Backports policy

[hrvoojex]

Hi!
I am new here, so I would like to know what is a Kubuntu Plasma backports policy?

[clivejo]

I'm unsure what you mean?

[hrvoojex]

I mean how do you choose which Plasma version is going to be backported? Current Plasma is 5.7.95 and in Kubuntu is 5.6.5. In between, there were 5.7, 5.7.1, 5.7.3 .. What is the next available Plasma in Kubuntu 16.04?

[clivejo]

Well 5.7.95 is a beta unstable release, so we wouldn't normally backport that release.

We've had some trouble back-porting Plasma 5.7 due to it requiring a more recent version of Qt than what is available in the Xenial archive. It is in testing at the moment (in our landing PPA as far as I remember, Launchpad is down at the moment so I cant check!) Once we get the go ahead from our testers, it will be moved into the backports PPA.

We are currently short handed regarding testers and developers, if you know anyone who wants to help out in that regard please let us know in the kubuntu-devel chat room (more details in my signature)

As Plasma 5.8 is going to be an LTS (https://www.kde.org/announcements/plasma-5.7.95.php), we might just wait until that gets released and backport that. This is something I wish to discuss with the Kubuntu Council as to our long term plans.

So as you have probably realised by now there is no official policy regarding backports (that I'm aware of), it mainly depends on the strength, time and willingness of the development team and how much time they can spend working on backporting compared to working on the next release of Kubuntu (ie Yakkety Yak currently)

[claydoh]

Historically the kubuntu-backports ppa contains newer versions of KDE software that have been built for the current dev builds of kubuntu, or the current stable version, and have been repackaged (back-ported) to a current supported version.

This explains it a little better:
http://claydoh.com/kubuntu-and-its-repositories/

The thing is that when this was set up KDE released much less often, and as one huge drop of software to be packaged up.

These days there really isn't a use for the "updates" ppa if we are using the backports ppa.

I really don't like posting the staging or landing ppas as they have been quite often incomplete (as they are not meant for regular use). A reasonable definition of what a backport is would be useful I think.


It would be awesome to get Plasma LTS in kubuntu LTS. How do we get an updated Qt without breaking existing Ubuntu things?is it backwards compatible?

sent from my LG V10 using Tapatalk

[acheron]

It would be awesome to get Plasma LTS in kubuntu LTS. How do we get an updated Qt without breaking existing Ubuntu things?is it backwards compatible?

A lot of QT packages/applications will be co-installable with increased QT version, but a few will be dependent on say the QT 5.5 ABI, and break with 5.6 or 5.7.

This shows the ABI breaks caused by a Qt 5.6.1 backport to Xenial LTS.

http://i.imgur.com/FQ1DxN6.png

As you can see, some are trivial and could be solved by a rebuild against the new QT and then included with the backport. However some are components of other DEs or package dependencies, so care has to be taken to not break as much as possible.

As Plasma 5.8 is going to be an LTS (https://www.kde.org/announcements/plasma-5.7.95.php), we might just wait until that gets released and backport that.

That would be my preferred option, as 5.8 as a LTS plasma release should be just an ideal fit for Xenial.

[hrvoojex]

This is something I wish to discuss with the Kubuntu Council as to our long term plans.

Thank you guys for the explanation. Do you have some place were you write about feature plans and decisions eg. were to read which Plasma version goes with Kubuntu 16.10 and which will be backported, after decision? Is it main portal page or some place else?

[acheron]

Kubuntu Yakkety 16.10 should have Plasma 5.7.5. Staged and uploaded, but currently stuck in limbo while the delayed Beta 2 freeze remains in place and a couple of fixes are done.

Plasma 5.8 release date is too late to possibly go into the Yakkety release. Will be working on that for 17.04 and backports though as soon as is practical.

[clivejo]

Do you have some place were you write about feature plans and decisions eg. were to read which Plasma version goes with Kubuntu 16.10 and which will be backported, after decision? Is it main portal page or some place else?

That's another thing needs to be looked at, in my opinion. Previously, announcements about back-ports were made by the developer who actually worked on them. For example, on their own personal blog post. This was then picked up by the community and reposted so that people could follow development progress. I do think this needs to be addressed and a development portal available for those interested in testing and keeping up to date with progress including blockers which are holding the project back. This, in my view, would enable people who might be able to help to step up and contribute to the project.

The problem for me is that I'm really bad at writing about what I'm doing! But there are contributors who are good at that kind of thing and would be willing to help.

[hrvoojex]

No 5.8 for 16.10?

[acheron]

No 5.8 for 16.10?

It's not in 17.04 quite yet due to pending debian merges etc, so can work on 'backports' once that is done.