How to Deploy FGdiag

From FreekiWiki

There's a new server in the works to replace "raw", the one that runs all the machines in the testing area. The new server is Sarge-based (they tell me they needed some SCSI drivers from there). I want to take this opportunity to implement a more structured production cycle for FGdiag.

Last night we got basic Debian Sarge packaging of fgdiag going. So here's how I envision the cycle working:

1. Production Coordinator decides he has a version of fgdiag he wants to put in production.
2. Someone runs "admin/tagversion tag" on a CVS working copy of that version.
3. A Debian package of that version gets built:
   • Someone runs "admin/tagversion checkout"
   • then runs "dpkg-buildpackage" or equivalent.
4. The new fgdiag.deb package moves to the server (either directly by scp or by moving into an apt repository).
5. New version of fgdiag is installed on the server with standard Debian tools.
6. Flying monkeys do acceptance tests on the new version (HAH like that'll happen), and if it's broken, move back to the older Debian package.

Many of those steps in the middle can obviously be rolled together in one script.

Things this doesn't provide for:

• There's no parallel installation of known-good-version and not-yet-tried version, so we can't selectively ask people to use one or the other without reconfiguring the entire system. Discussion on how to enable this is welcome. (Vagrant says an upcoming lessdisks release has support for multiple chroots, which could be just the ticket.)

Things left to do:

• Come up with some acceptance tests for determining if Free Geek's testing area is running well enough. Even if we don't run through this entire list every time we upgrade the software, we do need something like this before we take raw out of production and replace it with the new thing. See ticket #442 for more details.
• Get raw's replacement in shape. Right now it has Sarge and lessdisks installed on it, but the diagnostic scripts don't run correctly. When setting this up, I'd like to use the new debian packages of fgdiag and copy *as little of the of the cruft from raw as possible*. (Ticket #441 in ASS Queue.)

Blah blah blah,

- Kevin

RiFraS: so keturn, that method seems to build nice, neat sarge packages for a woody system. 
Any thoughts on how we adapt it?
keturn: it'll build sarge packages if you run buildpackage on a sarge system, yes.  And honestly, 
I don't remember if it *will* build woody packages -- it might not, and that's probably why I 
wanted to get cyric running.   
keturn: if that's the case, you should probably take the source and do the normal 
python-package-install-dance ('python setup.py install')