Ubuntu
probert package

[MIR] probert as dependency of curtin and subiquity

Bug #1830347 reported by Christian Ehrhardt  on 2019-05-24

This bug affects 1 person

Affects		Status	Importance	Assigned to	Milestone
	probert (Ubuntu)	Fix Released	Undecided	Unassigned

Bug Description

[Availability]
The package is already available in Ubuntu universe and builds for all
architectures. It creates only one binary which is mostly python and a
bit cpython.

[Rationale]
This is already used in curtin and subiquity and therefore is rather important
already. It will become an official dependency of curtin and therefore needs
to be promoted to main.

[Security]
It has no CVE history upstream or in Ubuntu so far.

[Quality assurance]
- The package does not ask debconf questions
- There are no long-term outstanding bugs which affect the usability of the
  program to a major degree.
- Bug status:
  - Ubuntu has three open bugs waiting for more feedback
  - Debian has no tracker as probert is Ubuntu only
  - Upstream has three open issues (none critical)
- The package is maintainerd well in Ubuntu (native to Ubuntu)
  - upstream as well as the package are owned by the server team
- The package scans HW and in that sense also "deals with exotic HW",
  but it does not require such HW
- The package ships a test suite and runs it at build time
- There are no dep8 tests, but probert is part of curtin and therefore covered
  by the regular server Team QA runs
- it has no d/watch file, but since upstream&package are owned by the same
  team that is not an issue
- there are only a few minor lintian warnings, nothing that needs an
  immediate fix.

[UI standards]

- This is a tool meant for use by other tools (curtin/subiquity). It contains
no end-user communication (that would need to be translated).
- no End-user application that would need a standard conformant desktop file.

[Dependencies]

- all dependencies (bcache-tools lvm2 mdadm multipath-tools util-linux
  zfsutils-linux python3 python3 python3-jsonschema python3-pyudev
  python3:any libnl-3-200 libnl-genl-3-200 libnl-route-3-200) are already
  in main

[Standards compliance]

Slightly outdated FHS, but generally ok (no major violations)

[Maintenance]

The Server team is already subscribed for to the package for maintenance

[Background]
The description seems correct and sufficient "This package provides a tool for
probing host hardware information and emitting a JSON report." no more
background to add.

Known TODOs:
- it is ok to have no d/watch since upstream has no releases (tarballs) and
  there is no d/watch the server team should add a debian/README.source file
  to the package explaining how a new release would be generated from git
  Filed at https://github.com/CanonicalLtd/probert/issues/67
- going forward it is time for a big bump in dh compat (still 9) and
  standards-version (probably ok as-is)
  Filed at https://github.com/CanonicalLtd/probert/issues/68

See original description

Christian Ehrhardt  (paelzer) on 2019-05-24

Changed in probert (Ubuntu):
assignee:	nobody → Christian Ehrhardt  (paelzer)