source: trunk/debathena/NOTES @ 23162

Revision 23162, 24.2 KB checked in by ghudson, 16 years ago (diff)
Document debathena-syslog-config in the cluster packages section of NOTES.
RevLine 
[22689]1This hierarchy contains Debian/Ubuntu-specific materials, also known
2as "Debathena".  The contents are:
3
4* debathena - Debathena-specific software packages such as PAM and NSS
5  modules.
6
7* config - Packages for configuring native system software in a manner
8  appropriate for Athena.
9
10* meta - Packages which contain nothing but dependencies on other
11  packages and serve as an installation convenience.
12
13* scripts - Build scripts and supporting materials.
14
15Debathena is a SIPB project, and its infrastructure and procedures
16will need to be adapted for Athena 10.  For the moment this file will
17document the Debathena procedures as they are, not as they will be.
18The current procedures do not even use this svn repository yet.
19
20Debian software used by Debathena:
21
22  * schroot - Used to manage build chroot environments for each
23    Debian/Ubuntu version.  We use the lvm-snapshot schroot type,
24    which allows rapid construction of ephemeral copies of template
25    "source" chroots, so that every binary package build is done in a
26    clean environment.
27
28  * debuild - Used to create Debian source packages from package
29    source directories.
30
31  * sbuild - Used to build binary packages from source packages inside
32    schroot environments.
33
34  * equivs - Used to create packages which only contain dependency
35    information.  Somewhat of a dirty hack, since it doesn't keep
36    proper changelogs, but it reduces overhead.
37
38  * CDBS (Common Debian Build System) - Referenced by debian/rules
39    files in packages.  Contains standard build rules to cut down on
40    per-package boilerplate.
41
42  * reprepro - Used to upload packages into the apt repositories.
43
44  * approx - Used to create a local cache of Debian packages on the
45    build server.  This cache is referenced by the build chroots for
46    improved performance.
47
[22787]48The remainder of this file documents procedures useful to Athena 10
49developers and the release engineer.
[22689]50
[22787]51Developers: Preferences setup
52-----------------------------
[22689]53
[22787]54You will probably want a $HOME/.devscripts file containing the
55following:
[22689]56
[22787]57DEBUILD_DPKG_BUILDPACKAGE_OPTS="-sa -us -uc -i -I.svn"
[22689]58
[22787]59This will save you from having to specify those options every time you
60run debuild.  Athena 10 scripts do not assume the above preferences,
61but the instructions in this file do.  The options mean:
[22689]62
[22787]63  * Look for original source as a tarfile or create one.
64  * Do not sign the source package.
65  * Do not sign the changes file.
66  * Ignore common version control metadata files when creating diffs.
67  * Ignore .svn paths when creating tarballs.
[22689]68
[23046]69You will also want a $HOME/.sbuildrc file containing the following:
70
71  $nolog = 1;
72  $mailto = 'yourusername';
73  $log_dir = '/tmp/sbuild-logs';
74  $maintainer_name = 'Debian-Athena Project <debathena@mit.edu>';
75  $force_orig_source = 1;
76  $sbuild_mode = "user";
77  1;
78
[22787]79You should also set the environment variable DEBATHENA_APT to
80"/afs/dev.mit.edu/system/athena10/apt".
[22689]81
[22787]82Developers: Preparing a change
83------------------------------
[22689]84
[22787]85To prepare a change to a regular package (a source tree containing a
86debian/ subdir), make the edits in a checkout and record a changelog
87entry.  You can either edit debian/changelog using emacs changelog
88mode (C-c C-v to add a new version entry, C-c C-a to add a change
89entry, C-c C-f to finalize the entry) or you can run "dadch".
[22689]90
[22787]91When creating a new version entry, bump the upstream version number
92(to 10.0.0 if it was not already that high) if you are changing the
93main package source.  Otherwise, just bump the Debian version
94component (change 0debathena1 to 0debathena2, for instance).
[22689]95
[22787]96Developers: Building a package for test purposes on one platform
97----------------------------------------------------------------
[22689]98
[22787]99After you have prepared a change, you will want to test that it builds
100and perhaps that it works before committing it.  First, if it is an
101Athena source directory using autoconf, run "daconfiscate" to set up
102the autoconf boilerplate which we don't check in.  Second, run
103"daorig" to copy or create an orig tarball in the parent directory if
104necessary.  Third, run "debuild".  The resulting package will be
105placed in the parent directory.
[22689]106
[22787]107In order to test if the package works, you can install it with "dpkg
108-i filename.deb".
[22689]109
[22787]110Developers: Building a package for test purposes on all platforms
111-----------------------------------------------------------------
[22764]112
[22787]113If the package you are working on interacts with the native OS in ways
114that might vary from platform to platform, you may want to do a test
115build for all platforms.  You will need to do this on
116linux-build-10.mit.edu or another machine which has been set up with
117build schroots.
118
119As above, run daconfiscate (if necessary) and then daorig.  Then run
120"debuild -S" to create a source package.  Now cd into the parent
121directory and identify the .dsc file created by debuild -S; it will
122have a name like debathena-just_9.4.0-0debathena2.dsc.  Run "da
123sbuildhack filename.dsc" to perform the package builds.  Each build
124will take place inside an ephemeral chroot based on a snapshot of a
125template for a particular Debian or Ubuntu version.  If a build fails
126and it's not obvious from the build log why, you may need to create
127your own ephemeral chroot session with a command like "schroot -c
128gutsy-amd64-sbuild /bin/sh" and then run debuild from within the
129package sources.
130
131If the build is successful, it will create a set of packages with
132names like debathena-just_9.4.0-0debathena2~ubuntu6.06_amd64.deb.
133
134Developers: Building an equivs package
135--------------------------------------
136
137Most of the packages under debathena/meta are faked up using equivs.
138To build one, just run:
139
140  equivs-build --full filename.equivs
141
142These equivs files make reference to ../common, so you must have a
143checkout of debathena/meta/common alongside the particular
144meta-package you are building.
145
[23018]146Developers: The meaning of metapackages
147---------------------------------------
148
149If you are adding a new package to the repository, you will probably
150at some point want to add it to one of the metapackages so that it
151doesn't have to be installed by hand.  Here are some descriptions
152which may help identify which metapackage is best:
153
154* locker: Provides access to Athena locker software--AFS and
155  automounter configuration, locker-related utilities, etc.
156
157* clients: Provides clients (either locally-written, like athinfo and
158  Discuss, or configurations) for Athena services, as well as
159  Athena-specific utility programs like "jot".  Configurations for
160  graphical client software are generally in the workstation package
161  instead, in order to make this package less intrusive.
162
163* standard: Implies locker and clients.  Also provides Athena shell
164  customizations and dotfiles.
165
166* login: Implies standard.  Configurations to merge the MIT user
167  namespace into the local machine namespace for the purpose of user
168  lookups and authentication.
169
170* workstation: Implies login.  Configurations for the graphical login
171  system and graphical client software intended to provide a standard
172  X login experience using Athena home directories.  Still in
173  development.
174
175* cluster-software: Provides a set of Debian packages common to
176  cluster machines.  The resulting software set is rather large, and
177  thus may not be desirable to all workstation configurations.  Only
178  stock Debian packages belong in this metapackage; do not add
179  other Debathena packages to it.
180
181* cluster: Implies workstation and cluster-software.  Also contains
182  configurations for self-maintenance of machines (unattended updates,
[23102]183  cleanups between logins, etc.).
[23018]184
185* debian-dev: Intended for developers of the system itself; provides a
186  set of Debian packages used by Debathena for development.
187
188For the most part a package should be listed in the "Depends:" line of
189a metapackage, but in some cases it is appropriate to hedge by using
190"Recommends:", which will cause aptitude to succeed even if the
191package is unavailable.  For example, a package which doesn't exist in
192all Debian/Ubuntu suites or isn't free can be listed under
193"Recommends:" so that our metapackages still work in all environments.
194
[23158]195Developers: Index of cluster packages
196-------------------------------------
197
198Some private workstation admins may want specific pieces of cluster
199infrastructure.  With Athena 9.4, they would typically install the
200entire Athena software suite and then turn off features they did not
201want via /etc/athena/rc.conf.  That is not generally possible in
202Athena 10; a debathena-cluster machine acts like a cluster machine in
203all respects.  Instead, the machine owner should install
204debathena-workstation and then install specific packages they might be
205interested in.  At this time, candidate packages include:
206
207  * debathena-dns-config: Installs a caching DNS resolver and
208    configures the machine to use it.
209
210  * debathena-tmp-cleaner: Cleans files in /tmp and /var/tmp which
211    have not been recently accessed.
212
213  * debathena-reactivate: Causes each graphical login to be performed
214    in a separate ephemeral snapshot of the chroot.  This package
215    requires the root filesystem to be an LVM logical volume inside a
216    volume group with 21GB of free space for the snapshots; if that is
217    not the case, it will break graphical logins.  Install with care.
218
219  * debathena-auto-update: Periodically updates the machine's software
220    and reboots (when no one is logged in) if necessary.
221
222Cluster packages which are generally not of interest to private
223machine owners include:
224
225  * debathena-clusterinfo: Looks up the machine's cluster information
226    in Hesiod and caches it on local disk.
227
228  * debathena-larvnet: Reports to the central larvnet server whether
229    anyone has a graphical login to the machine.
230
[23162]231  * debathena-syslog-config: Configures sysklogd so that some syslog
232    messages are forwarded to a central logging host.
233
[22787]234Release engineer: Bootstrapping the project infrastructure
235----------------------------------------------------------
236
[22764]237  1. Create the package repository (detailed instructions on this
238     pending).  Set the DEBATHENA_APT environment variable to point to
239     the package repository.  Put a copy of the debathena "scripts"
240     subdir in your path.
241
242  2. Create the build area.
243
244  3. Build each equivs package under meta/ using "equivs-build --full
245     *.equivs" and upload each with "daequivsupload *.changes".  This
246     has the side-effect of creating the basic structure of the
247     package repository.
248
249  4. Set up the build server.  The basic structure of the apt
250     repository must work for make-chroot to succeed, so this must
251     happen after step 3.
252
253  5. For each normal Debian package in dependency order, cd into its
254     directory in the build area and run "da sbuildhack *.dsc" and
[22787]255     "daupload-release *_source.changes".  If the package contains
256     only an "Architecture: all" binary package, pass the -A option to
257     both commands.
[22764]258
259     The all-packages script can generate an approximation of the
260     package list in dependency order, but it doesn't work right yet,
261     and ideally it would be possible to do several builds in parallel
262     using a Makefile like the one in scripts/build-server/build-all.
263     Improvements to this machinery are pending.
264
[22787]265  6. For each package under third, run "da ./debathenify-PKG source
[23084]266     binary upload".  Any created directories under third/openafs/meta
267     should be chmodded 777 to work around a perl/AFS permissions
268     issue with File::Temp; if this is not done, OpenAFS metapackage
269     builds will fail for other users.
[22764]270
[23090]271Release engineer: Updating the apt repository
272---------------------------------------------
273
274  1. ssh to the build server as the builder account and change to the
275     canonical build directory.
276
277  2. Run "gen-packages" to update the package list.  (Or "gen-packages
278     -c" if you know the AFS checkout of the source tree is up to date;
279     it should update every half hour.)
280
281  3. Run "ood-packages" to produce a list of out-of-date packages.
282
283  4. For each out of date package, run "dasource PKG".  Then change to
284     the package directory and run "da sbuildhack *.dsc" and
285     "daupload-release *_source.changes".  If the package contains
286     only an "Architecture: all" binary package, pass the -A option to
287     both commands.
288
289  5. svn update the meta directory.  If there are new subdirectories,
290     chmod them 777 to work around a perl/AFS permissions issue with
291     File::Temp.  For each updated subdir, change to it, run
292     "equivs-build --full *.equivs", and then "daequivsupload
293     FILENAME.changes" on the produced changes file.
294
295  6. svn update the third directory.  You can let autodebathenify
296     handle the updated scripts, or you can touch
297     ~/autodebathenify.suppress, make sure it's not running, and run
298     "da ./debathenify-PKG source binary upload" in each updated
299     directory.
300
301Sometimes you may have to mix up the order of the above steps in order
302to handle build dependencies.
303
[22787]304Release engineer: Setting up a build server
305-------------------------------------------
[22689]306
[22729]307  1. The build server must be installed with free space in an LVM
[22787]308     volume group.  The build chroots consume 2GB each.  There is a
309     known memory corruption issue with LVM snapshots in the kernel
310     used in Ubuntu Gutsy (which is based on 2.6.22), so use a newer
311     kernel such as the one in Ubuntu Hardy (based on 2.6.24) instead.
[22729]312
[22743]313  2. Install debathena-standard as per the the instructions in
[22729]314     http://debathena.mit.edu/install.
315
[22743]316  3. apt-key add /afs/dev.mit.edu/system/athena10/apt/athena10-archive.asc
317
318  4. Install the packages listed in
[22729]319     scripts/build-server/packages (using "aptitude install")
320
[22743]321  5. Install debathena-login, debathena-ssh-server, and
[22729]322     debathena-build-depends (using "aptitude install").
323
324     (Depending on how recently debathena-build-depends was rebuilt,
325     additional packages might need to be installed to satisfy the
326     build-depends of newer packages.  This can be taken care of later
327     when an error occurs building a source package.)
328
[22743]329  6. Edit /etc/security/access.conf and add a first line:
[22729]330     -:ALL EXCEPT root <developer usernames>:ALL
331
[22788]332  7. Edit /etc/pam.d/schroot, comment out "@include common-session",
[22787]333     and add:
[22729]334
[22787]335       # Basic pam_unix session module in place of common-session.
336       session required         pam_unix.so
337
338  8. Edit /etc/group and add the developers to the sbuild group.
339
340  9. Create /etc/passwd entries for each developer with "hesinfo
[22729]341     username passwd >> /etc/passwd" and then run pwconv.
342
343     (This is not necessary for the login system on the main root
344     environment, but is for the chroot environments.)
345
[22787]346  10. Append to /etc/approx/approx.conf the contents of
347       scripts/build-server/approx.conf.tail.
348      Change the last line from http://debathena.mit.edu/apt to
349       file:///afs/dev.mit.edu/system/athena10/apt
350      Add "$interval 0" above the repository lines (only necessary if
351       the version of approx as reported by "dpkg -l approx" is less
352       than 3.0)
353      Run: /etc/init.d/approx restart
[22729]354
[22984]355  11. Apply scripts/build-server/mount-defaults.patch.
[22729]356
[22787]357  12. For each supported DIST (see scripts/debian-versions.sh) run:
[22744]358
[22743]359        VG=/dev/blah scripts/build-server/make-chroot DIST i386
360        VG=/dev/blah scripts/build-server/make-chroot DIST amd64
[22729]361
[22743]362      substituting the name of the volume group for blah.  Omit the
363      amd64 line if DIST is sarge.
[22729]364
[22743]365      Example: VG=/dev/dink scripts/build-server/make-chroot gutsy i386
[22729]366
[23046]367  13. Create a local account for builder with:
368
369        adduser --uid 1047 --disabled-password builder
370
371      Make the home directory mode 700.  Install a
372      daemon/linux-build-10.mit.edu keytab in the home directory as
373      "keytab".  Install a copy of the secret repository-signing key
374      (athena10@mit.edu) in the home directory's keyring with
375      something like:
376
377        kinit builder
378        gpg --export-secret-keys athena10@mit.edu | \
379          ssh -l builder machinename gpg --import
380
381      Create a file named .sbuildrc in builder's homedir containing:
382
383        $nolog = 1;
384        $mailto = 'source-wash@mit.edu';
385        $log_dir = '/tmp/sbuild-logs';
386        $maintainer_name = 'Debian-Athena Project <debathena@mit.edu>';
387        $force_orig_source = 1;
388        $sbuild_mode = "user";
389        1;
390
[23050]391      Create a file named .ssh/config in builder's homedir containing:
392
393        Host svn.mit.edu
394          User debuildsvn
395
[23046]396      Add builder to the sbuild group in /etc/group.
397
398      Copy scripts/build-server/autodebathenify to builder's homedir.
399      Create a file named autodebathenify.config in builder's homedir
400      containing:
401
402        error_addr=source-wash@mit.edu
403        scripts_dir=/afs/dev.mit.edu/source/src-svn/debathena/scripts
404        build_dir=/afs/dev.mit.edu/project/release/10/build/third
405        packages="cyrus-sasl2-mit evolution-data-server lprng openafs tcsh"
406        export DEBATHENA_APT=/afs/dev.mit.edu/system/athena10/apt
407
408      Copy scripts/build-server/autodebathenify.cron to builder's
409      homedir and install it with "crontab autodebathenify.cron".
410
[23085]411      Create a file named .devscripts in builder's homedir containing:
412
413        DEBUILD_DPKG_BUILDPACKAGE_OPTS="-sa -us -uc -i -I.svn"
414
[23065]415      In builder's homedir, append to .profile:
416
417        PATH=${PATH}:/afs/dev.mit.edu/source/src-svn/debathena/scripts
418        export DEBATHENA_APT=/afs/dev.mit.edu/system/athena10/apt
419
420      and to .bashrc:
421
422        bld=/afs/dev.mit.edu/project/release/10/build
423
[22787]424Release engineer: Removing a build chroot on the build server
425-------------------------------------------------------------
[22729]426
[22787]427  1. Run VG=/dev/blah scripts/clean-schroots as root to make sure that
428     the build chroot is not mounted, substituting the name of the
429     volume group for blah.
[22729]430
431  2. Edit /etc/schroot/schroot.conf and delete the section
432     corresponding to the chroot.
433
434  3. Run lvchange -an blah/chrootname
435     substituting the name of the volume group for blah and the chroot
436     name for chroot.  Example: lvchange -an dink/gutsy-i386-sbuild
437
[22764]438  4. Run lvremove blah/chrootname
439
[22985]440Release engineer: Removing a dist from the apt repository
441---------------------------------------------------------
442
443  1. Inside the apt repository, edit conf/distributions and remove the
444     distribution section.
445
446  2. Run reprepro -Vb $DEBATHENA_APT --delete clearvanished
447
[22787]448Release engineer: Setting up a canonical build area
449---------------------------------------------------
[22764]450
451  1. Create an empty directory and cd into it.  The canonical build
452     area lives in /afs/dev.mit.edu/project/release/10/build.
453
[22787]454  2. Run gen-packages to create the table of normal Debian packages.
[22764]455
[22787]456  3. Run dasource to create subdirs and source packages for each
457     normal Debian package.
[22764]458
459  4. Create checkouts of the meta and third directories:
460
461     svn co svn+ssh://svn.mit.edu/athena/trunk/debathena/meta
462     svn co svn+ssh://svn.mit.edu/athena/trunk/debathena/third
[23084]463     chmod 777 meta/*
[22764]464
[23084]465     A couple of subdirectories of debathena/meta are normal Debian
[22764]466     packages, so this will create redundant copies of those.  Ignore
[23084]467     them; they won't be used.
[22957]468
469Release engineer: Adding a new suite
470------------------------------------
471
472This process is rarely performed and the infrastructure for it is
473imperfect.  Substitute the name of the new suite for "newdist" in all
474steps below.
475
[22958]476  1. Make sure the apt repository is up to date with respect to the
477     source tree for the existing dists.
478
479  2. Add the new dist to scripts/debian-versions.sh.  (It is not
480     necessary to add the new dist to codes at this point, but it must
481     be present in the gettag conditional.)
482
483  3. Create the new distribution in the apt repository's configuration
[22957]484     file.  Create the skeleton of the dist by installing at least one
485     equivs package from meta/ with "reprepro -Vb $DEBATHENA_APT
486     include newdistname file.changes".
487
[22958]488  4. On the build server, create a chroot for the new distribution as
[22957]489     documented above.  This may require downloading and installing a
490     more recent version of the debootstrap package from the
491     -backports dist corresponding to the build server's OS.
492
[22958]493  5. Set the DEBATHENA_BUILD_AREA environment variable to point to the
[22957]494     build area.
495
[22958]496  6. Fire up screen.
[22957]497
[22958]498  7. mkdir $DEBATHENA_BUILD_AREA/stamps.newdist.
[22957]499
[22958]500  8. cd into a checkout of debathena/scripts/build-server/build-all.
[22957]501
[22958]502  9. Edit Makefile (and check in the edit) so that suite is the new
[22957]503     distribution and psuite is the previously most recent Debian or
504     Ubuntu distribution.
505
[22958]506  10. Run "make deps.mk".
[22957]507
[22958]508  11. Run "make -k all STAMPS=$DEBATHENA_BUILD_AREA/stamps.newdist".
509      You can watch the builds happen in the other windows of the
510      screen session.  It's possible to do several builds at once with
511      make -j N.
[22957]512
[22958]513  12. debathenify packages will fail out; they must be built by hand.
[22957]514      When the build fails on one, cd into third/packagename in the
515      build area and run "./debathenify newdist-amd64 -A source binary
516      upload" and "./debathenify newdist-i386 binary upload".  Then
517      touch $DEBATHENA_BUILD_AREA/stamps.newdist/packagename.done" and
518      restart the build.
519
[23084]520      The newly created third/openafs/meta directories should be
521      chmodded 777 to work around a perl/AFS permissions issue.
[23077]522
[23094]523Release engineer: Maintaining autodebathenify
524---------------------------------------------
525
526autodebathenify is a cron job which runs hourly on the builder account
527and keeps the OpenAFS modules and modified packages under
528debathena/third up to date when there are upstream changes.  It relies
529on the following:
530
531  * builder@ATHENA.MIT.EDU has access to a local account named
532    debuildsvn on svn.mit.edu with read access to the athena
533    repository.
534
535  * builder@ATHENA.MIT.EDU has write access to the canonical build
536    area and apt repository in the dev cell.
537
538  * The builder account on the build machine has a copy of the signing
539    private key for the apt repository.
540
541The cron job will silently exit if it detects that it is already
542running.  If it fails for any other reason, it will send mail to
543source-wash@mit.edu and touch a file named autodebathenify.suppress
544which will prevent it from running again until manual intervention.
545It is important to get autodebathenify running smoothly or the apt
546repository will become out of date with respect to third-party
547packages, which in turn will compromise the user experience.
548
549Even if you don't notice failure mail, it's good to check on the
550status of autodebathenify from time to time.  To do this, get tickets
551as builder and ssh to linux-build-10 as builder.  Run "ls -l logs" to
552see what's been going on.  A logfile with size around 48K indicates
553that autodebathenify ran normally but didn't find any new work to do.
554A logfile with size around 60 means that autodebathenify.suppress
555exists and the cron job has stopped running.  A longer logfile
556indicates that autodebathenify attempted to build and upload a
557package.
558
559Possible failure cases include:
560
561  * One of the upstream apt repositories timed out during an "apt-get
[23119]562    update" of an sbuild chroot.  If this happens, you can just remove
563    the autodebathenify.suppress file to get the cron job to start
564    running again.
[23094]565
566  * autodebathenify tried to build an upstream version which already
567    exists.  If this happens, the build will fail at upload time.  If
568    this happens, there is a bug in the part of the debathenify-*
569    script which checks whether our apt repository already has the
570    expected version of the built package.
571
572  * Debian and Ubuntu have .orig files with the same name but
573    different contexts for a particular third-party package.  This has
574    only happened once, with bash (which is currently not configured
575    into autodebathenify for that reason).  We do not have a general
576    mechanism for resolving such issues at this time.
577
578  * The new upstream version of the package is sufficiently different
579    to cause our modifications to fail to apply, and our debathenify-*
580    script needs to be adapted appropriately.
581
582The cron job is run out of builder's home directory, but its canonical
583source location is in debathena/scripts/build-server in this
584repository, should it need to be modified.
585
[23077]586Release engineer: apt repository HTTP server setup
587--------------------------------------------------
588
589The apt repository server (athena10.mit.edu) is an ops virtual image
590with httpd and AFS installed.  At the moment, the only customization
591is two changes to /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf:
592
593  * The DocumentRoot is set to "/afs/dev.mit.edu/system/athena10".
594  * The Directory entry for /var/html/www is also changed to
595    "/afs/dev.mit.edu/system/athena10".
Note: See TracBrowser for help on using the repository browser.