Bits from the Release Team: transitions, architectures, freeze!

[news 28]

In this "bits":

 

* Freeze reminder <FREEZE>

* Transition window closed <TRANSITIONS>

* Final architecture health check <ARCH-HEALTH>

* Testing migration and security review <MIGRATION>

 

tl;dr: GONE: transitions, arch-check

NEXT: migrations, security-check

LATER: main freeze

 

Transition Window Closed <TRANSITIONS>

======================================

 

The window for new transitions closed on 5th September 2014. We are no

longer accepting new transitions for Jessie.

 

Ongoing transitions still need to be finished, so we ask for your

co-operation in completing them as quickly as possible so we can get on

with the main event.

 

Please do not start new transitions. They will most likely be reverted

or packages removed from Jessie, both of which are ugly. We don't really

want to do either.

 

Final Architecture Check <ARCH-HEALTH>

======================================

 

A final architecture check was completed on 14th September. There are

minutes available from meetbot <ARCH-MINUTES>.

 

Agreed release architectures for Jessie are as follows, with some

conditions:

 

* amd64

* armel [1]

* armhf [1]

* i386

* kfreebsd-amd64 / kfreebsd-i386 [2]

* mips [3]

* mipsel

* powerpc

* s390x

 

[1] Hardware redundancy concerns are being dealt with

[2] At risk; see the kFreeBSD section below

[3] Current hardware is a concern, but in the process of being dealt

with

 

arm64 and ppc64el are release architectures 'in principle'. They have

strong support and have made good progress, so they were added to

testing recently, and look promising. They will get a yes/no decision

along with kFreeBSD soon after 1st November. There is still a lot of

work to be done, so please be helpful to the porters.

 

As with all releases, architectures may be dropped if any blockers arise

between now and the release.

 

The following architectures have not made sufficient progress and will

not be release architectures for Jessie:

 

* hurd-i386

* sparc

 

ARCH-MINUTES:

http://meetbot.debian.net/debian-release/2014/debian-release.2014-09-14-18.58.html

 

kFreeBSD

========

 

We remain gravely concerned about the viability of this port. Despite

the reduced scope, we feel that the port is not currently of sufficient

quality to feature as a fully supported release architecture in Jessie.

However, we accept that our published view of the port has not been as

'clear and unambiguous' as we would wish.

 

We therefore advise the kFreeBSD porters that the port is in danger of

being dropped from Jessie, and invite any porters who are able to commit

to working on the port in the long term to make themselves known *now*.

The factor that gives us greatest concern is the human resources

available to the port.

 

Porters of any architecture need to bear in mind that being part of a

stable release is a long commitment to both taking care of stable and

oldstable, and continuing development in sid. It has implications for

the security team, release team, DSA and other parties.

 

The urgency of this matter cannot be over-stated. We will assess the

viability of kFreeBSD in Jessie on or after 1st November, and a yes/no

decision will be taken at that time. This will not be a full

architecture qualification, but a simple decision on whether or not the

release team's concerns have been adequately addressed.

 

Testing Migration and Security Review

=====================================

 

On 5th October, the testing migration time will be set to 10 days for

*all* packages. Only members of the release team will be able to

override this.

 

We will happily reduce the migration time for security fixes and other

severe issues on request, so that they reach Jessie sooner. However, do

not expect us to spot these on our own - please tell us about them. A

note in your changelog or bug report is not enough!

 

The security team will also have an opportunity to review packages which

are considered unsupportable.

 

Freeze reminder <FREEZE>

========================

 

We are quickly approaching the freeze, which is now less than six weeks

away! The policy for the freeze is available from <FREEZEPOLICY>.

 

If you have any outstanding issues or papercuts that you want to have

fixed for Jessie, _now_ would be a good time to get them done. We are

aiming for a short freeze, so any changes you want to get into the

release should reach Jessie before the start of the freeze.

 

*Remember*: On the 5th of November, the version of your package *in

testing* must be in its desired state for Jessie.

 

* Just uploading your package to unstable is *not enough*. You must

ensure that it reaches testing before the 5th of November, keeping in

mind that the testing migration delay will be 10 days starting October

5th.

 

* If your package has trouble migrating to Jessie, you should contact

us before the start of the freeze.

 

* If your package was autoremoved, it has to be back in Jessie before

the 5th of November if you want to be sure that it is included in the

final release.

 

* Uploads to unstable of large changes that do not reach Jessie before

the freeze greatly reduce the chance that your package will be part of

the release.

 

FREEZEPOLICY: https://release.debian.org/jessie/freeze_policy.html

 

Adam, on behalf of the release team.