Improve handling of release announcements in update-manager

Registered by Colin Watson

The release announcements displayed by update-manager are currently static files on changelogs.ubuntu.com, and not localisable. Improve this.

Blueprint information

Status:
Not started
Approver:
Steve Langasek
Priority:
Low
Drafter:
Michael Vogt
Direction:
Approved
Assignee:
Michael Vogt
Definition:
Approved
Series goal:
Accepted for oneiric
Implementation:
Unknown
Milestone target:
None

Related branches

Sprints

Whiteboard

Work items:
talk to Gary/Ivanka about a "Whats new" web-page that we can display before the upgrade (and i18n of that): TODO
when such a page exists use the same release notes url in u-m as ubiqity does (including the query string with flavor of ubuntu): DONE
talk to matt (newz200) about getting same redirects for upgrade notes as release notes: TODO
change the default check time from release upgrade from every 48h to every 7 days (to get the benefit of spreading the load more evenly): DONE
make update-manager and check-release-upgrade-gtk use the same webkit widget and URL: DONE

URL USAGE:
Ubiquity uses:
  http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes?os=ubuntu&ver=11.04&lang=${LANG}
Upgrades notes on the www:
  http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/upgrade

SESSION NOTES:
Localized release announcements!

Idea: have a system where someone uploads release announcements to, gets translated by community, etc.

Release announce tends to be same from one release to the next
 - Contains a lot of words, no "what's new in new version" stuff

marketing/desktop leads should give this announcement a lookover, as currently it's not very inspiring to upgrade

If you don't upgrade with update manager, on 10.10 you get a popup with HTML that's a GTK app that gives you "Don't upgrade / Ask me later / Yes, upgrade now"
 - very hard to user test the effectiveness of this...does it inspire upgrades, does it give the impression it won't stop pesetering?"
 Program name is check-new-release-gtk
/usr/lib/update-manager/check-new-release-gtk

If the current blurb is replaced with a webpage by marketing, [K/X/L/Ed]ubuntu should also be considered

Could show this sort of image:
 http://www.markshuttleworth.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/ubuntu-release-cycle.png
 also similar to the wikipedia image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ubuntu_releases#Version_timeline

Release notes are currently translatable, same process could be used for upgrade notes

staggering release upgrades would lighten load on mirrors dramatically, smooth upgrade process for people who were a bit later

Action:
 - talk to Gary/Ivanka about a upgrades web-page (and i18n of that)
 - ask if the web team would like to do a timeline image, if they have the time, and if this is wanted, etc
 - talk about making an upgrade version of the installation slideshow
 - talk to matt (newz200) about getting same redirects for upgrade notes as release notes
- use the same release notes url as ubiqity does (including the query string)
- when checking the upgrade notes, use a query string like ubiquity (that allows the web team to use a similar redirect table)
 - change the default check time from every 48h to every 7 days (to get the benefit of spreading the load more evenly)
 - if u-m comes automatically (because of e.g. a security update) consider not showing the "release upgrade now" button

(?)

Work Items

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