source: trunk/debathena/NOTES @ 23102

Revision 23102, 22.5 KB checked in by ghudson, 16 years ago (diff)
The cluster metapackage now exists, so remove the statement in NOTES that it doesn't.
Line 
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
48The remainder of this file documents procedures useful to Athena 10
49developers and the release engineer.
50
51Developers: Preferences setup
52-----------------------------
53
54You will probably want a $HOME/.devscripts file containing the
55following:
56
57DEBUILD_DPKG_BUILDPACKAGE_OPTS="-sa -us -uc -i -I.svn"
58
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:
62
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.
68
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
79You should also set the environment variable DEBATHENA_APT to
80"/afs/dev.mit.edu/system/athena10/apt".
81
82Developers: Preparing a change
83------------------------------
84
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".
90
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).
95
96Developers: Building a package for test purposes on one platform
97----------------------------------------------------------------
98
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.
106
107In order to test if the package works, you can install it with "dpkg
108-i filename.deb".
109
110Developers: Building a package for test purposes on all platforms
111-----------------------------------------------------------------
112
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
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,
183  cleanups between logins, etc.).
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
195Release engineer: Bootstrapping the project infrastructure
196----------------------------------------------------------
197
198  1. Create the package repository (detailed instructions on this
199     pending).  Set the DEBATHENA_APT environment variable to point to
200     the package repository.  Put a copy of the debathena "scripts"
201     subdir in your path.
202
203  2. Create the build area.
204
205  3. Build each equivs package under meta/ using "equivs-build --full
206     *.equivs" and upload each with "daequivsupload *.changes".  This
207     has the side-effect of creating the basic structure of the
208     package repository.
209
210  4. Set up the build server.  The basic structure of the apt
211     repository must work for make-chroot to succeed, so this must
212     happen after step 3.
213
214  5. For each normal Debian package in dependency order, cd into its
215     directory in the build area and run "da sbuildhack *.dsc" and
216     "daupload-release *_source.changes".  If the package contains
217     only an "Architecture: all" binary package, pass the -A option to
218     both commands.
219
220     The all-packages script can generate an approximation of the
221     package list in dependency order, but it doesn't work right yet,
222     and ideally it would be possible to do several builds in parallel
223     using a Makefile like the one in scripts/build-server/build-all.
224     Improvements to this machinery are pending.
225
226  6. For each package under third, run "da ./debathenify-PKG source
227     binary upload".  Any created directories under third/openafs/meta
228     should be chmodded 777 to work around a perl/AFS permissions
229     issue with File::Temp; if this is not done, OpenAFS metapackage
230     builds will fail for other users.
231
232Release engineer: Updating the apt repository
233---------------------------------------------
234
235  1. ssh to the build server as the builder account and change to the
236     canonical build directory.
237
238  2. Run "gen-packages" to update the package list.  (Or "gen-packages
239     -c" if you know the AFS checkout of the source tree is up to date;
240     it should update every half hour.)
241
242  3. Run "ood-packages" to produce a list of out-of-date packages.
243
244  4. For each out of date package, run "dasource PKG".  Then change to
245     the package directory and run "da sbuildhack *.dsc" and
246     "daupload-release *_source.changes".  If the package contains
247     only an "Architecture: all" binary package, pass the -A option to
248     both commands.
249
250  5. svn update the meta directory.  If there are new subdirectories,
251     chmod them 777 to work around a perl/AFS permissions issue with
252     File::Temp.  For each updated subdir, change to it, run
253     "equivs-build --full *.equivs", and then "daequivsupload
254     FILENAME.changes" on the produced changes file.
255
256  6. svn update the third directory.  You can let autodebathenify
257     handle the updated scripts, or you can touch
258     ~/autodebathenify.suppress, make sure it's not running, and run
259     "da ./debathenify-PKG source binary upload" in each updated
260     directory.
261
262Sometimes you may have to mix up the order of the above steps in order
263to handle build dependencies.
264
265Release engineer: Setting up a build server
266-------------------------------------------
267
268  1. The build server must be installed with free space in an LVM
269     volume group.  The build chroots consume 2GB each.  There is a
270     known memory corruption issue with LVM snapshots in the kernel
271     used in Ubuntu Gutsy (which is based on 2.6.22), so use a newer
272     kernel such as the one in Ubuntu Hardy (based on 2.6.24) instead.
273
274  2. Install debathena-standard as per the the instructions in
275     http://debathena.mit.edu/install.
276
277  3. apt-key add /afs/dev.mit.edu/system/athena10/apt/athena10-archive.asc
278
279  4. Install the packages listed in
280     scripts/build-server/packages (using "aptitude install")
281
282  5. Install debathena-login, debathena-ssh-server, and
283     debathena-build-depends (using "aptitude install").
284
285     (Depending on how recently debathena-build-depends was rebuilt,
286     additional packages might need to be installed to satisfy the
287     build-depends of newer packages.  This can be taken care of later
288     when an error occurs building a source package.)
289
290  6. Edit /etc/security/access.conf and add a first line:
291     -:ALL EXCEPT root <developer usernames>:ALL
292
293  7. Edit /etc/pam.d/schroot, comment out "@include common-session",
294     and add:
295
296       # Basic pam_unix session module in place of common-session.
297       session required         pam_unix.so
298
299  8. Edit /etc/group and add the developers to the sbuild group.
300
301  9. Create /etc/passwd entries for each developer with "hesinfo
302     username passwd >> /etc/passwd" and then run pwconv.
303
304     (This is not necessary for the login system on the main root
305     environment, but is for the chroot environments.)
306
307  10. Append to /etc/approx/approx.conf the contents of
308       scripts/build-server/approx.conf.tail.
309      Change the last line from http://debathena.mit.edu/apt to
310       file:///afs/dev.mit.edu/system/athena10/apt
311      Add "$interval 0" above the repository lines (only necessary if
312       the version of approx as reported by "dpkg -l approx" is less
313       than 3.0)
314      Run: /etc/init.d/approx restart
315
316  11. Apply scripts/build-server/mount-defaults.patch.
317
318  12. For each supported DIST (see scripts/debian-versions.sh) run:
319
320        VG=/dev/blah scripts/build-server/make-chroot DIST i386
321        VG=/dev/blah scripts/build-server/make-chroot DIST amd64
322
323      substituting the name of the volume group for blah.  Omit the
324      amd64 line if DIST is sarge.
325
326      Example: VG=/dev/dink scripts/build-server/make-chroot gutsy i386
327
328  13. Create a local account for builder with:
329
330        adduser --uid 1047 --disabled-password builder
331
332      Make the home directory mode 700.  Install a
333      daemon/linux-build-10.mit.edu keytab in the home directory as
334      "keytab".  Install a copy of the secret repository-signing key
335      (athena10@mit.edu) in the home directory's keyring with
336      something like:
337
338        kinit builder
339        gpg --export-secret-keys athena10@mit.edu | \
340          ssh -l builder machinename gpg --import
341
342      Create a file named .sbuildrc in builder's homedir containing:
343
344        $nolog = 1;
345        $mailto = 'source-wash@mit.edu';
346        $log_dir = '/tmp/sbuild-logs';
347        $maintainer_name = 'Debian-Athena Project <debathena@mit.edu>';
348        $force_orig_source = 1;
349        $sbuild_mode = "user";
350        1;
351
352      Create a file named .ssh/config in builder's homedir containing:
353
354        Host svn.mit.edu
355          User debuildsvn
356
357      Add builder to the sbuild group in /etc/group.
358
359      Copy scripts/build-server/autodebathenify to builder's homedir.
360      Create a file named autodebathenify.config in builder's homedir
361      containing:
362
363        error_addr=source-wash@mit.edu
364        scripts_dir=/afs/dev.mit.edu/source/src-svn/debathena/scripts
365        build_dir=/afs/dev.mit.edu/project/release/10/build/third
366        packages="cyrus-sasl2-mit evolution-data-server lprng openafs tcsh"
367        export DEBATHENA_APT=/afs/dev.mit.edu/system/athena10/apt
368
369      Copy scripts/build-server/autodebathenify.cron to builder's
370      homedir and install it with "crontab autodebathenify.cron".
371
372      Create a file named .devscripts in builder's homedir containing:
373
374        DEBUILD_DPKG_BUILDPACKAGE_OPTS="-sa -us -uc -i -I.svn"
375
376      In builder's homedir, append to .profile:
377
378        PATH=${PATH}:/afs/dev.mit.edu/source/src-svn/debathena/scripts
379        export DEBATHENA_APT=/afs/dev.mit.edu/system/athena10/apt
380
381      and to .bashrc:
382
383        bld=/afs/dev.mit.edu/project/release/10/build
384
385Release engineer: Removing a build chroot on the build server
386-------------------------------------------------------------
387
388  1. Run VG=/dev/blah scripts/clean-schroots as root to make sure that
389     the build chroot is not mounted, substituting the name of the
390     volume group for blah.
391
392  2. Edit /etc/schroot/schroot.conf and delete the section
393     corresponding to the chroot.
394
395  3. Run lvchange -an blah/chrootname
396     substituting the name of the volume group for blah and the chroot
397     name for chroot.  Example: lvchange -an dink/gutsy-i386-sbuild
398
399  4. Run lvremove blah/chrootname
400
401Release engineer: Removing a dist from the apt repository
402---------------------------------------------------------
403
404  1. Inside the apt repository, edit conf/distributions and remove the
405     distribution section.
406
407  2. Run reprepro -Vb $DEBATHENA_APT --delete clearvanished
408
409Release engineer: Setting up a canonical build area
410---------------------------------------------------
411
412  1. Create an empty directory and cd into it.  The canonical build
413     area lives in /afs/dev.mit.edu/project/release/10/build.
414
415  2. Run gen-packages to create the table of normal Debian packages.
416
417  3. Run dasource to create subdirs and source packages for each
418     normal Debian package.
419
420  4. Create checkouts of the meta and third directories:
421
422     svn co svn+ssh://svn.mit.edu/athena/trunk/debathena/meta
423     svn co svn+ssh://svn.mit.edu/athena/trunk/debathena/third
424     chmod 777 meta/*
425
426     A couple of subdirectories of debathena/meta are normal Debian
427     packages, so this will create redundant copies of those.  Ignore
428     them; they won't be used.
429
430Release engineer: Adding a new suite
431------------------------------------
432
433This process is rarely performed and the infrastructure for it is
434imperfect.  Substitute the name of the new suite for "newdist" in all
435steps below.
436
437  1. Make sure the apt repository is up to date with respect to the
438     source tree for the existing dists.
439
440  2. Add the new dist to scripts/debian-versions.sh.  (It is not
441     necessary to add the new dist to codes at this point, but it must
442     be present in the gettag conditional.)
443
444  3. Create the new distribution in the apt repository's configuration
445     file.  Create the skeleton of the dist by installing at least one
446     equivs package from meta/ with "reprepro -Vb $DEBATHENA_APT
447     include newdistname file.changes".
448
449  4. On the build server, create a chroot for the new distribution as
450     documented above.  This may require downloading and installing a
451     more recent version of the debootstrap package from the
452     -backports dist corresponding to the build server's OS.
453
454  5. Set the DEBATHENA_BUILD_AREA environment variable to point to the
455     build area.
456
457  6. Fire up screen.
458
459  7. mkdir $DEBATHENA_BUILD_AREA/stamps.newdist.
460
461  8. cd into a checkout of debathena/scripts/build-server/build-all.
462
463  9. Edit Makefile (and check in the edit) so that suite is the new
464     distribution and psuite is the previously most recent Debian or
465     Ubuntu distribution.
466
467  10. Run "make deps.mk".
468
469  11. Run "make -k all STAMPS=$DEBATHENA_BUILD_AREA/stamps.newdist".
470      You can watch the builds happen in the other windows of the
471      screen session.  It's possible to do several builds at once with
472      make -j N.
473
474  12. debathenify packages will fail out; they must be built by hand.
475      When the build fails on one, cd into third/packagename in the
476      build area and run "./debathenify newdist-amd64 -A source binary
477      upload" and "./debathenify newdist-i386 binary upload".  Then
478      touch $DEBATHENA_BUILD_AREA/stamps.newdist/packagename.done" and
479      restart the build.
480
481      The newly created third/openafs/meta directories should be
482      chmodded 777 to work around a perl/AFS permissions issue.
483
484Release engineer: Maintaining autodebathenify
485---------------------------------------------
486
487autodebathenify is a cron job which runs hourly on the builder account
488and keeps the OpenAFS modules and modified packages under
489debathena/third up to date when there are upstream changes.  It relies
490on the following:
491
492  * builder@ATHENA.MIT.EDU has access to a local account named
493    debuildsvn on svn.mit.edu with read access to the athena
494    repository.
495
496  * builder@ATHENA.MIT.EDU has write access to the canonical build
497    area and apt repository in the dev cell.
498
499  * The builder account on the build machine has a copy of the signing
500    private key for the apt repository.
501
502The cron job will silently exit if it detects that it is already
503running.  If it fails for any other reason, it will send mail to
504source-wash@mit.edu and touch a file named autodebathenify.suppress
505which will prevent it from running again until manual intervention.
506It is important to get autodebathenify running smoothly or the apt
507repository will become out of date with respect to third-party
508packages, which in turn will compromise the user experience.
509
510Even if you don't notice failure mail, it's good to check on the
511status of autodebathenify from time to time.  To do this, get tickets
512as builder and ssh to linux-build-10 as builder.  Run "ls -l logs" to
513see what's been going on.  A logfile with size around 48K indicates
514that autodebathenify ran normally but didn't find any new work to do.
515A logfile with size around 60 means that autodebathenify.suppress
516exists and the cron job has stopped running.  A longer logfile
517indicates that autodebathenify attempted to build and upload a
518package.
519
520Possible failure cases include:
521
522  * One of the upstream apt repositories timed out during an "apt-get
523    update" of a chroot.  If this happens, you can just remove the
524    autodebathenify.suppress file to get the cron job to start running
525    again.
526
527  * autodebathenify tried to build an upstream version which already
528    exists.  If this happens, the build will fail at upload time.  If
529    this happens, there is a bug in the part of the debathenify-*
530    script which checks whether our apt repository already has the
531    expected version of the built package.
532
533  * Debian and Ubuntu have .orig files with the same name but
534    different contexts for a particular third-party package.  This has
535    only happened once, with bash (which is currently not configured
536    into autodebathenify for that reason).  We do not have a general
537    mechanism for resolving such issues at this time.
538
539  * The new upstream version of the package is sufficiently different
540    to cause our modifications to fail to apply, and our debathenify-*
541    script needs to be adapted appropriately.
542
543The cron job is run out of builder's home directory, but its canonical
544source location is in debathena/scripts/build-server in this
545repository, should it need to be modified.
546
547Release engineer: apt repository HTTP server setup
548--------------------------------------------------
549
550The apt repository server (athena10.mit.edu) is an ops virtual image
551with httpd and AFS installed.  At the moment, the only customization
552is two changes to /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf:
553
554  * The DocumentRoot is set to "/afs/dev.mit.edu/system/athena10".
555  * The Directory entry for /var/html/www is also changed to
556    "/afs/dev.mit.edu/system/athena10".
Note: See TracBrowser for help on using the repository browser.