Clarifying Unseeded Universe Freeze

[Scott Kitterman]

Clint Byrum <clint at ubuntu.com> wrote:

>Excerpts from Kate Stewart's message of Wed Sep 28 15:36:09 -0700 2011:
>> Dear Ubuntu release team members, 
>> 
>>   On the #ubuntu-release IRC channel today the discussion of when
>should
>> the unseeded universe freeze came up today. A proposal was made to
>> freeze it 36 hours before the final images are published. 
>> 
>> The precedents that exist in our current process documentation right
>now
>> are:
>> 
>> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReleaseProcess
>> 
>>       * Work with universe/multiverse community to identify delegates
>to
>>         approve Feature Freeze Exceptions, in addition to
>ubuntu-release
>>         until the date of Final Freeze for universe.
>>       * Set the Final Freeze date (typically at release minus 5 days)
>>         for universe/multiverse for the packages that are NOT found
>on
>>         any installation media. 
>>       * Universe/multiverse delegates and final freeze date is
>broadcast
>>         to ubuntu-devel-discuss and ubuntu-devel-announce. 
>> 
>> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FinalFreeze
>>         
>>         * For packages in universe that aren't seeded in any of the
>>         Ubuntu flavors, this final freeze is nominal; packages must
>be
>>         manually accepted by the archive admins, but no additional
>>         approval is required until the Unseeded Universe Final
>Freeze.
>>         
>> Have I missed any other references to the Unseeded Universe Freeze
>that
>> are relevant?
>> 
>> What do others think?   pro's/con's of moving from 5 days to 1.5
>days?
>
>This is not all inclusive, but these things come to mind:
>
>Pro's of 1.5 days vs 5 days:
>
>* Less 0-day SRU's (any bugs found late can be fixed in release, easing
>the burden of the heavy SRU process)
>
>Con's:
>
>* Approving packages means more duties for the release team close to
>the release date
>
>* Time spent fixing things in universe is less time spent testing main
>
>
>I think having more fixes in the released universe is a good thing for
>quality, but I worry about the impact, even if its small, on the
>release
>process as a whole.


In my experience there's no impact.  Even if a group of MOTU get fired up and fix a bunch of stuff, getting things reviewed isn't an issue.   Some releases we do get a motivated group at the end that really makes a good bunch of changes. It's amazing what a few focused MOTU can accomplish.

Scott K