Bug#919508: ITP: warewulf -- systems management suite for Linux clusters
>>>>> "BS" == Brian Smith <bsmith@systemfabricworks.com> writes:
Hi Brian,
while I appreciate your initiative, I'm a bit skeptical about the
inclusion of warewulf in Debian for the following reasons:
a) Development in the project has stalled for quite a while. It used to
be basically a one-man show driven by Gregory M. Kurtzer who now runs a
startup (https://www.sylabs.io/) pushing the singularity container
software.
b) The software is quite complex and involves system components which
are rather security critical. Given that we cannot count on upstream
concerning fixing security issues, I consider it a substantial risk that
we might have a hard time struggling with critical security bugs.
c) Given its complexity, the software is also rather involved
concerning its packaging process. Hence, I believe it only makes sense to
include it in Debian if there is a strong commitment from you and at
least one other DD for the long-term maintenance.
Because of these points I wouldn't be in favor of including warewulf in
Debian. I looked at it myself about a possible inclusion in our own
cluster OS Qlustar for a while, but didn't find it suitable for
basically the above reasons.
Please note, this is only my personal opinion and if the majority of the
Debian HPC team thinks otherwise, I have no problem with it. I just
think it's better to have this discussion now, rather than after you have
done all the work and it possibly would have been in vain ...
Cheers,
Roland
BS> Package: wnpp Severity: wishlist Owner: "Brian T. Smith"
BS> <bsmith@systemfabricworks.com> X-Debbugs-CC:
BS> debian-devel@lists.debian.org, debian-hpc@lists.debian.org
BS> * Package name : warewulf
BS> Version : 3.8.1 Upstream Author : Gregory M. Kurtzer
BS> <gmkurtzer@gmail.com>
BS> * URL : https://warewulf.lbl.gov/
BS> * License : BSD-3-Clause-like
BS> Programming Lang: Perl, Bourne, Bash Description : Systems
BS> management suite for Linux clusters
BS> Warewulf is an operating system management toolkit designed to
BS> facilitate large scale deployments of systems on physical,
BS> virtual and cloud-based infrastructures. It facilitates elastic
BS> and large deployments consisting of groups of homogenous
BS> systems.
BS> Compute nodes are managed via the warewulf suite that is
BS> installed to a head node. The head node executes services used
BS> to provision the operating system to compute nodes, which
BS> execute an iPXE agent. The essential services are tftpd, dhcpd,
BS> httpd and nfsd. Warewulf consists of a set of scripts which
BS> automate configuration of these services via a command-line
BS> interface.
BS> The upstream Warewulf source package includes embedded source
BS> tarballs for parted, ipxe, e2fsprogs, busybox, libarchive and
BS> unionfs. Thus, the upstream builds include binary code for these
BS> packages that are already available for Debian. A goal of this
BS> project is to remove these embedded packages from the build and
BS> ship packages that target the "all" architecture.
BS> Warewulf's upstream build also includes packaging of a compute
BS> node initrd image, created from the embedded packages. The
BS> Debian package will not include an initrd image. Rather, a
BS> script to create the initrd image via mkinitramfs and custom
BS> hooks will be used by the administrator to build the compute
BS> node initrd image after installing warewulf to the head node.
BS> This technique has the benefit of easing an administrator's task
BS> of updating the initrd image, when necessary.
BS> Warewulf is used by administrators who need to manage clusters
BS> of linux computers, and also by those who need to deploy
BS> operating system images over a LAN. I use it in my development
BS> environment for these purposes.
BS> I plan to maintain Warewulf within the debian-hpc team, of which
BS> I am a member. As my role is Debian Maintainer, the initial
BS> upload will require assistance from a sponsor.
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