pkgsrc Release
Engineering: the work
behind the scenes
Lubomir Sedlacik
The NetBSD Project
Agenda
- What is pkgsrc Releng?
- What are stable branches?
- What is a pullup?
- Releng workflow
- Common issues
- Future
- Questions
What is pkgsrc Releng?
A group of people who
- manage stable branches
- processes pullups
- and schedule freeze periods.
Stable branches, you say?
- stability over new features
- get only security and critical fixes
- branched quarterly
- tree frozen before branch
- write access to the tree is restricted
Pullup?
A process of "pulling up" changes from HEAD to the stable branch.
- requested by a developer
- follows fixed guidelines
- stored in a ticket
The Theory
Important fix is committed,
- developer requests a pullup
- new ticket arrives
- ticket is examined, checked for completness
- patches are applied
- compile tested
- changes committed
- originator notified
- ticket closed
The Reality.. (1)
- untested changes requested
- patches don't apply cleanly
- inconsistences detected
- lather, rinse, repeat..
The reality.. (2)
Changes often lag because:
- developers forget to request pullups
- even for security related changes..
- releng members can't process own tickets
- lack of manpower