserved via a
configuration flag
c) in a supported [core] package

This is a much smaller surface area than full copies of packages which
the security team deals with today. Obviously there is increased risk
of *accidental* behaviour alteration as a trade off.

-Rob


-- 
Robert Collins <rbtcollins at hp.com>
Distinguished Technologist
HP Cloud Services