Re: Debian support lifetime (was Re: [PATCH] docker: move tests from python2 to python3)

[Daniel P . Berrangé]

On Tue, Sep 24, 2019 at 08:35:13AM +0100, Daniel P. Berrangé wrote:
> On Mon, Sep 23, 2019 at 04:05:33PM -0300, Eduardo Habkost wrote:
> > On Mon, Sep 23, 2019 at 01:19:41PM -0400, John Snow wrote:
> > > On 9/23/19 10:50 AM, Cleber Rosa wrote:
> > [...]
> > > >> diff --git a/tests/docker/dockerfiles/debian-xtensa-cross.docker 
> > > >> b/tests/docker/dockerfiles/debian-xtensa-cross.docker
> > > >> index b9c2e2e531..e6f93f65ee 100644
> > > >> --- a/tests/docker/dockerfiles/debian-xtensa-cross.docker
> > > >> +++ b/tests/docker/dockerfiles/debian-xtensa-cross.docker
> > > >> @@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ RUN apt-get update && \
> > > >>          flex \
> > > >>          gettext \
> > > >>          git \
> > > >> -        python-minimal
> > > >> +        python3-minimal
> > > > 
> > > > I'm getting Python 3.5.3-1+deb9u1 here, so it LGTM.
> > > > 
> > > 
> > > Oh, that's actually a bit of a problem. I tested on 3.5+, but I think
> > > some people want 3.6+.
> > > 
> > > I don't know much about Debian, but we either need to guarantee 3.6+ or
> > > backtrack our plans to 3.5+.
> > 
> > Good catch.  I forgot we were going to keep 3.5 support because
> > of Debian 9.
> > 
> > Now, I'd like to clarify what the wording on our supported build
> > platforms documentation is supposed to mean for Debian.
> > 
> > The document says:
> > 
> > ] For distributions with frequent, short-lifetime releases, the project will
> > ] aim to support all versions that are not end of life by their respective
> > ] vendors. For the purposes of identifying supported software versions, the
> > ] project will look at Fedora, Ubuntu, and openSUSE distros. Other short-
> > ] lifetime distros will be assumed to ship similar software versions.
> > ] 
> > ] For distributions with long-lifetime releases, the project will aim to 
> > support
> > ] the most recent major version at all times. Support for the previous major
> > ] version will be dropped 2 years after the new major version is released. 
> > For
> > ] the purposes of identifying supported software versions, the project will 
> > look
> > ] at RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu LTS, and SLES distros. Other long-lifetime 
> > distros will
> > ] be assumed to ship similar software versions.
> > 
> > Debian 10 was released in July 2019.  Are we really willing to
> > support Debian 9 as a supported build platform until July 2021?
> > The Debian Project itself won't support Debian 9 after July 2020.
> 
> This is an oversight on my part - I didn't realize Debian releases
> were supported for such a short time in parallel.
> 
> There should be a general statement that, no matter what else the
> policy states, we do *NOT* support any distro that has been end of
> life by its vendor.
> 
> > Even for other long-lifetime distros, I really think "2 years
> > after the new major version is released" is too long, and I'd
> > like to shorten this to 1 year.
> 
> I guess this is ok, since this. is still quite a long life time of
> support for distros. eg RHEL has a 3-4 year gap between major
> releases, that gives 4-5 years for each release being supported by
> QEMU. Other LTS distros are similar

Having said that, in the past we did have some pushback from people who
were staying on Ubuntu LTS releases for quite a long time, which influenced
the decision to have a 2 year overlap. In practice that hopefully isn't too
big a problem, as support for the other LTS distros probably means Ubuntu
LTS will work ok regardless for 2 releases.

Regards,
Daniel
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