Lubuntu LTS Requalification: 24.04 Noble Numbat

Thu Jan 18 04:07:30 UTC 2024

Hi Simon,

One of the points on https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RecognizedFlavors for LTS
approval is

  Flavor's support plan presented to Tech Board and approved; support plan
  should indicate period of time if beyond 9 months (3 yrs or 5 yr), key
  contacts, and setting expectations as to level of support.

Who are you identifying as the "contacts" for escalation of any issues
regarding Lubuntu 24.04 LTS, from the technical board or the release team? 
We obviously know how to get ahold of you, individually.  While the wording
isn't explicit about the number of required contacts, the use of the plural
suggests that the correct number is > 1.  And I would personally not be
comfortable signing off on LTS for any flavor for which we only had 1
defined contact.

Other flavors have identified two individual contacts as part of their LTS
sign-off requests, a primary and a backup, which I think is a reasonable
threshold.

A team contact is also not really suitable because "if everyone is
responsible then no one is responsible"; and there is nothing on the Ubuntu
governance side that warns us if the number of active members of such a team
drops to 0.  (In any case, while you identify several teams in your email, none
of this includes contact information for those teams.)

The ISO tracker manifest currently lists teward and kc2bez as the contacts
for Lubuntu there; but not you.  Your recent mail regarding lubuntu release
delegations mentions Aaron (arraybolt3) and Dan (kc2bez).  So there are a
number of folks who are named, but it's not clear which of them should be
considered the "contacts" for these purposes.  I think it's important to be
explicit about this, both so that folks know who they are expected to
contact, and so that there's a clear acceptance of responsibility of the
named individuals of being these contacts for the duration of the LTS. 
(With the proviso, of course, that the future is uncertain and no one can
*promise* to be available for the duration of 3 years - but that they can
*commit* to being available; and if something comes up, there are at least 2
people with known responsibility to designate a successor in the event 1
becomes unavailable. [1])

On Wed, Jan 03, 2024 at 03:00:38AM +0000, Simon Quigley wrote:
> On behalf of the Lubuntu Team, and in my capacity as Lubuntu Release 
> Manager, this is our application for Long-Term Support requalification 
> for 24.04 (Noble Numbat).
> 
>   * The Lubuntu Team currently has five active developers[1] with upload 
> permissions to the Lubuntu packageset. Two of those developers are also 
> Ubuntu Core Developers (and one of them is a Debian Developer, who is on 
> the Debian Qt/KDE Team). Over several LTS cycles, we have proven that we 
> are willing and able to handle Stable Release Updates to `lubuntu` 
> packages. Our developers have also committed bug fixes upstream in LXQt, 
> Calamares, KDE, Qt, and core Ubuntu tooling so everyone can benefit. 
> Several examples include Calamares, our update notifier, and SDDM. 
> Therefore, we commit to providing bug fixes for 24.04, until 2027.
>   * Lubuntu has a Members team[2] with *ten* active members. The 
> difference between Ubuntu Members and Lubuntu Members are, Lubuntu 
> Members are only *active* contributors to Lubuntu, within the last year 
> (members have to explicitly renew with the Lubuntu Council, and it is 
> simply an activity check). These members provide support via multiple 
> avenues[3]. Most notably, in real-time we offer support via IRC, Matrix, 
> Discourse[4], and Telegram. The Lubuntu support channels are bridged to 
> reach a wider audience. Additionally, many of our members also assist in 
> other Ubuntu support avenues such as Matrix, IRC and Ask Ubuntu. 
> Therefore, we commit to providing support and a welcoming community for 
> 24.04, until 2027.
>   * In addition to developers, our Members also perform QA testing 
> throughout not only Lubuntu but all of Ubuntu. Several Lubuntu testers 
> are on top on the charts (the current #1 position is held by a (very 
> recently former) Lubuntu Member). They catch many bugs in the 
> development cycle before they appear in a stable release, following an 
> extensive checklist. After the release, our QA testers routinely test to 
> ensure stability. Therefore, we commit to testing for 24.04, until 2027.
>   * Our documentation team provides our fantastic manual which is 
> frequently referenced not only for Lubuntu but other distributions that 
> utilize LXQt. We currently provide the manual for both the current 
> stable interim release[5] and the LTS release[6]. We take the user from 
> download to installation to using every piece of software installed by 
> default. Therefore, we commit to providing documentation for the 
> upcoming LTS release for 24.04, until 2027.
>   * Our support lifespan is listed on every download on our downloads[7] 
> page and an easy to reference graph is at the bottom of the page. 
> Additionally, our support cycle is documented in every release 
> announcement posted on our blog[8] and is also linked in every Ubuntu 
> release note.
> 
> Notes from the Release Manager
> ------------------------------
> 
> Lubuntu is the strongest it has been since our transition to LXQt in the 
> 18.10 cycle. Besides our technical goals, we aim to set an example by 
> training and maintaining impactful and meaningful contributors. As the 
> most active flavor team, we take great pride in our work, and aspire to 
> do our best, not just for Lubuntu, but for the wider community. We 
> recognize the sometimes-controversial technical decisions we make as a 
> flavor, and aim to minimize their impact on others, while improving the 
> story for our users. We may not agree on certain elements, such as Qt 
> being the best UI toolkit, but let me be clear: we are still an Ubuntu 
> flavor, and wish to be for a long time to come. We are a part of the 
> same family.
> 
> For every Thursday through Monday following a release, I specifically 
> instruct all Lubuntu Members to take the weekend off, and do something 
> they enjoy. Whether it is enjoying a nice meal for the occasion, going 
> to a party, reading the book they finally want to read, having a great 
> cup of tea, whatever "floats their boat," go do it. I will take care of 
> any post-release housekeeping items. It is important to me personally 
> that Lubuntu Members are happy, and as a leader, it is my responsibility 
> to ensure the Quality of Life within the Lubuntu project stays excellent.
> 
> This past holiday season was different. I could sense a lot of tension 
> within the team, not because of the actions of another Lubuntu team 
> member, but the exclusionary feeling we have recently received from some 
> of our friends at Canonical. After the Security Team uploaded apparmor 
> right before the break (making many applications including the Plasma 
> Desktop and all Qt-based web browser alternatives unusable[9]), the 
> Mutter regression (which did not affect us but certainly made an 
> impression on us), our discovery of improper defaults shipped by GTK 
> 3[10] (which kneecapped our ability to theme GTK applications until we 
> caught it; we found this later), and the general inability to get 
> anything reviewed from *Ubuntu*'s SRU or NEW queue for over a day at a 
> time, I had enough.
> 
> The reason this email is so late is because I instructed all Lubuntu 
> Members, from December 20th on, to take a break (with the advisement of 
> Lubuntu Team Lead and Ubuntu Community Council Member Thomas Ward). 
> People who know my leadership style understand that I very rarely put my 
> foot down firmly without accepting questions; I am happy to be wrong, 
> and am thrilled at the opportunity to accept constructive criticism. 
> That being said, I did not want to lose the community we have worked so 
> hard to build. I instructed contributors that this is not as hard of an 
> ask as the usual six month "take a weekend off," but they should not 
> feel pressured to do any significant work over that time.
> 
> Thankfully, the team came back after the break. That being said, I would 
> be negligent if I did not address the reason as to *why* a break was 
> declared. If it isn't obvious by now, I care about my team, and I care 
> about both Lubuntu and Ubuntu, quite a bit. *We need to communicate and 
> work together better.* The Ubuntu Code of Conduct explicitly affords 
> **any** contributor, **regardless** of their employment status, the 
> right to carry out **any** part of the work with the Ubuntu name on it. 
> I do not plan on invoking the Community Council here, I do not plan on 
> being angry at anyone, and I especially do not plan on bikeshedding 
> about what *is* or *isn't* actually an issue (especially with the ones I 
> just linked). What I'm honestly asking is, please, can we do better 
> here? Can we actually *talk* to one another, and remember that 
> collaboration is the answer?
> 
> Thank you for your time, consideration, and energy on this issue. Much 
> of this work is thankless, so let me be the one to say: Thank You, 
> Ubuntu Technical Board. We would not be here without you.
> 
> [1] https://launchpad.net/~lubuntu-dev/+members#active
> 
> [2] https://launchpad.net/~lubuntu-members/+members#active
> 
> [3] https://lubuntu.me/links/
> 
> [4] https://discourse.lubuntu.me/
> 
> [5] https://manual.lubuntu.me/stable/
> 
> [6] https://manual.lubuntu.me/lts/
> 
> [7] https://lubuntu.me/downloads/
> 
> [8] https://lubuntu.me/blog/
> 
> [9] https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/apparmor/+bug/2046844
> 
> [10] https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gtk+3.0/+bug/2047705
> 
> Warm regards,
> --
> Simon Quigley
> simon at tsimonq2.net
> tsimonq2 on LiberaChat and OFTC
> @tsimonq2:ubuntu.com on Matrix
> 5C7A BEA2 0F86 3045 9CC8
> C8B5 E27F 2CF8 458C 2FA4

-- 
Steve Langasek                   Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS
Debian Developer                   to set it on, and I can move the world.
Ubuntu Developer                                   https://www.debian.org/
slangasek at ubuntu.com                                     vorlon at debian.org

[1] Step down considerately
    When somebody leaves or disengages from the project, we ask that they do
    so in a way that minimises disruption to the project.  They should tell
    people they are leaving and take the proper steps to ensure that others
    can pick up where they left off.
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