[Merge] livecd-rootfs:arbitrary-model-names into livecd-rootfs:ubuntu/master

[Łukasz Zemczak]

Łukasz Zemczak has proposed merging livecd-rootfs:arbitrary-model-names into livecd-rootfs:ubuntu/master.

Commit message:
Allow passing arbitrary model assertion names for ubuntu-core builds via SUBARCH.

Requested reviews:
  Ubuntu Core Development Team (ubuntu-core-dev)

For more details, see:
https://code.launchpad.net/~ubuntu-core-dev/livecd-rootfs/+git/livecd-rootfs/+merge/386307

Ok, take one on trying to propose a very controversial change! Please treat this as an RFC MP.
Even if we agree on something like this, it's still too early to release it as we might need to do some cdimage adjustments then.

Since the very beginning, we have treated ubuntu-core builds a bit with a grain of salt always. Core builds were always a bit 'different' from regular ones as they were operating on model names instead of ARCH+SUBARCH. Up until now, we were always just introducing a translation layer between those two. That is fine generally, but now we reached the point where I think we should start considering dropping the translation layer.

What I want to propose is giving the ability to pass model names directly as SUBARCH. Another option would be to simply add the ability to the launchpad layer to pass MODEL via cdimage and livefs, but I thought to myself that basically, for ubuntu-core images, SUBARCH *is* like the model name. So didn't feel the need to pass another parameter for no reason.

With this, we would be basically building images with ARCH like "armhf+ubuntu-core-18-pi", and then have cdimage just get rid of the 'ARCH+' from the prefix, resulting in filenames just made up from the model names.

Classic images will always be different, and we sadly need to embrace it. There always needs to be a translation layer for those, as it's not as easy as just building from the model as for core.

What do you think?
-- 
Your team Ubuntu Core Development Team is requested to review the proposed merge of livecd-rootfs:arbitrary-model-names into livecd-rootfs:ubuntu/master.
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