[tbb-bugs] #15578 [Tor Browser]: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS is EOL April 2015

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#15578: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS is EOL April 2015
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     Reporter:           |      Owner:  tbb-team
  mikeperry              |     Status:  new
         Type:  defect   |  Milestone:
     Priority:  normal   |    Version:
    Component:  Tor      |   Keywords:  tbb-gitian, TorBrowserTeam201504,
  Browser                |  AffectsTails
   Resolution:           |  Parent ID:
Actual Points:           |
       Points:           |
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Comment (by gk):

 Replying to [comment:4 intrigeri]:
 > Replying to [ticket:15578 mikeperry]:
 > > I think my preferred option long-term is to switch us to Debian guest
 VM images, but it looks like the only way to do that is to also switch to
 using a sketch python-vm-builder fork completed as a Summer of Code
 project way back in 2009: https://wiki.debian.org/VMBuilder
 >
 > I don't see any RFP (request for package) asking to get python-vm-
 builder in Debian on https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-
 bin/pkgreport.cgi?package=wnpp. Of course, just asking likely won't be
 enough, but if we don't even ask, certainly it won't ever happen :) Shall
 I file a RFP bug there?
 >
 > Also, it seems that vmbuilder does something very similar to live-build,
 so it might be worth looking into it.

 Thanks for the pointer. I think filing an RFP sounds like a good idea if
 we go with VMBuilder after we patched it in a way to support up-to-date
 Debian systems (we'll see if we do that).

 > Replying to [comment:1 gk]:
 > > I'd be inclined to argue Debian old-stable users (i.e. people using
 Wheezy then) should upgrade to stable
 >
 > Note that Debian oldstable is supported for a full year after a new
 stable is out. So users should, and will upgrade, sure, but not
 necessarily right now: that's what the transition period is for, and I
 doubt we can force users to go through the upgrade exactly when we want
 it. If we try to force it, I'm afraid that the end-result, for many Debian
 users, would simply be "what?! Tor Browser is broken", which isn't very
 nice UX, even with awesome blog posts explaining them (in English) why
 they should upgrade their OS.

 Good point and I agree with you.

 > > as I can't imagine we want to start switching to old stable for
 building our Linux packages
 >
 > Given Wheezy is pretty solid a release, supported for a full more year
 (and probably longer, as it seems likely that the LTS effort will apply to
 Wheezy too), this wouldn't seem _that_ crazy an option to me.
 >
 > It at least would do the first migration step, away from an unsupported
 Ubuntu release, to using Debian for the build VMs. And in a year, once
 Wheezy is officially deprecated (the LTS effort is mostly focussed on
 server use cases in practice), then we can definitely stop supporting
 Wheezy users, and then we can use Jessie VMs to build Tor Browser.

 Maybe, but note that Ubuntu Precise will be supported almost until end of
 2017 which might cause similar glibc issues if we want to support that
 long-term Ubuntu distro while pondering switching to Jessie.

 > Replying to [comment:3 mikeperry]:
 > > Unfortunately, I think the Tails people will not be able to use our
 builds if we switch to 12.04 before they switch to Jessy.
 >
 > Indeed, that's (unfortunately) very likely. Thanks for keeping the Tails
 usecase in mind!
 >
 > But perhaps it would be good to check before giving up, if it's cheap:
 Wheezy has glibc 2.13, Precise has 2.15 -- the delta perhaps isn't that
 big => maybe there's no new symbol introduced in 2.13..2.15 that Tor
 Browser builds would pick up? It might be, in the end, that it's only
 about one symbol or two, and then perhaps a thin compatibility layer hack,
 like the bitcoin folks have done, could be an acceptable workaround for a
 year?

 Having Lucid as the OS for the guest VM is exactly due to glibc issues we
 encountered in the past (a thing the Tor Messenger people had to learn as
 well). We could check if it is really just one or two symbols but I am not
 so happy about that idea given our numerous Tor Browser parts and the
 already fragile build system.

 > (BTW, I'm pretty sure we'll release Tails based on Jessie by the end of
 the year, but I doubt it'll happen before November.)

 So, sticking to Ubuntu Precise a la #15551 is no option then. The
 deterministic build system does already have enough kludges and I am not
 too eager to add another one in the Bitcoin style. Seems Mike was right
 and we should try to get Gitian working with Debian guest VMs. Exciting.

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/15578#comment:5>
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