Ubuntu Server development summary – 21 January 2020

Chad Smith

on 21 January 2020

This article is more than 4 years old.


Hello Ubuntu Server

The purpose of this communication is to provide a status update and highlights for any interesting subjects from the Ubuntu Server Team. If you would like to reach the server team, you can find us at the #ubuntu-server channel on Freenode. Alternatively, you can sign up and use the Ubuntu Server Team mailing list or visit the Ubuntu Server discourse hub for more discussion.

Spotlight: cloud-init 19.4

On the very last days of 2019 we released version 19.4 of cloud-init. This new upstream release is currently available on the supported LTS releases of Ubuntu (Xenial and Bionic) and in the development version of the next LTS release, Focal Fossa. For a list of features released, see the full ChangeLog on GitHub. The 19.4 cloud-init release was the last release to support python 2.7. Any new commits to cloud-init will not require python 2 support.

Spotlight: Ubuntu Pro for AWS

Ubuntu Pro is a premium Ubuntu image designed to provide the most comprehensive feature set for production environments running in the public cloud. Ubuntu Pro images based on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver) are now available for AWS as an AMI through AWS Marketplace

Spotlight: Speed up project bug triage with grease monkey

Bryce Harrington, on the Ubuntu Server team, has written up an excellent post on how to speed up bug triage responses with grease monkey. It simplifies the inclusion of frequent responses the team uses for various projects when maintaining bugs in Launchpad for multiple Ubuntu packages. Thanks Bryce!

cloud-init

  • Add Rootbox & HyperOne to list of cloud in README (#176) [Adam Dobrawy]
  • docs: add proposed SRU testing procedure (#167)
  • util: rename get_architecture to get_dpkg_architecture (#173)
  • Ensure util.get_architecture() runs only once (#172)
  • Only use gpart if it is the BSD gpart (#131) [Conrad Hoffmann]
  • freebsd: remove superflu exception mapping (#166) [Gonéri Le Bouder]
  • ssh_auth_key_fingerprints_disable test: fix capitalization (#165) [Paride Legovini]
  • util: move uptime’s else branch into its own boottime function (#53) [Igor Galić] (LP: #1853160)
  • workflows: add contributor license agreement checker (#155)
  • net: fix rendering of ‘static6’ in network config (#77) (LP: #1850988)
  • Make tests work with Python 3.8 (#139) [Conrad Hoffmann]
  • fixed minor bug with mkswap in cc_disk_setup.py (#143) [andreaf74]
  • freebsd: fix create_group() cmd (#146) [Gonéri Le Bouder]
  • doc: make apt_update example consistent (#154)
  • doc: add modules page toc with links (#153) (LP: #1852456)
  • Add support for the amazon variant in cloud.cfg.tmpl (#119) [Frederick Lefebvre]
  • ci: remove Python 2.7 from CI runs (#137)
  • modules: drop cc_snap_config config module (#134)
  • migrate-lp-user-to-github: ensure Launchpad repo exists (#136)
  • docs: add initial troubleshooting to FAQ (#104) [Joshua Powers]
  • doc: update cc_set_hostname frequency and descrip (#109) [Joshua Powers] (LP: #1827021)
  • freebsd: introduce the freebsd renderer (#61) [Gonéri Le Bouder]
  • cc_snappy: remove deprecated module (#127)
  • HACKING.rst: clarify that everyone needs to do the LP->GH dance (#130)
  • freebsd: cloudinit service requires devd (#132) [Gonéri Le Bouder]
  • cloud-init: fix capitalisation of SSH (#126)
  • doc: update cc_ssh clarify host and auth keys [Joshua Powers] (LP: #1827021)
  • ci: emit names of tests run in Travis (#120)
  • Release 19.4 (LP: #1856761)
  • rbxcloud: fix dsname in RbxCloud [Adam Dobrawy] (LP: #1855196)
  • tests: Add tests for value of dsname in datasources [Adam Dobrawy]
  • apport: Add RbxCloud ds [Adam Dobrawy]
  • docs: Updating index of datasources [Adam Dobrawy]
  • docs: Fix anchor of datasource_rbx [Adam Dobrawy]
  • settings: Add RbxCloud [Adam Dobrawy]
  • doc: specify _ over – in cloud config modules [Joshua Powers] (LP: #1293254)
  • tools: Detect python to use via env in migrate-lp-user-to-github [Adam Dobrawy]
  • Partially revert “fix unlocking method on FreeBSD” (#116)
  • tests: mock uid when running as root (#113) [Joshua Powers] (LP: #1856096)
  • cloudinit/netinfo: remove unused getgateway (#111)
  • docs: clear up apt config sections (#107) [Joshua Powers] (LP: #1832823)
  • doc: add kernel command line option to user data (#105) [Joshua Powers] (LP: #1846524)
  • config/cloud.cfg.d: update README [Joshua Powers] (LP: #1855006)
  • azure: avoid re-running cloud-init when instance-id is byte-swapped (#84) [AOhassan]
  • fix unlocking method on FreeBSD [Igor Galić] (LP: #1854594)
  • debian: add reference to the manpages [Joshua Powers]
  • ds_identify: if /sys is not available use dmidecode (#42) [Igor Galić] (LP: #1852442)
  • docs: add cloud-id manpage [Joshua Powers]
  • docs: add cloud-init-per manpage [Joshua Powers]
  • docs: add cloud-init manpage [Joshua Powers]
  • docs: add additional details to per-instance/once [Joshua Powers]
  • Merge pull request #96 from fred-lefebvre/master [Joshua Powers]
  • Update doc-requirements.txt [Joshua Powers]
  • doc-requirements: add missing dep [Joshua Powers]
  • Merge pull request #95 from powersj/docs/bugs [Joshua Powers]
  • dhcp: Support RedHat dhcp rfc3442 lease format for option 121 (#76) [Eric Lafontaine] (LP: #1850642)
  • one more [Joshua Powers]
  • Address OddBloke review [Joshua Powers]
  • network_state: handle empty v1 config (#45) (LP: #1852496)
  • docs: Add document on how to report bugs [Joshua Powers]
  • Add an Amazon distro in the redhat OS family [Frederick Lefebvre]
  • Merge pull request #94 from gaughen/patch-1 [Joshua Powers]
  • removed a couple of “the”s [gaughen]
  • docs: fix line length and remove highlighting [Joshua Powers]
  • docs: Add security.md to readthedocs [Joshua Powers]
  • Multiple file fix for AuthorizedKeysFile config (#60) [Eduardo Otubo]
  • Merge pull request #88 from OddBloke/travis [Joshua Powers]
  • Revert “travis: only run CI on pull requests”
  • doc: update links on README.md [Joshua Powers]
  • doc: Updates to wording of README.md [Joshua Powers]
  • Add security.md [Joshua Powers]
  • setup.py: Amazon Linux sets libexec to /usr/libexec (#52) [Frederick Lefebvre]
  • Fix linting failure in test_url_helper (#83) [Eric Lafontaine]
  • url_helper: read_file_or_url should pass headers param into readurl (#66) (LP: #1854084)
  • dmidecode: log result after stripping n [Igor Galić]
  • cloud_tests: add azure platform support to integration tests [ahosmanmsft]
  • set_passwords: support for FreeBSD (#46) [Igor Galić]

curtin

  • vmtests: skip Focal deploying Centos70 ScsiBasic
  • vmtests: fix network mtu tests, separating ifupdown vs networkd
  • doc: Fix kexec documentation bug. [Mike Pontillo]
  • vmtests: Add Focal Fossa
  • centos: Add centos/rhel 8 support, enable UEFI Secure Boot [Lee Trager] (LP: #1788088)
  • Bump XFS /boot skip-by date out a while
  • vmtest: Fix a missing unset of OUTPUT_FSTAB
  • curthooks: handle s390x/aarch64 kernel install hooks (LP: #1856038)
  • clear-holders: handle arbitrary order of devices to clear
  • curthooks: only run update-initramfs in target once (LP: #1842264)
  • test_network_mtu: bump fixby date for MTU tests

git-ubuntu

The git-ubuntu snap package has been updated to 0.8.0 for the ‘beta’ channel.

The lion’s share of effort since 0.7.4 has gone towards bug fixing and general stabilization. Documentation and tests received a fair share of attention, as did the snap and setup.py packaging.

The importer now uses a sqlite3 database to store persistent information such as the pending package import status.

A new –only-request-new-imports-once option is added for the backend source package importer. This makes the importer exit immediately after entering new imports to the database.

The –deconstruct option has been changed to –split, to prevent confusion that led people to assume –deconstruct meant the opposite of “reconstruct”.

Launchpad object fetches are cached using Python’s cachetools module, as a performance improvement that reduces the excessive number of API calls to the Launchpad service.

Finally, the backend service is now managed using a systemd watchdog daemon. Prior to this the service would need to be manually restarted whenever it hung or crashed, such as due to Launchpad service outages or network instabilities.

Contact the Ubuntu Server team

Bug Work and Triage

Ubuntu Server Packages

Below is a summary of uploads to the development and supported releases. Current status of the Debian to Ubuntu merges is tracked on the Merge-o-Matic page. For a full list of recent merges with change logs please see the Ubuntu Server report.

Proposed Uploads to the Supported Releases

Please consider testing the following by enabling proposed, checking packages for update regressions, and making sure to mark affected bugs verified as fixed.

Total: 3

Uploads Released to the Supported Releases

Total: 80

Uploads to the Development Release

Total: 129

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