[ubuntu-studio-users] Fwd: UbuntuStudio flavor status in jeopardy, action needed [Was, Re: [Ubuntu Studio] Cry For Help]

Erich Eickmeyer eeickmeyer at ubuntu.com
Wed Mar 6 21:32:25 UTC 2019


Hi Charlie,

Not much can be done outside of the Ubuntu developers right now. 
Currently, as I write this, I'm working with a MOTU and we're getting 
stuff sponsored & uploaded. Once this happens, then it's a matter of 
myself and Ross getting sponsored, and then it's a matter of getting 
the DMB to approve upload rights. If all of that happens, then Ubuntu 
Studio will live-on.

Erich

On Wed, Mar 6, 2019 at 1:28 PM, Charlie <info at soulgrave.com> wrote:
> oh my god. Erick, what do you need from me to keep Ubuntu Studio 
> alive?
> 
> 
> On Mar 6, 2019 09:10, Erich Eickmeyer <eeickmeyer at ubuntu.com> wrote:
>> Hi all,
>> 
>> Please see the forwarded email below. I'm forwarding this to you so 
>> that you can see the dire need we have at this time for a MOTU to 
>> step-in, sponsor the packages that we need sponsoring, and then 
>> sponsor myself and/or Ross to become Per-Package Uploaders (PPU).
>> 
>> There is a meeting on Monday to decide this. I have to have my 
>> application (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Eickmeyer/DeveloperApplication) 
>> done by Friday, which means the packages awaiting sponsorship must 
>> be sponsored and Ross and/or Myself must be sponsored as well by 
>> said sponsor. If this does not happen, then there will not be a 
>> 19.04 release, which could effectively kill Ubuntu Studio as an 
>> official flavor of Ubuntu.
>> 
>> So, please spread the word, and try to rally support to keep this 
>> effort afloat.
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> < div>Erich
>> ----
>> Erich Eickmeyer
>> Council Chair
>> Ubuntu Studio
>> 
>> ubuntustudio.org
>> 
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> From: Steve Langasek <steve.langasek at ubuntu.com>
>> Subject: UbuntuStudio flavor status in jeopardy, action needed [Was, 
>> Re: [Ubuntu Studio] Cry For Help]
>> Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2019 14:23:18 -0800
>> To: developer-membership-board at lists.ubuntu.com
>> Cc: technical-board at lists.ubuntu.com, Erich Eickmeyer 
>> <eeickmeyer at ubuntu.com>, Ross Gammon <rosco2 at ubuntu.com>
>> 
>> Dear DMB,
>> 
>> In October 2016, I wrote a mail to ask the DMB to revisit their 
>> approach to
>> the question of Ubuntu upload rights for Ross Gammon, in light of 
>> the fact
>> that this meant the difference between having or not having any 
>> uploaders on
>> the team of an official flavor, UbuntuStudio.
>> 
>> Because there has been some turnover on the DMB since then, and 
>> because I'm
>> adding some new cc:s here (including the TB), I'll quote my original 
>> email
>> for context:
>> 
>> On Tue, Oct 04, 2016 at 10:49:57AM -0700, Steve Langasek wrote:
>>>  Hi Ross,
>> 
>>>  On Tue, Oct 04, 2016 at 07:11:06PM +0200, Ross Gammon wrote:
>>>  > Hi Laney & Steve,
>> 
>>>  > Thanks for helping us out in the Ubuntu Studio Team.  I know you 
>>> guys
>>>  > already have plenty on the go.
>> 
>>>  > As Set says, I did apply to be a Contributor.  But, because I 
>>> had only a
>>>  > few uploads in Ubuntu (I am a DM in Debian), and all to different
>>>  > sponsors, I didn't manage to get any endorsements.  It didn't 
>>> help that
>>>  > I emailed all the sponsors just before the northern hemisphere 
>>> holidays
>>>  > either :-)
>> 
>>>  > Anyway, after a few more sponsored uploads you can expect a fresh
>>>  > application to the DMB.  I will probably ask for PPU rights to 
>>> the
>>>  > ubuntustudio-* packages first.  And then I will begin working 
>>> towards
>>>  > rights to the Ubuntu Studio package set (which needs a little 
>>> update by
>>>  > the way).
>> 
>>>  I think it's important that we as a community not be overly 
>>> process-bound
>>>  here.  It is of course still necessary to make sure the people 
>>> asking for
>>>  upload rights are trustworthy and know what they're doing, but 
>>> we're talking
>>>  here about a situation where an official Ubuntu flavor has an 
>>> active
>>>  community but no active members with upload rights.  Fixing this 
>>> should not
>>>  require multiple round trips to the DMB for them to grant 
>>> gradually more
>>>  permissions over a span of months; the Ubuntu Studio package set 
>>> exists to
>>>  serve the needs of the Ubuntu Studio community, and it should be
>>>  uncontroversial for the folks who are actually maintaining Ubuntu 
>>> Studio to
>>>  be given access to this package set.
>> 
>>>  I am cc:ing the DMB to make sure they're aware of this situation, 
>>> and to ask
>>>  them to proactively address this gap for the Ubuntu Studio team.
>> 
>> While this resulted in some email discussion with members of the DMB 
>> at the
>> time, there was apparently no formal follow-up by the DMB, and I am 
>> dismayed
>> to learn that two years on the situation remains unchanged and there 
>> are no
>> active members of the ubuntustudio team with upload rights to the 
>> Ubuntu
>> archive, which only came to my attention because of Erich 
>> Eickmeyer's email
>> this weekend to ubuntu-release:
>> 
>> On Sat, Mar 02, 2019 at 11:54:38AM -0800, Erich Eickmeyer wrote:
>>>  [Sent to: Ubuntu Studio Development, Ubuntu MOTUs, Ubuntu Release 
>>> Team]
>> 
>>>  Hello all,
>> 
>>>  Over the course of the past few months, myself, Len Ovens, and 
>>> Ross Gammon
>>>  have been working hard on updating the Ubuntu Studio tools. In 
>>> particluar,
>>>  we have done a number of things to the tools:
>> 
>>>  * Updated Ubuntu Studio Controls (ubuntustudio-controls) with a 
>>> number of
>>>  bug fixes
>>>  * Renamed Ubuntu Studio Meta Installer to Ubuntu Studio Installer
>>>  (ubuntustudio-installer) and gave it a secondary purpose of 
>>> installing
>>>  Ubuntu Studio's stack on top of a flavor other than Ubuntu Studio 
>>> (think of
>>>  Ubuntu Studio as a ToolKit)
>>>  * Updated Ubuntu Studio's default theme and icon theme (part of
>>>  ubuntustudio-look and ubuntustudio-default-settings in addition to
>>>  ubuntustudio-icon-theme)
>>>  * Updated Ubuntu Studio's plymouth boot theme (part of 
>>> ubuntustudio-look)
>>>  * Added a GRUB theme (grub2-themes-ubuntustudio)
>>>  * Fixed bugs and missing apps in our menu (ubuntustudio-menu)
>>>  * Worked upstream with the developer of Carla to get Carla in 
>>> Ubuntu's
>>>  repos.
>> 
>>>  Unfortunately, none of that made it in before feature freeze, 
>>> despite my
>>>  mailing our development list that it needed to happen, and tagging 
>>> certain
>>>  packages with [needs packaging]. Perhaps I'm just doing it wrong.
>> 
>>>  Basically, it comes down to this: Nobody on the Ubuntu Studio Team 
>>> has
>>>  upload privileges in any way. As such, these tools are sitting 
>>> waiting to be
>>>  uploaded.
>> 
>>>  So now, unless I'm wrong, each one of the packages now needs a 
>>> Feature
>>>  Freeze Exception to be uploaded into the repo. This is 
>>> disappointing
>>>  because, as of right now, Ubuntu Studio 19.04 is looking identical 
>>> to Ubuntu
>>>  Studio 18.10.
>> 
>>>  My intention was to apply to become a MOTU after the release of 
>>> 19.04 in
>>>  order to prevent situations like this from happening again. 
>>> Unfortunately,
>>>  it looks like that will be too late unless we can get someone to 
>>> get in and
>>>  review these packages:
>> 
>>>  * https://launchpad.net/grub2-themes-ubuntustudio
>>>  * https://launchpad.net/ubuntustudio-controls
>>>  * https://launchpad.net/ubuntustudio-installer
>>>  * https://launchpad.net/ubuntustudio-icon-theme
>>>  * https://launchpad.net/ubuntustudio-look
>>>  * https://launchpad.net/ubuntustudio-menu
>>>  * https://launchpad.net/ubuntustudio-default-settings
>>>  * https://launchpad.net/carla
>> 
>>>  So, please take this as our cry for help to get these packages 
>>> updated and
>>>  included. I don't know how to do this, and I've never been shown 
>>> the
>>>  process. So, maybe my MOTU training sarts here.
>> 
>>>  Thank you for your time, and in advance for your help.
>> 
>> With my TB hat on, let me be direct: it is unacceptable for us to 
>> have an
>> official Ubuntu flavor which has no uploaders.  This is explicitly 
>> called
>> out in https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RecognizedFlavors:
>> 
>>   Guidelines to become and remain a recognized flavor:
>> 
>>   [...]
>>   * One or more developer with upload rights.
>> 
>> Unfortunately, since it appears the DMB neither acted, nor 
>> communicated with
>> the TB regarding their inaction, and since I also failed to follow 
>> up to
>> make sure this was dealt with, we have now had *four* UbuntuStudio
>> releases (17.04, 17.10, 18.04, 18.10) which did not meet this policy.
>> 
>> I will say right now that we will not have a fifth.
>> 
>> Now as then, I do not presume to substitute my own judgement for the 
>> DMB's
>> regarding whether any particular person should be given upload 
>> rights; but
>> we do have a situation that needs to be dealt with rather urgently.
>> *Either* the UbuntuStudio community proposes, and the DMB ratifies,
>> ubuntustudio PPU rights for one or more of their devs; *or*, 
>> UbuntuStudio
>> must not ship as a recognized flavor for Ubuntu 19.04.
>> 
>> Here is what I would ask of each of the parties on this thread:
>> 
>>  - Erich, Ross: please resubmit ASAP for one or both of you an 
>> application
>>    to the DMB for PPU rights on the ubuntustudio packageset.  (Given 
>> Ross's
>>    status as a Debian Developer, I would assume it would be easier 
>> to get
>>    him approved, but ultimately I think that's for you to decide.)
>> 
>>  - DMB: please prioritize working with the members of the 
>> UbuntuStudio team
>>    to ensure timely feedback and timely decision-making so that 
>> these PPU
>>    applications have optimal chances of success in time for 19.04.
>> 
>>  - fellow TB members: let's please discuss how we can sustainably 
>> audit that
>>    flavors are continuing to meet the requirements for recognition.
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> --
>> 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
> 





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