On Wed, Jan 31, 2024 at 01:04:21PM +1300, Michael Hudson-Doyle wrote:
> So do we think this reached any kind of consensus? Can I start deleting
> code related to source ISOs?

After basically a month with no genuine requirements / use cases identified,
yes.

> On Fri, 5 Jan 2024 at 00:27, Lukasz Zemczak <lukasz.zemc...@canonical.com>
> wrote:
> 
> > Hey Michael!
> >
> > I basically +1 what Steve said. To add a bit more to this, the current
> > source-iso machinery doesn't take snaps into consideration, so the
> > resulting isos weren't fully compliant anyway - especially after we
> > adopted so many snaps on our images.
> > The source iso codebase was in general unmaintained. I remember Laney
> > once tried refactoring it to key on amd64 but that actually broke
> > things even more, so we decided not to touch it if not needed.
> >
> > I think archive snapshotting is a much better solution in overall, or
> > at least pointing people to the manifest + lists files as a means of
> > source retrieval. Maybe even offer a tool that would consume a
> > manifest + list file to download all the sources if needed.
> >
> > I feel like it's the right way to go. I'm not really knowledgeable
> > about the licensing compliance bits here of course, but I'm sure we
> > can achieve that in a better way than having to provide 6+ isos with
> > source content, which in my opinion nowadays wasn't very useful
> > anyway.
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > On Thu, 4 Jan 2024 at 05:55, Steve Langasek <steve.langa...@ubuntu.com>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > On Thu, Jan 04, 2024 at 04:41:43PM +1300, Michael Hudson-Doyle wrote:
> > > > Hello release team,
> > >
> > > > In the course of recent refactorings of ubuntu-cdimage / debian-cd we
> > > > somehow broke the building of source ISOs. I doubt this is anything
> > very
> > > > deep and can surely be fixed but there is another option: stop building
> > > > source ISOs.
> > >
> > > > AFAIU the point of a source ISO is GPL-compliance: if you are hosting
> > an
> > > > ISO made out of GPL-licensed components you should really also host the
> > > > source of those components. However, we put source ISOs on cdimage
> > (e.g.
> > > > https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/source/20231011.1/source/) not releases, so
> > > > everyone (?) who mirrors the ubuntu ISOs for us does not mirror the
> > source
> > > > ISOs.
> > >
> > > > As our mirror operators have been working this way for approximately 20
> > > > years without issue, perhaps it's time to stop making source ISOs and
> > > > delete even more code from debian-cd and ubuntu-cdimage.
> > >
> > > > WDYAT?
> > >
> > > As you know, I'm a fan of this.
> > >
> > > In principle, source images are useful for ensuring the distributors of
> > our
> > > install images are complying with the terms of the GPL.  But this is only
> > > true if they are *actually distributed together*, or if the source image
> > is
> > > somehow useful for a distributor to rely on for the "written offer"
> > option
> > > under the GPL.
> > >
> > > As you point out, the image files are not being distributed together.
> > > Mirrors of releases.ubuntu.com don't get these source ISOs; and where
> > > community flavors are running their own mirrors, AFAIK they aren't
> > including
> > > the source ISOs.  So if they're not being distributed together, the ISOs
> > are
> > > no better than pointing at the apt archive for source (possibly with an
> > > appropriate index - which we do as a matter of course archive as part of
> > > point releases, so that it is possible to correctly reconstruct the list
> > of
> > > required source packages + versions for point release images as well, not
> > > just GA images).
> > >
> > > And we ourselves long ago stopped distributing physical CDs, and I'm not
> > > aware of anyone else doing so - and if someone does, I think it's
> > unlikely
> > > that they are also distributing
> > > https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/mantic/release/source/ on 6 DVDs!
> > This
> > > just isn't a useful structuring of corresponding-source-for-image
> > anymore,
> > > because we try to include the source for all flavors, and there are a lot
> > > more flavors than there were when source ISOs started being built; yet
> > we've
> > > had zero bug reports from anyone asking to make these source ISOs more
> > > useful.
> > >
> > > And as far as OEM preinstalled systems are concerned, well - those
> > systems
> > > use customized install media, so the "mainline" Ubuntu source ISOs don't
> > > satisfy the "corresponding source" requirement there either.
> > >
> > > So I think in practice, the source ISOs are not useful in their current
> > > state, haven't been for a long time, and therefore we should stop
> > producing
> > > them.
> > >
> > >
> > > And as to whether there are costs in maintaining these: we basically only
> > > build source ISOs once or twice every release cycle, so the machinery to
> > do
> > > so is very much the opposite of well-oiled.  After the 23.10.1 respin of
> > the
> > > Ubuntu Desktop images, I found that the source ISOs appeared to have
> > become
> > > un-published, and I found it incredibly difficult to even work out the
> > > correct invocation of the commands that would allow me to re-publish the
> > > existing ISOs.  debian-cd didn't even enter into it, I was just trying to
> > > drive ubuntu-cdimage to re-publish the previously built images...
> > >
> > > Dropping the source ISO builds from the release process (and not having
> > to
> > > continue supporting them in the code) would be very nice.
> > >
> > > --
> > > Steve Langasek                   Give me a lever long enough and a Free
> > OS
> > > Debian Developer                   to set it on, and I can move the
> > world.
> > > Ubuntu Developer
> > https://www.debian.org/
> > > slanga...@ubuntu.com
> > vor...@debian.org
> > > --
> > > Ubuntu-release mailing list
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> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Ɓukasz 'sil2100' Zemczak
> >  Foundations Team
> >  Tools Squad Engineering Manager
> >  lukasz.zemc...@canonical.com
> >  www.canonical.com
> >
> > --
> > Ubuntu-release mailing list
> > Ubuntu-release@lists.ubuntu.com
> > Modify settings or unsubscribe at:
> > https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-release
> >

-- 
Steve Langasek                   Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS
Debian Developer                   to set it on, and I can move the world.
Ubuntu Developer                                   https://www.debian.org/
slanga...@ubuntu.com                                     vor...@debian.org

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