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

[Daniel P . Berrangé]

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

Regards,
Daniel
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