Convert SystemV services to Upstart jobs in "main" (take 2)
= Problem Statement =
At present, there are 101 SystemV services in the Precise main archive that have not yet been converted to Upstart jobs(*). This needs to be recified.
= Important services that need conversion =
This is a selected list, but the following are important services that we could start with:
- rabbitmq
- open-iscsi
- bind9
- apache
- postfix
- puppet
- postgresql
- tomcat6
- memcached
= Rationale for Change =
- Upstart is our init system of choice (SystemV is considered legacy).
- Although Upstart does handle SystemV jobs, undesirable behaviour can and does result when there exist relationships between SystemV and Upstart jobs.
- Upstart jobs are easier to maintain than SystemV jobs.
- Upstart jobs are simpler than SystemV jobs.
- Upstart jobs place the burden of managing certain repeated tasks on Upstart, rather than requiring each SystemV service to re-invent the wheel (often badly).
- We wish to segregate SystemV jobs from Upstart jobs to optimize system shutdown.
- See http://
- To allow Upstart to be fully integrated into Debian, SysV services scripts *and* Upstart job files need to exist for a package.
= Proposal =
- Muster Community interest in an effort to port the remaining SystemV jobs to Upstart: It's a great way to learn Upstart!
- Consider having an online sprint to concentrate on this activity for a few days(?)
- Identify individuals who can help out when questions arise (jamesodhunt, spamaps, vorlon, etc?)
- Leverage the work done in Fedora to migrate away from SystemV.
- Concentrate on the most popular services first.
- Review all Upstart jobs.
- Thorough testing required.
= Questions =
- Aside from time, what is slowing down the conversion activity?:
- lack of examples? (We can blog and provide wiki examples)
- lack of familiarity with upstart job syntax? (We can hold education sessions)
- lack of ability to test the Upstart job versus the SysV service? (QA may be able to help here?)
- concerns over migration to "alternative init systems"? (there are no plans to switch)
- other?
= See Also =
https:/
(*) - this number has fallen from the 122 SysV services in natty, so the number is falling slowly :)
Blueprint information
- Status:
- Not started
- Approver:
- Steve Langasek
- Priority:
- Medium
- Drafter:
- James Hunt
- Direction:
- Approved
- Assignee:
- James Hunt
- Definition:
- Approved
- Series goal:
- Accepted for precise
- Implementation:
-
Unknown
- Milestone target:
-
ubuntu-12.04-beta-1
- Started by
- Completed by
Whiteboard
(Paste of http://
* Confusion over sysv vs. upstart
* Convert vs. enhancing rc to emit jobs
* emitting will add complexity / confusion
* conversion will allow pushing upstart jobs back to debian as upstart becomes acceptible in Debian -- slangasek is working on this currently and expects compatibility soon
* startpar updated in Debian to resolve LSB dependencies if upstart job is present
* apparmor-policies loads as sysvinit script and misses smbd/nmbd startup
* not converted to upstart for various reasons
* boot speed?
* mechanical difficulties
* apparmor profiles outside package could be loaded by service specific "start on starting x" jobs
* init scripts with custom actions
* defer to later
* High Priority
* apparmor sysv converted (apparmor-profiles also ships job file)
* vlan
*
* General Focus
* Known racey startup services
* locally accessed services (BIND, NIS, etc)
LSB-init "$named" maps to name service job
Users need help writing upstart jobs -- assert tests in pre-start
_______
Observations:
Cookbook should help identify examples (good *and* bad are important). Give actual example of good job (by linking to bzr branch version for a pkg maybe?)
Work items for precise-alpha-2:
[jamesodhunt] Update cookbook on how to write an Upstart job (using upstart-events(8), etc): DONE
[jamesodhunt] Add "initctl emit starting TYPE=SYSV" and equivalent stopping event to /etc/init.d/rc.
[jamesodhunt] post to ubuntu-devel with links to docs on conversion process.
obtain a list of SysV services with additional commands (aside from "start", "stop", "restart", "status"). These *could* be problematic to convert to Upstart jobs (Oh to have an OpenGrok server)
Work items for ubuntu-
[jamesodhunt] new initctl command to kill a "stuck job" (bug #406397)
[jamesodhunt] Investigate upstart bug highlighted by cups job (bug #855010)
[clint-fewbar] burndown graph of progress
[jdstrand] Document why apparmor cannot be converted to Upstart: DONE
[clint-fewbar] abstract job to represent named
Work items:
[stgraber] vlan package needs to be "eventified" (stgraber has complex networks for testing): DONE
make /etc/init.d/network do "ifdown -a && ifup -a"
