[Trisquel-devel] Freedom fridays update, Feb 3

[Rubén Rodríguez]

Along with continuing to clean the merge request queue, today I focused
on fixing several issues in the build system that were blocking updates
from being built or pushed to the repos.

The build system now requires the origin repository to either be signed
with a known GPG key (Trisquel, Debian or Ubuntu repositories) or the
key needs to be explicitly listed in the helper under variable "REPOKEY".

Helpers with EXTERNAL repositories need this value to be updated.

Previously those helpers had only a variable SIGNKEY containing the id
of the key the uploader used to sign the dsc file, but not the more
important repository key. With today's update the SIGNKEY is optional,
and if omitted the uploader's key is fetched and verified automatically.
Adding a SIGNKEY is a good extra step for any helper having an EXTERNAL
repository, but no longer required.

This change also fixes Flidas' automated build system failing to build
helpers with EXTERNAL repositories. The build system is now working to
catch up with updates. Extra care will be needed in the next few days to
find helpers that need corrections.

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# Flidas development roadmap

I don't want to adventure a calendar yet, but what I can provide is a
list of the most outstanding groups of tasks pending for the release:

## Netinstall image

 All the helpers required to build a netinstall image are pending to
review and build:
make-anna make-apt-setup make-base-installer make-cdebconf make-cdrom-
checker make-choose-mirror make-debian-installer make-debootstrap
make-hw-detect make-lilo-installer make-main-menu make-migration-
assistant make-netcfg make-net-retriever make-newt make-pkgsel

I think that in terms of development priority we should tackle this
first, as it facilitates testing of the system for volunteers looking to
help with the development of any of the alternate editions (trisquel
mini, toast, triskel, etc)

## Trisquel mini and other editions

As usual I've focused on the default edition first. We can choose if we
want to consider alternative versions blockers for the overall release
of Flidas, or if we are OK with releasing the standard edition first and
then release derivatives when ready. I suggest the first option.

## Dist-upgrade from 6.0 and 7.0

A usually tedious and complicated task, but critical for the release.
The related helper is make-ubuntu-release-upgrader. Helping resolve this
task involves setting virtual machines with the previous releases and
running the release-upgrader script applying fixes until the upgrade
works smoothly. Due to signature requirements it is not easy to test
without full access to the production archive repository.

## Missing packages / features

There are many packages pending to build, some required for the main
edition, some for trisquel mini or other of the alternate editions, and
some packages that are edition-independent.

This is one of the main areas where volunteer work can be done
efficiently and without much bottlenecks. All that is needed is to
install a development image of T8 and install/build/improve the related
packages through the helpers system. Merge requests for the helpers
would then be published, reviewed and built.

------------

As mentioned, my next focus will continue to be on resolving merge
requests and making sure that the build system runs well and the queue
of pending builds reduces to 0. Other than this my next task to work on
will be the netinst image and the release upgrade script. Anybody is
welcome to contribute to those subprojects, and if there are volunteers
I'll be happy to help them approach those tasks.

Otherwise volunteers should focus on continuing to contribute helpers.

Happy hacking!