UbuntuDevTools Updates

This document describes the policy for updating the ubuntu-dev-tools package in a stable release.

ubuntu-dev-tools is a package providing a collection of tools defining the standard experience for developers of Ubuntu. While Ubuntu developers are encouraged to run (“dogfood”) the unreleased devel series on their systems, not all Ubuntu developers do so, and in any case may have need for access to the tooling from diverse systems. It is therefore important that we provide the same developer experience across all Ubuntu releases. Having out-of-date tooling in stable Ubuntu releases means inconsistency with Ubuntu developer documentation; or, if the documentation is held back, it prevents updating documentation to take advantage of ubuntu-dev-tools improvements. The ubuntu-dev-tools package has stagnated for many years prior to this as a result, as Ubuntu developers find (poor) alternative methods for distributing new tools.

Because the purpose of the ubuntu-dev-tools package is to support developers of Ubuntu, the risk of an SRU regression that impacts production use by users is small and therefore the threshold for SRUs should also be lower. The greatest risk of user-affecting regression is to the tools mk-sbuild and pull-* which are useful outside of an Ubuntu development context.

UbuntuDevTools QA Process

The ubuntu-dev-tools package has an autopkgtest covering the ubuntutools python library included and used by those tools in the package which are implemented in python. This provides some, but by no means complete, CI coverage.

The SRUs will be backports of the versions of the package in the devel series. Since many Ubuntu developers run the devel series, we should get organic feedback about regressions there, before an SRU process completes. The SRU verification process must include checking for new bug reports at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubuntu-dev-tools/+bugs?orderby=-id&start=0.

The primary risk of regression in SRU will come from changes to interfaces to other packages, whose versions will differ across Ubuntu series. Changes to how ubuntu-dev-tools interfaces with other packages (commandline arguments, etc) must be called out in the SRU bug and test cases provided; see the template below.

While the SRU process normally tries to preserve compatibility, SRUs of ubuntu-dev-tools may break interfaces, up to and including the removal of commands no longer considered appropriate for Ubuntu development. Care should be taken when deprecating interfaces, but this should be considered out of scope of the SRU process for this package.

UbuntuDevTools Requesting the SRU

The SRU should be done with a single process bug, instead of individual bug reports for individual bug fixes. The one bug should have the following:

  • The SRU should be requested per the StableReleaseUpdates documented process

  • The template at the end of this document should be used and all TODO filled out

  • Any packaging changes (e.g. a dependency changes) need to be stated

  • If any manual testing occurs it should also be documented.

UbuntuDevTools SRU Template

== Begin SRU Template ==
[Impact]
This release sports both bug-fixes and new features and we would like to
make sure all of our Ubuntu developers have access to these improvements.

[Test Case]
The following development and SRU process was followed:
https://documentation.ubuntu.com/sru/en/latest/reference/exception-UbuntuDevTools-Updates/

autopkgtests will be run for ubuntu-dev-tools as part of the SRU.

The following changes affect how ubuntu-dev-tools interfaces with other packages:
<TODO fill out list of changes, including test cases to ensure compatibility with stable releases>

[Where problems could occur]
<TODO document any risks, as with any SRU>

== End SRU Template ==

<TODO: Paste in change log entry>