Clarifying Unseeded Universe Freeze

[Kate Stewart]

On Thu, 2011-09-29 at 01:50 -0400, Scott Kitterman wrote:
> 
> 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.

There is an impact to those members of the release team who are also
working on stabilizing the final images in terms of dealing with the
interrupts and context switches.  The last week is pretty full with
getting the last fixes in and tested, updating release notes, announces,
etc.   Since the archive is frozen,  every fix still does need to be
reviewed for sanity before being accepted. 

That being said,  if the release team members who are not directly
working on the final images (usually those without archive admin
capability) are willing to be the handle the bulk reviews and
interfacing in #ubuntu-motu channel during this period it could be
workable to have the later date.   There does need to be a 'go to'
contact on the release team identified, so folks know who to ping during
the interval if they want something reviewed/included for the unseeded
universe packages.  

Stefano Rivera (tumbleweed) has been the MOTU representative this cycle,
so he seems to be the logical "go to" person.  Note, this does not mean
that he has to do all the reviews.  :)   Basically he's there to be
contacted when someone may not have an existing relationship with
another release team member to ask, and help balance the review load. 
I've checked with him and he's willing to help out over the next couple
of weeks in this way.   

If after the release meeting, there are no objections brought up.   I'll
do the updates to the existing process pages this afternoon to reflect
the new timeline, create a new one for Unseeded Universe Freeze along
the line of what is outlined above, and send out mail to the developers.

Thoughts?

Kate