Proposal: sunset the backports pockets

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson]

On 2021-07-20 13:58, Dan Streetman wrote:
> Yes, objection here. The backports pocket is still in use.
> 
> If I understand correctly, as discussed in much greater length in
> other posts in this thread, the sole problem with the backports
> process is lack of time for the Ubuntu Backports Team to actually
> review uploads to the -backports pocket.
> 
> If that's the case, then the Canonical Sustaining Engineering Group
> is happy to take that over (since 'sustaining' the stable releases
> is...our job), please feel free to ping me about ACLs and process
> tooling for approving -backports uploads and we'll start reviewing
> the queues.

That sounds promising, Dan.

As regards uploads in the queues, I had a quick look yesterday. I found 
one item in bionic and four ones in focal. But only one (1) item had a 
reference to a bug report with the expected justification, test results etc.

But then we have all the backport requests which are not yet uploaded:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/bionic-backports

https://bugs.launchpad.net/focal-backports

<https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuBackports> gives the impression that the 
uploads should be carried out by an ~ubuntu-backporters member in 
connection with the review.

So if the Canonical Sustaining Engineering Group steps up — which is 
excellent, of course — there still seems to be room for clarification of 
the process.

* Who can/should upload?

* Should sponsorship be sought for uploads to the -backports queues?

-- 
Cheers,

Gunnar Hjalmarsson
https://launchpad.net/~gunnarhj