/srv/irclogs.ubuntu.com/2007/12/21/#ubuntu-classroom.txt

=== bigon is now known as bigon`
warp10Hi all11:24
dholbachMOTU Q&A session in 11 minutes12:48
dholbachWelcome everybody to another MOTU Q&A session - let's start with our usualy round of introductions13:00
dholbachI'm Daniel Holbach, working in the MOTU team for quite some time now and try to help to make it as enjoyable and straight-forward to become a MOTU as possible. :)13:00
dholbachwho else do we have here?13:00
* persia is Emmet Hikory. A MOTU for a bit now. Ask me about stacktraces and make :)13:00
norsettopersia: stacktraces and make?13:01
persianorsetto: Yep.  Those are the areas I'm most happy to answer questions about right now (I will also answer others :) )13:01
dholbachis that everybody we have here today? Just persia, norsetto and me? :)13:02
effie_jayxI am Efrain Valles ... the ever MOTU hopefull, just started learning the MOTU tools and the processes. I am working on merges :D13:02
norsettowe need a fourth to play a good card game13:02
dholbachhello effie_jayx :)13:03
warp10I'm here too... just a contributor indeed, but getting a lot of fun :)13:03
dholbachwarp10: great! :)13:03
dholbachalso effie_jayx is taking the time to write up sort of a MOTU Diary which is great13:03
dholbacheffie_jayx: can you give us the link again?13:03
mruizHi all! My name is Miguel Ruiz (MOTU hopeful). I started to interact with MOTU Team during Gutsy Gibbon cycle13:04
dholbachhey mruiz, great to have you here13:04
effie_jayxdholbach, https://wiki.ubuntu.com/EfrainValles/MOTUJourney13:04
effie_jayxI am a bit behind ... ... it looks like it'll be a very MOTU christmas for me to catch up13:04
mruizthanks dholbach :-)13:04
effie_jayxI am definetelly learning though...13:05
dholbachthanks effie_jayx13:05
harrisonyIm harrison, MOTU hopefull13:05
dholbachhey harrisony, nice to have you here13:05
* kelmo_lap having a look at what MOTU's learn about (these sessions been pretty good in recent past)13:05
dholbachhey kelmo_lap13:05
dholbachso who brought some interesting questions today? :)13:05
effie_jayxMe13:06
dholbacheffie_jayx: fire away :-)13:06
* persia has a question13:06
slytherinI am Onkar, MOTU hopeful, I have been looking in some java related apps/libs recently. Have learnt quite a few things in last 2 weeks including CDBS & quilt. :-)13:06
effie_jayxdholbach,  I just did a merge. the change has been taken up by the debain mantainer... which is gret...13:06
dholbachslytherin: hey Onkar13:06
effie_jayxdholbach,  do I have to check the new package to see if it has new changes and then determine if it is indeed a sync?13:07
KmosI'm also here.. MOTU hopeful =)13:07
dholbachslytherin: that's great - you should talk to doko - he's always happy to have people who are interested in the Java world13:07
dholbachhi Kmos13:07
persiaeffie_jayx: You don't need to, but it's a good idea.  If it's a sync, it's only worth pulling if there are also other changes in the Debian package that would be useful in Ubuntu.13:07
dholbacheffie_jayx: exactly... as a sync can not be simply reverted, it's important to always check if all ubuntu changes made it to debian13:07
dholbachif they are, it's a good idea to file the sync (respecting freezes of course)13:08
persiaSince Ubuntu already has your patch, if that is the only thing changed in Debian, it's better to wait for the next Debian upload.13:08
effie_jayxdholbach,  great.. the pacakge was just uploaded to the debian ftp's yesterday. will it be listed again in MoM or DaD?13:08
dholbacheffie_jayx: after the next run, yes - until it's synced from debian13:08
dholbachor rather "in sync" with debian13:09
dholbachquestion answered?13:09
effie_jayxdholbach,  most definetelly13:09
dholbachpersia: you had a question?13:09
* persia points to http://qa.ubuntuwire.com/multidistrotools/ just in case MoM and DaD seem unavailable, and there is interest in looking at package status.13:09
effie_jayxthanks persia and dholbach13:09
* dholbach hugs effie_jayx13:09
persiaMy questions is: Is there a standard list of intepreters that scripts should use?13:10
dholbachDo you mean a list of shebang lines that are count as 'accepted'?13:10
persiaOr, to put it another way, when packaging a script, should I restrict to only certain interpreters, or should dependencies handle this (and yes, to shebang lines)13:11
dholbachDoes everybody understand persia's question? If things are unclear, please ask13:11
mruizdholbach, explain it please...13:11
dholbachpersia: the only thing I can tell you is that the use of thing like       /usr/bin/env python      is discouraged13:11
dholbach(lacking a link to policy reference though)13:12
persiadholbach: That's what I found (and why I thought I'd ask the question).13:12
harrisonydholbach: i thought the use of /usr/bin/env was encouraged :S13:12
warp10dholbach: why is /usr/bin/env discouraged? Looks suprising to me13:12
persiaharrisony: No, as the script should have been tested against either the system default python or a specific version of python.  Using env means that we can't guarantee behaviour on the user's system, which makes it harder to support.13:13
dholbach(people might have python3k in usr/local etc)13:14
persiawarp10: It's a little different, as upstream tends to recommend that, but it comes from different viewpoints: upstream tests against trunk or whatever, and wants reports of what works and what doesn't.  Ubuntu wants a reliable system for a given codebase.13:14
dholbachbut I'm still trying to find a policy reference or something13:14
dholbachmruiz: persia is talking about the shebang line in scripts, so something like       #!/usr/bin/python13:14
mruizthanks dholbach13:15
* persia notes that http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/python-policy/ch-python.html says to use #!/usr/bin/python or #!/usr/bin/pythonX.Y, but doesn't find a general reference.13:15
warp10persia: ah, I see... so what should I do, as contributor, when I see env used in a file coming from upstream? Modify original tarball? Ask the developer?13:15
persiawarp10: I usually just add a small patch to the package.  For upstream, env is correct, and it's not good to modify tarballs.13:16
warp10persia: ack. Thank you13:16
dholbachI just asked for clarification in #ubuntu-devel13:17
dholbachlet's see if we get another opinion on the matter13:17
* persia defers to the next question in the meantime13:17
dholbachdo we have any other questions?13:17
mruizyes!13:17
* warp10 has a question13:18
* Kmos I've a question..13:18
dholbachpersia: seb128 says that "If a maintainer would like to provide the user with the possibility to override the Debian Python interpreter, he may want to use /usr/bin/env python or /usr/bin/env pythonX.Y. However this is not advisable as it bypasses Debian's dependency checking and makes the package vulnerable to incomplete local installations of python." should be good enough13:18
dholbachmruiz: shoot13:19
dholbachwarp10 next, then Kmos13:19
warp10Well, I have a proposal, rather then a question.13:19
persiadholbach: Yep.  That's python.  Answers the extra question :)13:19
warp10I was looking effie_jayx, MOTU web page. It is very interesting, and I like that he has "Lesson Notes" appended to it13:19
mruizWhat will happen with the outstanding merges? We moved to another tasks due the current development phase...13:19
warp10Why don't we setup a page on the wiki, something like a Quick Reference to most commond task, command, tips, and so on13:20
persiamruiz: "Outstanding Merges" are very likely to be granted a DIF exception.  "Updated Merges" need review.13:20
dholbachmruiz: whatever is on the sponsoring queue will get sponsored - if you want to do a merge during the release cycle - that's fine (respecting freezes, etc), but it's not the 'main focus' right now13:20
warp10It could be useful for a contributor that doesn't remember something and don't wont to search the whole documentation13:20
dholbachwarp10: that's something I try to make http://wiki.ubuntu.com/PackagingGuide/Recipes13:20
dholbachwarp10: if you have ideas for more recipes, let me know - I'm happy to add it to my todo list13:21
* persia has tried to put the very most common on https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MOTU/Contributing13:21
dholbachyeah13:21
dholbachthat's a great one too13:21
warp10dholbach: I mean something even shorter, and managed by contributor, just like effie_jayx is doing13:21
persiawarp10: I'd suggest Recipes is the right place.  Many of those have been written by Contributors.13:22
dholbachwarp10: If contributors help to keep the wiki in shape, that's awesome and I encourage it where I can13:22
dholbachwhat I'd like to avoid is to have 78843456787654345678 individual wiki pages in different namespace that explain the same thing or similar things13:23
dholbachthey get abandoned, out of date, etc etc13:23
dholbachI spent a lot of time reorganising the PackagingGuide, UbuntuDevelopment and MOTU namespaces for those reasons13:23
effie_jayxwarp10,  I guess my journal falls into the "works for me" category ;). and I am trying to give it a noob focus to it...  and always trying to document what I learn... in case I get13:23
effie_jayxmemory loss13:23
* persia notes that we recently had that problem, which is why WIP is currently so prominent13:23
warp10effie_jayx: a very nice page indeed :)13:24
KmosThere is a Fakesync document on MOTU wiki? i can't find it..13:24
dholbachyou could add requests or ideas to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PackagingGuide/Wishlist13:24
dholbachKmos: can you add that to the page in the link I just pasted?13:24
effie_jayxwarp10,  but I always make reference to de UbuntuDevelopment wiki entries... so It's not like it was not there ;)13:24
Kmosi'll do =)13:25
Kmosthanks13:25
persiaKmos: There isn't one.  The rule for fakesync is; only change the changelog and maintainer.  This only happens when the orig.tar.gz files differ.13:25
dholbachthanks Kmos13:25
warp10dholbach: oh, thanks, I'll surely use it if needed13:25
dholbachrock and roll13:25
* slytherin has a question13:25
dholbachthanks for that13:25
dholbachslytherin: fire away13:25
dholbach2008 will be the year of good documentation - I can feel it13:25
persiaheh13:26
* warp10 really hopes so13:26
mruizKmos, dholbach explained fakesyncs here: https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-motu-mentors/2007-June/000024.html13:26
slytherinI observed that docbook-xsl-saxon has BTBFS because it depends on library in multiverse (but it should not be). I logged a bug 'move to universe' and it is now resolved by pitti. Now how to trigger rebuild of the docbook-xsl-saxon package.13:27
dholbachslytherin: just ask pitti (or another build admin) in #ubuntu-devel to "give it back"13:27
Kmosmruiz: thanks13:28
slytherinOk. Thanks.13:28
* persia notes that that procedure only works when there are no binaries.13:28
slytherinpersia: Which procedure?13:28
persiaIf there are binary packages built, and you want to transition the binary packages from multiverse to universe, you may need to upload a -build1 package, or a new "rebuild" -ubuntuN package.13:29
Kmospersia: thank you :) we change the maintainer fields in debian package and make a debdiff against unmodified one ?13:29
persiaslytherin: Asking for a give-back.13:29
persiaKmos: Only if a sync can't work.  generally, a sync is better if we can.13:29
seb128dholbach: you should not need a give back when a build is depwait13:29
Kmospersia: right. thanks13:30
slytherinNo. The package is in universe but had FTBFS since it depended on a multiverse lib13:30
norsettokmos: in that particular case it may be worth waiting for debian to update the package13:30
dholbachok, listen to seb128 :)13:30
Kmosnorsetto :-)13:30
geserslytherin: docbook-xsl-saxon is in DEPWAIT13:30
slytheringeser: latest status? I haven't checked.13:30
dholbachso it's worth noting that DEPWAIT is different than FTBFS13:30
dholbachdoes that make sense to everybody? are there questions about slytherin's question?13:31
mruizI was reading https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MOTU/Contributing, section "Preparing New Revisions". What is the difference between an "update to the Ubuntu repositories" and "new upstream version" ?13:31
geserslytherin: https://edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/hardy/+source/docbook-xsl-saxon/+builds13:32
seb128when a package is not available the build doesn't fail, it just waits for this one to be available13:32
slytheringeser: Just checked it. Thanks. :-)13:32
persiamruiz: A "New Upstream Version" is when the software developers make a new release (e.g. hello-2.3.2 -> hello 2.3.3).  A "New Revision" is when Debian or Ubuntu makes some packaging changes to fix some bugs.13:32
slytherinseb128: Thanks for explaination.13:32
geserslytherin: my guess is that it takess some more hours until the buildds sees libsaxon-java in universe13:32
seb128you are welcome13:32
mruizpersia, for me the new upstream version could be an update for Ubuntu as well...13:33
persiamruiz: Yes.  Every new upstream version is also a new revision, but not every new revision is a new upstream version.13:33
mruizI asked it because you should obtain a debdiff or interdiff (it depends on the type)13:34
persiaEssentially, the code is package_version-revision, where package is the name of the software, version is the official version for all distributions, and revision is the adjustments made by the distribution.13:34
dholbachpersia: to your previous question:13:35
dholbach<Chipzz> dholbach: using /usr/bin/env has a big drawback as opposed to just specifying the path (which IMHO you should)13:35
dholbach<Chipzz> dholbach: using /usr/bin/env makes it impossible to specify command-line arguments or switches to python (or perl) for example13:35
* persia notes that my question was about unusual interpreters, but otherwise subsides13:35
dholbachdo we have any more questions?13:37
slytherinI have one13:37
effie_jayxa tong in cheek question....13:37
effie_jayxMoM or DaD?13:37
dholbachslytherin: fire away13:37
persiaeffie_jayx: Either, both, as you like (mdt is also good)13:37
mruizeffie_jayx, it's my fault :-)13:37
slytherinWhat is the procedure to own a package?13:37
effie_jayxmruiz,  yes...13:37
dholbachslytherin: in Ubuntu we don't own packages13:38
persiaslytherin: I generally recommend taking it only on a second upload.13:38
persiaIf there is a very good reason why you specifically want to own a package, you can list yourself as the maintainer, but that isn't universally respected.13:38
dholbachI added a few notes about that here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuDevelopment/FAQ#head-6a3fb9097d750eed261d7102adfa43ea39839a1e13:38
persiaUnless it's a very unusual case, it's best to either select a team, or just assign MOTU as the maintainer.13:39
dholbachwe respect if people are known to have a special area of expertise13:39
dholbachbut there is nothing like a big maintainer lock13:39
* persia generally just subscribes to bugs for packages of interest, and uses the MOTU maintainer13:39
slytherinWhat I mean is. I want to handle all the uploads of a package. I am one of the upstream maintainers. So what is the procedure?13:39
Hobbseepersia: not respecting the maintainer field like that would have to be a @lartable offense, surely.13:39
Hobbseebut yes, it's rarely done13:40
dholbachHobbsee: that's what I said about 'area of expertise'13:40
Hobbseeright, yes, i didn't read that far when i wrote my reply :)13:40
dholbachit's respected when you set yourself as the maintainer, but not to the point where "nobody but you is allowed to do uploads of that package"13:40
persiaslytherin: Why do you want to handle all of them?  Is it not easier to handle the new upstreams, and also accept minor bugfixes from others?13:41
persiaIf you subscribe to all the bugs, you'll see most of the traffic for the package.13:41
dholbachslytherin: do the answers make sense to you?13:41
slytherina little bit, not completely.13:42
* persia notes that setting specific maintainers can make library transitions difficult, which is one of the reasons it's discouraged13:42
dholbachslytherin: what are your concerns or which reply does not make sense to you?13:42
slytherinWhat I wanted to know is that if I am one of the upstream authors is there anyway I can get upload permission specific to this package? The package is in universe.13:43
slytherinAnd I am not against anyone else uploading this package.13:43
dholbachslytherin: do you mean "upload permission" until you're part of the MOTU team?13:43
persiaslytherin: Not at this time.  There is an ongoing discussion about how to address that sort of thing in the mailing lists.13:44
slytherindholbach: No. I will try to use that upload permission as my entry point in MOTU.13:44
slytherinpersia: Ok.13:44
persiaUntil that is resolved, the use of the sponsors queue is the best way to get your changes uploaded.13:44
dholbachwhen your sponsors are happy with you and you've proved that you do good work, you can apply for MOTU membership13:45
slytherinOk.13:45
dholbachit might be harder to demonstrate that if you've just done uploads of one package13:45
dholbachbut I know that you're not interested in only one package :-)13:45
dholbachdo we have any other questions?13:46
dholbachanything unclear about processes? packaging problems?13:47
mruiz!13:48
dholbachmruiz: just ask :)13:48
effie_jayxI have a question... is ther a task timeline for motu tasks during a release cycle?13:50
dholbacheffie_jayx: we try to indicate that in MOTU homepage13:51
dholbachhttp://wiki.ubuntu.com/MOTU/TODO always lists things that need to be done13:51
dholbachany other questions? any holiday stories you want to share?13:51
mruizis there any plan to sponsor packages from mentors.debian.net ? Time ago I wanted to upgrade a package but the Debian maintainer did it before, but it packages are on mentors13:52
persiaeffie_jayx: At a rough level, it's indicated by the freezes in the release schedule (e.g. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardyReleaseSchedule13:52
effie_jayxahhh cool13:52
effie_jayxit gives me and Idea of where to start13:52
dholbachmruiz: I think that our sponsors currently have enough to do just with REVU and the sponsoring queue - this might change in the future though13:52
persiamruiz: We don't generally sync from mentors, but we can.  It's a good source of orig.tar.gz, so we could sync later.13:52
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dholbachhi bigon13:53
persiamruiz: If there are good changes, extracting them and creating a debdiff or interdiff is welcome13:53
effie_jayxrecently I have been doing lots of ubuntu travelling and I got unhooked for two weeks... and I am not confident enouht for the dayly TODO list13:53
bigondholbach: hi :)13:53
dholbacheffie_jayx: I'm sure you'll do great13:53
mruizin this case the package is done, just I want to avoid duplicated work13:53
slytherinOne last question.13:54
dholbachslytherin: shoot13:54
persiamruiz: Understood.  Using the mentors package as a base, and just adjusting the version and maintainer is often sufficient for an important bugfix.  Otherwise, it's better to wait.13:54
slytherinAre we for/against taking extra efforts to make java apps compile with GCJ?13:54
dholbachslytherin: that's a question for doko - I can't comment on it13:55
persiaslytherin: That's a more general question.  I'm in favor, but you should write a mailing list about it for general discussion.13:55
dholbachthere's also #ubuntu-java13:55
dholbachthere's a lot of talk about icedtea but I don't know if it's the answer to all questions13:55
dholbach(simply due to not knowing enough about the whole java business)13:56
mruizis mentoring available for taks on MOTU/TODO ?13:56
dholbachmruiz: just ask questions on #ubuntu-motu or ubuntu-motu-mentors@ or for a review once you've come up with a debdiff13:57
persiamruiz: Not necessarily specifically, but if you want help with one, and ask on #ubuntu-motu, someone may well be willing to help (I certainly am for the WX transition)13:57
dholbachhelp will come to those that ask (or something like that)13:57
slytherindholbach: There is one small problem. Most of the apps do not specify a target JVM in compile scripts. So compiling such packages with icedtea (target JVM 1.7) makes them unusable with all other JREs. So it is better to use common denominator, GCJ. :-)13:58
dholbachslytherin: ok... you see: you know much more about it than I do :)13:58
slytherinI will bug doko13:58
dholbachok... thanks everybody for joining today's MOTU Q&A session - I won't be around in the next two weeks, so we'll meet again in 200813:58
effie_jayxa big hand to dholbach ... you are really getting people in the MOTU boat brother... keep up the great inspirational work. hats off to you dholbach13:58
dholbachyou all ROCK and I hope to see you as MOTUs in 2008 :-)13:59
mruizthanks guys.. I wish you good holidays and a merry Christmas13:59
* effie_jayx claps13:59
norsettohappy holidays everyone13:59
* dholbach hugs effie_jayx - thanks a lot for the flowers13:59
* dholbach hugs y'all :)13:59
mruiz:-)13:59
effie_jayxhappy holidays13:59
dholbachnorsetto: the same to you13:59
* effie_jayx hugs mruiz13:59
* dholbach dashes out of the door to buy some missing presents :-)14:00
effie_jayxdholbach,  enjoy your holiday break14:00
* norsetto dashes out of the door to have lunch .....14:00
* mruiz hugs everyone14:00
dholbachnorsetto: good point14:00
effie_jayxthank you persia  and mruiz  for the great help with merges14:00
mruizeffie_jayx, no worries! :D14:01
persiaeffie_jayx: Thanks for helping keep the archive in shape.14:01
effie_jayxpersia,  did I do that?14:01
mruizpersia, thanks for your guidance :-)14:02
persiaeffie_jayx: That's the end result of merges, syncs, bugfixes, etc. :)14:02
effie_jayx:D14:03
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