Stable Release Updates and the Ubuntu Error Tracker

[Brian Murray]

I've been working on the Phased Updates specification and specifically
on the integration between the Ubuntu Error Tracker and the process of
phasing updates[1].  That work has included adding functionality to the
Error Tracker to be able to detect regressions between package versions
and this has all[2] landed now.  Subsequently, I've started working on
the glue between Launchpad and the Error Tracker which will decide
whether or not to increment a phased update.

As a part of this, it seemed useful to report on regressions for updates
that are already fully phased i.e. at 100%.  This also provides a way to
verify that the logic to identify regressions is working properly.
However, I need help in reviewing the report[3] as there appear to be
quite a few regressions!

I'd like your help in reviewing some of the problems in the report so
that we can improve the regression detection (if needed). The
implementation includes a way to override specific problems and this is
done by adding the package name, version, and problem to a text file in
ubuntu-archive-tools[4].  I've ran into a couple of cases where it has
been necessary to override specific problems.

There was one problem[5] that was reported about the SRU'ed version of
ubuntu-release-upgrader (1:0.190.6), but not the version right before it
(1:0.190.5).  However, it had been previously reported about version
1:0.190.1 so is not really a new crash / regression.

There was also another problem[6] that I determined not to be a
regression as I was able to find a crash about a previous version of
software-properties that was very similar - the only difference being
the line numbers in the python traceback.  Finding the previous crash,
involved going to
http://errors.ubuntu.com/?package=software-properties&release=Ubuntu%2012.04&period=year
and then searching for ImportError and reviewing the individual crashes.

So please take some time over the next couple of weeks to review the
report, add specific problems to the override file, and let me know
about any issues you may find.

[1] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ErrorTracker/PhasedUpdates
[2] Well, there is one more column family to backfill.
[3] http://people.canonical.com/~brian/tmp/phased-updates.html
[4] merge proposal for the text file is at
https://code.launchpad.net/~brian-murray/ubuntu-archive-tools/phased-updates-overrides/+merge/163587
[5]
https://errors.ubuntu.com/problem/42d866807c89e26cce47bbdcf00bfe87bf5865ba
[6]
https://errors.ubuntu.com/problem/a3377aaf279246cd9d0781c63727790f653411b2

Thanks!
--
Brian Murray