Ubuntu Wiki

   1 [19:01] <stgraber> Hey everyone !
   2 [19:02]  * stgraber hopes the bot won't die and freenode isn't as laggy as it was for the previous session ...
   3 [19:03] <stgraber> ok, so let's start
   4 [19:03] <stgraber> Hi everyone, I'm Stéphane Graber, an Application Review Board member.
   5 [19:03] <stgraber> In this session, I plan on quickly explaining what the ARB does and how you can get your app on extras.ubuntu.com
   6 [19:03] <stgraber> Please feel free to ask any question in #ubuntu-classroom-chat, prefixing them with "QUESTION: " so the bot gets them.
   7 [19:04] <stgraber> first a quick intro on what the ARB does
   8 [19:04] <stgraber> The Application Review Board is responsible on reviewing applications to be included in extras.ubuntu.com.
   9 [19:04] <stgraber> These apps are extra application that are usually quite small and simple and weren't present in the archive at the time of the release.
  10 [19:05] <stgraber> This process is mostly meant for upstream developers of a small app who wants it available in Ubuntu.
  11 [19:05] <stgraber> Apps must be Open Source and available under an OSI approved license.
  12 [19:05] <stgraber> These extra apps aren't supported or maintained by the Ubuntu community, it's the application author's responsability to take care of bug fixes and security updates.
  13 [19:06] <stgraber> If for some reason this doesn't happen, the app will be removed from the repository.
  14 [19:07] <stgraber> For new version of a package that already existed in the archive at the time of the release, the backport process should be used instead.
  15 [19:07] <stgraber> An ARB member is assigned to each proposed app and will review it and comment on Launchpad
  16 [19:07] <stgraber> When they are confident the app is in a good shape, it'll be submitted for vote at our next IRC meeting (every two weeks).
  17 [19:07] <stgraber> So far for maverick, we only have one app on extras.ubuntu.com, suspended-sentence by tumbleweed
  18 [19:08] <stgraber> we have another one that got approved and will be in extras.ubuntu.com as soon as the screenshot branch will be processed by Canonical IS
  19 [19:08] <stgraber> this one being a news rss ticker
  20 [19:08] <stgraber> any question so far ?
  21 [19:10] <stgraber> ok, seems like there's none :)
  22 [19:10] <stgraber> so I'll now quickly go through the process of getting a new app on extras.ubuntu.com
  23 [19:11] <stgraber> First thing if you want to get your app in the extra repository is to make sure it meets our criteria.
  24 [19:11] <stgraber> It needs to be a standalone app, run as the user, not ship with any kind of daemon and can't depend on anything that's in extra.
  25 [19:11] <stgraber> You can't submit an app that was already in the distro at release time, even if it's a new major version.
  26 [19:12] <stgraber> The basic process is:
  27 [19:12] <stgraber> 1) Release your app and learn how to package it
  28 [19:13] <stgraber> 2) Review https://wiki.ubuntu.com/AppReviews
  29 [19:13] <stgraber> 3) Update the packaging accordingly and upload your app to your PPA
  30 [19:14] <stgraber> 4) File a bug at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu-app-review-board/
  31 [19:14] <stgraber> 5) Wait for an ARB member to comment in the bug
  32 [19:14] <stgraber> 6) Fix anything that needs to be fixed, updating the version in your PPA
  33 === cmagina-lunch is now known as cmagina
  34 [19:15] <stgraber> 7) When the ARB member is happy with your packaging, the app will be sumitted for vote at our next meeting (you don't necessarily need to be present)
  35 [19:15] <stgraber> 8) If it gets approved, an ARB member will ask for the screenshot branch to be merged and published, as soon as it's done (can take a while), your package will be uploaded
  36 [19:16] <stgraber> and that's about it
  37 [19:16] <stgraber> so far the most issues we got were with getting everything to stay in /opt except the .desktop files
  38 [19:17] <stgraber> also, the 8th step can take quite a while (up to a month) due to the process not being automated yet, we hope to have that improved quite soon
  39 [19:18] <ClassBot> fisch246 asked: if i was releasing a game in the extras repo, that was written in python 3.1, would that mean i couldn't ship it with python 3.1?
  40 [19:19] <stgraber> if python 3.1 doesn't exist in the target release and you need it for your app then indeed you won't be able to get it into extra
  41 [19:19] <ClassBot> mhall119 asked: will packages in extra be automatically rolled into universe (or multiverse) for the next release?
  42 [19:20] <stgraber> no, at least not automatically
  43 [19:20] <stgraber> we still strongly recommend whoever uploaded something to extras to get the package in universe for the next release or even more, into Debian and synced to Ubuntu
  44 [19:21] <stgraber> packages in extras won't be copied to the next release either
  45 === ghostcube_ is now known as ghostcube
  46 [19:21] <stgraber> so it's really a good idea to get them into universe so you don't have to go through the ARB process again
  47 [19:22] <stgraber> and so your app eventually gets into Debian and can benefit from team maintenance, the bug tracking system and more generally a larger user base
  48 [19:22] <ClassBot> titeuf_87_ asked: when a new version of Ubuntu gets released, will all the apps need to be approved again, or that's not needed anymore?
  49 [19:23] <stgraber> all the post-release apps will need to be reviewed again, though hopefully they'll have been pushed to universe by then and won't need to go through the post-release process again
  50 [19:23] <ClassBot> mhall119 asked: So to stay in extra, you need to re-apply on each Ubuntu version?
  51 [19:23] <stgraber> that's correct, though we definitely don't recommend doing that ;)
  52 [19:24] <ClassBot> barcc1 asked: Is it possible to get plugins (e.g. for gedit) in extra?
  53 [19:25] <stgraber> good question, we didn't get any plugin in our queue yet, but I wouldn't think that'd work
  54 [19:25] <stgraber> as the plugin would need to be in /opt and it's not likely any application like gedit would look in there for plugins
  55 [19:26] <stgraber> also, the current criteria says "executable applications" which probably wouldn't apply to plugins
  56 [19:26] <stgraber> but there was discussion of being able to ship unity places or similar plugins in the extras repository with unity being updated to look in /opt (not sure if that's going to happen any time soon though)
  57 === croppa_ is now known as croppa
  58 [19:29] <stgraber> the current queue for post-release packages is available here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu-app-review-board/+bugs
  59 === apachelogger_ is now known as apachelogger
  60 [19:30] <stgraber> and most of the documentation on how to get an app in the repository is here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/AppReviews
  61 [19:30] <stgraber> any other question ?
  62 [19:31] <ClassBot> seidos asked: how is it checked that an app is secure?
  63 [19:32] <stgraber> we usually do a full code review, if the code is considered too complex, we'll decline the app
  64 [19:32] <stgraber> we also make sure the app won't listen on the network and won't start a daemon
  65 [19:33] <stgraber> I also tend to run the app in a sandbox (using arkose) to check what the app reads/writes on the disk as well as network access
  66 [19:34] <ClassBot> seidos asked: why must "question:" be capitalized?
  67 [19:34] <stgraber> as I got your question twice, I don't think the bot is case sensitive ;)
  68 [19:34] <ClassBot> seidos asked: do you work for ubuntu or canonical?
  69 [19:35] <stgraber> I work on Ubuntu and Edubuntu for Revolution Linux in Sherbrooke, QC
  70 [19:35] <ClassBot> seidos asked: which is the most secure version of ubuntu?  lts?  newest?
  71 [19:36] <stgraber> any supported release is usually quite secure as security updates are checked for all supported versions and pushed usually at the same time to all of them too
  72 [19:37] <stgraber> I usually always run LTS releases on the servers to get a longer life cycle
  73 [19:37] <stgraber> and the latest stable release for desktop computers
  74 [19:37] <stgraber> and usually whatever is the current dev release on my laptop, though running the current dev version can be dangerous both from a stability than a security point of view ;)
  75 [19:38] <ClassBot> titeuf_87_ asked: should bugs for extra apps be submitted in launchpad? Or directly to the author of the app?
  76 [19:38] <stgraber> packages in extras.ubuntu.com don't have a https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/<source package name/+bugs page so it's not possible to report bug against them
  77 [19:39] <stgraber> it's usually best to contact the author/packager of the app and if it's a serious security issue and you don't get a reply, then contact the ARB directly
  78 [19:39] <stgraber> so we can try to contact the author again or even remove the app from extras.ubuntu.com if needed
  79 [19:40] <ClassBot> seidos asked: i have an idea for a "medicine app" who should i get in touch with?
  80 [19:40] <stgraber> if it's an existing app you want to make available, then getting familiar with packaging and the post-release app process is probably what you should do
  81 [19:41] <stgraber> if it's for a new non-existing app, then I honestely don't know much about the "medicine app" community to answer that question
  82 [19:41] <stgraber> but it's probably best to contact someone who's already involved in that community to find other people to work with and start developping it
  83 [19:43] <ClassBot> seidos asked: how can i find that community?  or would i have to create it?
  84 [19:44] <stgraber> I'd suggest looking for similar apps in the archive, check who's writting them and try to contact one of the upstreams
  85 [19:44] <stgraber> that's probably the best way of getting introduced to people doing something similar to what you want to do
  86 === _LibertyZero is now known as LibertyZero
  87 [19:47] <ClassBot> highvoltage asked: would the ARB be open to infrastructure on Ubuntu in the future that would allow Android apps in the extras repository?
  88 [19:49] <stgraber> interesting question
  89 [19:49] <stgraber> we discussed it a bit at the last UDS and it's something I'd personaly be fine with
  90 [19:50] <stgraber> though we'd probably find some way of allowing all Android apps to run then rather than having to review them one by one
  91 [19:51] <stgraber> (making sure they're sandboxed properly so even evil/badly coded ones can't harm your system)
  92 [19:51] <ClassBot> There are 10 minutes remaining in the current session.
  93 [19:56] <ClassBot> There are 5 minutes remaining in the current session.
  94 [19:56] <stgraber> ok, as there's no more question, now is time for a 5 minutes break before bdrung starts talking about the good stuff in ubuntu-dev-tools
  95 [19:56] <stgraber> thanks everyone for attending