Ubuntu Wiki

Dev Week -- Launchpad PPAs -- Celso Providelo, Matthew Revell -- Fri, Feb 22

see also Monday session.

(12:01:56 PM) cprov-out: right, about time to start PPA session ...
(12:02:00 PM) cprov-out: Who is here for the PPA session (take 2) ?  (say +1)
(12:02:15 PM) grazieno: +1
(12:02:18 PM) Iulian: +1
(12:02:22 PM) AstralJava: o/
(12:02:37 PM) phoenix24: +1
(12:02:41 PM) warp10: +1
(12:02:42 PM) barcc: +1
(12:03:01 PM) db-keen: +1
(12:03:04 PM) pitti left the room ("bye").
(12:03:13 PM) snewland: I will sit this one out, sorry
(12:03:18 PM) warp10 left the room (quit: "Beam me up, Scotty!").
(12:03:29 PM) txwikinger: +1
(12:03:57 PM) cprov-out: well, I guess, we have to continue with a smaller audience that the last session ... np
(12:04:10 PM) warp10 [n=Andrea@81-208-83-217.fastres.net] entered the room.
(12:04:18 PM) cprov-out: so questions can be asked in #ubuntu-classroom-chat ...
(12:04:26 PM) cprov-out: In the last session, we have started with the 3W approach (WHAT - WHERE - WAIT) to teach people how to use PPAs. See the session transcription in  https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MeetingLogs/devweek0802/PPAs1.
(12:04:40 PM) cprov-out: As a brief summary of the PPA cycle:
(12:04:41 PM) cprov-out:  * WHAT: signed source uploads (reusing orig.tar.gz from ubuntu Primary archive);
(12:04:41 PM) cprov-out:  * WHERE: tell dput to upload it to ppa.launchpad.net (override changesfile target if you want);
(12:04:41 PM) cprov-out:  * WAIT: wait the source to be built (restart the cycle if you received a build-failure-notification).
(12:05:27 PM) cprov-out: I'm very happy to say that the last LP release (done on Wednesday) make the 'WAIT' stage very shorter
(12:06:19 PM) cprov-out: now a build request is queued immediately after we recognize the new source, so the only waiting involved in the PPA cycle is related to the buildfarm load
(12:06:53 PM) cprov-out: we currently have 3 i386, 3 amd64 and 3 lpia builder, which is quite enough to make everyone happy :)
(12:07:27 PM) cprov-out: sorry, 'LP release' was a confusing term
(12:07:59 PM) cprov-out: I was referring to the last Launchpad codeline release, which happened 2 days ago
(12:08:41 PM) cprov-out: a new set of features in Launchpad is released every month ...
(12:09:35 PM) cprov-out: PPAs ... Let's sort some questions, I don't believe you don' t have any ?
(12:09:57 PM) cprov-out: phoenix24: QUESTION: Could you tell a little about PPA ?
(12:10:52 PM) phoenix24: Nope, None.
(12:10:59 PM) cprov-out: you can check the transcription of the last session, but briefly  it a 'parallel instance of the services used to maintain ubuntu primary archive'
(12:11:42 PM) cprov-out: it's a *public* service and anyone using Launchpad is welcome to try.
(12:12:17 PM) cprov-out: it allow any user to upload, build, publish and distribute their own packages
(12:13:10 PM) cprov-out: you just need to be familiar with debian/ubuntu development tools to build the source package you want to change, all the rest is done by Launchpad.
(12:13:17 PM) cprov-out: phoenix24: does it answer you question ?
(12:13:33 PM) cprov-out: warp10: QUESTION: Why doesn't LP provides a sparc builder too?
(12:13:38 PM) phoenix24: Yes, thanks!
(12:14:35 PM) cprov-out: warp10:  the PPA builders are based in XEN VMs for proper isolation of the sources being built, and XEN doesn't support sparc officially
(12:14:45 PM) cprov-out: warp10: yet ...
(12:15:09 PM) cprov-out: warp10: QUESTION: Do PPAs build packages just like Soyuz does? I mean: If a package builds fine on a PPA, may I be 100% sure that it will build fine with buildd?
(12:15:52 PM) ***warp10 likes the "yet ..." :-)
(12:16:00 PM) cprov-out: warp10: yes, the 'ubuntu infrastrucure' mentioned above is Soyuz. I'm glad you actually notice it :)
(12:17:26 PM) cprov-out: warp10:  yes, I've read sometime ago that there were some effort on the sparc XEN port. I'm sure out IS team will be more than happy to adopt it when it gets official and stable enough.
(12:17:55 PM) cprov-out: warp10: QUESTION: can you anticipate plans for future improvements of PPA? What kind of new features are to be implemented?
(12:18:59 PM) cprov-out: warp10: yes, I can ... the current focus of our sub-team is allow quicker and simpler workflow to get work done in PPAs merged into ubuntu
(12:19:37 PM) cprov-out: warp10: for instance the REVU application (MOTU review system) which is the path to get new source officially uploaded to ubuntu
(12:20:55 PM) cprov-out: that's pretty much it, 'integration' is the word to define our goals in the next 2 or 3 months
(12:21:12 PM) cprov-out: secretlondo: QUESTION: how much space do we get for our PPA - and are there ways of increasing it?
(12:22:03 PM) cprov-out: secretlondo: by default you get 1GiB, but it can be increased by an launchpad administrator by request
(12:22:36 PM) cprov-out: secretlondo: you simply need to justify why you need more space, for instance, 'I'm playing with firefox3 and openoffice packages' :)
(12:22:44 PM) secretlondo: :)
(12:23:50 PM) cprov-out: warp10: sorry, I didn't answered you question about what are the main differences of PPA backend and Ubuntu backend
(12:24:20 PM) cprov-out: warp10: first, we automatically override all package uploaded to PPA to the main component
(12:25:34 PM) cprov-out: warp10: in the case it is being copied/synced to ubuntu primary archive it won't necessarily like in main and will be submitted to other ogre-model restricitions.
(12:26:30 PM) cprov-out: PPA builders also don't extract translations neither mangles the package information as they would do in ubuntu primary archive.
(12:27:04 PM) cprov-out: Those are the only simplifications we have in PPA that makes it slightly different than the ubuntu primary archive.
(12:27:56 PM) cprov-out: AFAICS, none of this should be a problem from the development print of view and they help users to get their job done in a quicker way.
(12:28:36 PM) cprov-out: warp10: did I addressed all the points you wanted ?
(12:28:54 PM) warp10: cprov-out: you absolutely did, thank you :)
(12:29:00 PM) cprov-out: tamrat: QUESTION: I get the error "Signer has no upload rights at all to this distribution." when I try to upload sth to my personal archive. What could be wrong?
(12:29:38 PM) cprov-out: tamrat: you are possibly not uploading to your PPA, but instead to ubuntu, check your ~/.dput.cf config
(12:30:15 PM) cprov-out: tamrat: ensure you are using the target with 'incoming = /~<username>/ubuntu/'
(12:32:27 PM) cprov-out: okay, I have a question myself: QUESTION: how do I delete a package from my PPA ? How long does it takes to be removed from my archive ?
(12:32:35 PM) cprov-out: anyone interested ?
(12:32:54 PM) phoenix24: +1
(12:32:54 PM) cprov-out: Use +me/+archive/+delete-packages UI (allowed for PPA owners or team-admins), select one or more of the published sources and type a comment. The will be immediately marked as DELETED in the UI, within 20 minutes they won't be listed in the archive indexes and they will be removed 24 hours after the deletion (the remover runs every night).
(12:33:10 PM) cprov-out: phoenix24: ehe, thanks. I was feeling alone.
(12:33:50 PM) phoenix24: QUESTION: It's a very generic question, what's the utility of providing PPAs ?
(12:34:22 PM) cprov-out: phoenix24: in very basic terms, it allow more contributions to the ubuntu itself
(12:34:55 PM) cprov-out: phoenix24: we are looking for very talented people not yet added in ubuntu-keyring ;)
(12:35:11 PM) phoenix24: :)
(12:35:38 PM) cprov-out: kidding, but that's the real goal of PPA. It's meant to allow more an more people to be able to contribute with FOSS
(12:36:02 PM) phoenix24: To me PPA's seem to be, like personalized.. Package-Builders with StorageSpace & Computational power.
(12:36:02 PM) cprov-out: secretlondo: QUESTION: does the changes in translations between PPA and soyuz mean that localisation doesn't work on PPAs? Or is that just connected to rosseta?
(12:36:30 PM) cprov-out: secretlondo: yes, PPA doesn't support changes in translation, neither bugs, atm
(12:37:13 PM) cprov-out: phoenix24: right, I prefer to see the effects in people, behind the machines/systems.
(12:37:43 PM) secretlondo: I think it's great that i'll have my own little repo to play with :)
(12:38:33 PM) phoenix24: Yesh! that's likely.
(12:38:57 PM) cprov-out: QUESTION: How can I sign my PPA repo ? It's so annoying atm !
(12:39:21 PM) cprov-out: who wants to know about it ? :)
(12:39:25 PM) secretlondo: yes
(12:39:26 PM) phoenix24: +1
(12:39:36 PM) cprov-out: I knew it ! ;)
(12:39:50 PM) barcc: +1
(12:39:57 PM) phoenix24: tellme tellme!!
(12:40:18 PM) cprov-out: right, we are working on a the infrastructure bits to allow signed PPAs
(12:40:59 PM) cprov-out: first, let me explain why we will not signed them with a single 'Launchpad PPA' key as we do in the ubuntu archive
(12:42:46 PM) cprov-out: if we do that, we would be hiding the problem under the carpet .., the things we expect to have by using a signed/trusted information wouldn't be exactly reached
(12:43:22 PM) cprov-out: we would create a system that would sign *anything* that it was request to ...
(12:43:59 PM) cprov-out: a user would trust it once and install *everything* coming from LP PPAs w/o any warning.
(12:45:26 PM) cprov-out: what we will provide is a mechanism that you can trust effectively. Launchpad will handle unique GPG keys for each PPA and do the signature/revocation on demand.
(12:46:01 PM) cprov-out: I promise to give you more details in the next ubuntu-week :)
(12:46:17 PM) cprov-out: when it will be probably implemented.
(12:46:59 PM) cprov-out: any other questions ?
(12:48:34 PM) ***phoenix24 is reading the previous PPA talk.
(12:52:05 PM) cprov-out: we have 10 minutes yet, maybe you want to discuss previous rejection-messages you have upload stuff to your ppa. Let me find one.
(12:54:21 PM) cprov-out: QUESTION: what does "MD5 sum of uploaded file does not match existing file in archive" error means ?
(12:55:36 PM) cprov-out: it means that there is already a file with the same name published in ubuntu or in your PPA, it usually refers to a different orig.tar.gz
(12:56:28 PM) cprov-out: ups: QUESTION: After deleting a package from the PPA, can I re-upload the same version again?
(12:56:36 PM) cprov-out: ups: good question, thanks
(12:56:54 PM) ups: i've tried it, unsuccessfully :)
(12:57:11 PM) cprov-out: ups: yes, you can, but you will have to wait it to be removed from the archive, normally 24 hours
(12:58:22 PM) cprov-out: ups: and there is also a issue with the origs files being hold by previous publications, the deleted candidate won't be removed
(12:58:59 PM) ups: cprov-out: not sure i understood the last statement
(12:59:00 PM) cprov-out: ups: the best approach is to always use a higher source version
(12:59:56 PM) cprov-out: ups: it's complicated, but let's say you have foo-bar_1.0 published in gutsy and you uploaded foo_1.1 (using the same orig.tar.gz) to hardy
(01:00:39 PM) cprov-out: ups: if you request foo_1.1 deletion, it won't be removed from disk because foo_1.0 is requiring the orig to remain published
(01:01:17 PM) cprov-out: ups: do you see how the removals in a poll-based repository works ?
(01:01:28 PM) ups: ok, that's what happened when i tried it
(01:02:14 PM) ***dholbach hugs cprov-out
(01:02:16 PM) cprov-out: ups: so, bump the version and forget about this, diffs and dsc are very small
(01:02:23 PM) ups: that explains it, thanks
(01:02:51 PM) cprov-out: dholbach: thanks, it's all yours.
(01:03:03 PM) cprov-out: ups: great, thanks you for asking.
(01:03:06 PM) dholbach: thanks a lot cprov-out for a great session - you rock!
(01:03:13 PM) dholbach: you all enjoyed the cprov PPA show? :)
(01:03:14 PM) secretlondo: thanks!
(01:03:15 PM) cprov-out: thank you all for attending the session