Latest revision as of 15:57, 4 January 2021

Stop Shipping Individual Nodejs Library Packages

Summary

For Nodejs, Fedora should only package:

The interpreter, development headers/libraries, and the assorted tools to manage project-level installations (NPM, yarn, etc.).
Packages that provide binaries that users would want to use in their shell.
compiled/binary nodejs modules (for now)

Owner

Name: Troy Dawson
Email: tdawson@redhat.com
Name: Stephen Gallagher
Email: sgallagh@redhat.com
Name: [Nodejs SIG]
Email: nodejs@lists.fedoraproject.org

Current status

Targeted release: Fedora 34
Last updated: 2021-01-04
FESCo issue: #2523
Tracker bug: #1912515
Release notes tracker: #624

Detailed Description

The nodejs libraries have been approved to be bundled, and there is infrastructure in place for the bundling to work properly. Currently, it is recommended that packagers should create individual nodejs library packages instead of bundling all of the libraries into the package requiring them. This change is to make it default to bundle the nodejs libraries with the package that needs them, and retire the vast majority of nodejs library packages.

In summary, for Nodejs Fedora should only package:

The interpreter, development headers/libraries, and the assorted tools to manage project-level installations (NPM, yarn, etc.).
Packages that provide binaries that users would want to use in their shell.
compiled/binary nodejs modules (for now)

Feedback

There has been a discussion on the fedora nodejs mailing list about what to do with the extreme dependency problem of the nodejs library packages. Because of the extreme inter-dependency, upgrading almost any package causes others to break. It has caused most packages to rot, remaining on unsupported versions for years. Many of the nodejs packagers are giving up and orphaning their packages, which has caused even more problems.

An initial proposal was to find all of the important nodejs library packages and bundle those, making them easier to upgrade and maintain. But there was problems with figuring out what was important, and what versions should those have. During that discussion, this rather extreme solution of getting rid of all nodejs libraries was proposed. To our surprise, it has been the best received suggestion and fixes the most problems.

Benefit to Fedora

In Fedora 33, there are many nodejs libraries that are uninstallable, thus causing other programs based off them to also be uninstallable. This gets rid of that problem.
Packages in Fedora that use nodejs libraries will be able to use the library versions that upstream has tested and approved.
If a package in Fedora uses a nodejs library, the packager will not have to also package extra individual nodejs library packages. There have been times this has led to over 100 extra packages, each with their own package reviews and maintenance problems. This change will lower the workload on that packager, and possibly get more packages into Fedora.
The nodejs maintainers can concentrate on nodejs itself, instead of the whole nodejs library infrastructure.
Nodejs developers using Fedora will no longer have to worry about Fedora's global nodejs libraries causing conflicts or inconsistencies.

Scope

Proposal owners:

We will go through the Fedora release and determine what nodejs packages Fedora should package. We will implement nodejs library bundling on those we already own. For those that we do not own, we will work with their owners to implement nodejs library bundling.

As packages implement nodejs library bundling, we will monitor the nodejs libraries and note which ones are no longer required. When they are no longer required, we will retire them, if we own them. If we do not own them, we will work with the owners to retire them, if they wish.

Other developers:

For Fedora packagers whose package rely on nodejs libraries, please contact the [Nodejs SIG] and we will help you find the easiest way to bundle your nodejs libraries.

For Fedora nodejs library packages, look to see what depends on your library. If it looks like you can do so, retire your nodejs library. If you would like, give the [Nodejs SIG] admin to your nodejs libraries, and they will work through the process for you.

Release engineering: #Releng issue number (a check of an impact with Release Engineering is needed)

Policies and guidelines: https://pagure.io/packaging-committee/pull-request/1034

Trademark approval: N/A (not needed for this Change)

Alignment with Objectives:

Upgrade/compatibility impact

N/A

How To Test

Install all nodejs libraries in Fedora 33. Try to update to Fedora 34.
Try to install all packages that require nodejs in Fedora 34.
Install all packages that require nodejs in Fedora 33. Try to update to Fedora 34.

User Experience

non-developer end users should not see anything different. Their nodejs binaries should continue to work.

Nodejs developers using Fedora will no longer have to worry about Fedora's global nodejs libraries causing conflicts or inconsistencies.

Dependencies

As nodejs library packages are removed, we will work with the various packages that depend on them. We will help them bundle their nodejs libraries.

Contingency Plan

Since we will be bundling the nodejs binaries, before we remove their current dependencies, we will simply stop where we are at the freeze. There will be nothing to back out.

Contingency mechanism: N/A
Contingency deadline: N/A
Blocks release? N/A
Blocks product? N/A

Documentation

Node.js Packaging Guidelines will be changed with this pull request - #1034

Release Notes

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{admon/tip | Guidance | For details on how to fill out this form, see the [https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/program_management/changes_guide/ documentation].}}
+= Stop Shipping Individual Nodejs Library Packages =
-<!-- The actual name of your proposed change page should look something like: Changes/Your_Change_Proposal_Name.  This keeps all change proposals in the same namespace -->
+== Summary ==
-= Nodejs libraries should be bundled by default =
+For Nodejs, Fedora should only package:
+* The interpreter, development headers/libraries, and the assorted tools to manage project-level installations (NPM, yarn, etc.).
+* Packages that provide binaries that users would want to use in their shell.
+* compiled/binary nodejs modules (for now)
-== Summary ==
+== Owner ==
-The nodejs libraries have been approved to be bundled, and there is infrastructure in place for the bundling to work properly.  Currently, it is recommended that packagers should create individual nodejs library packages instead of bundling all of the libraries into the package requiring them.
-This change is to make it default to bundle the nodejs libraries with the package that needs then, and retire the vast majority of nodejs library packages.
-Creating a nodejs library package will be the exception, instead of the rule.
-== Owner ==
+* Name: [[User:tdawson| Troy Dawson]]
-<!--
+* Email: tdawson@redhat.com
-For change proposals to qualify as self-contained, owners of all affected packages need to be included here. Alternatively, a SIG can be listed as an owner if it owns all affected packages.
+* Name: [[User:sgallagh| Stephen Gallagher]]
-This should link to your home wiki page so we know who you are.
+* Email: sgallagh@redhat.com
--->
+* Name: [[https://developer.fedoraproject.org/tech/languages/nodejs/SIG.html| Nodejs SIG]]
-* Name: [[User:FASAcountName| Your Name]]
+* Email: nodejs@lists.fedoraproject.org
-<!-- Include you email address that you can be reached should people want to contact you about helping with your change, status is requested, or technical issues need to be resolved. If the change proposal is owned by a SIG, please also add a primary contact person. -->
-* Email: <your email address so we can contact you, invite you to meetings, etc. Please provide your Bugzilla email address if it is different from your email in FAS>
 <!--- UNCOMMENT only for Changes with assigned Shepherd (by FESCo)
 * FESCo shepherd: [[User:FASAccountName| Shehperd name]] <email address>
@@ Line 27: / Line 25: @@
 == Current status ==
-[[Category:ChangePageIncomplete]]
+[[Category:ChangeAcceptedF34]]
 <!-- When your change proposal page is completed and ready for review and announcement -->
 <!-- remove Category:ChangePageIncomplete and change it to Category:ChangeReadyForWrangler -->
@@ Line 37: / Line 35: @@
 <!-- [[Category:SystemWideChange]] -->
-* Targeted release: [[Releases/<number> | Fedora <number> ]]
+* Targeted release: [[Releases/34 | Fedora 34 ]]
 * Last updated: <!-- this is an automatic macro — you don't need to change this line -->  {{REVISIONYEAR}}-{{REVISIONMONTH}}-{{REVISIONDAY2}}
 <!-- After the change proposal is accepted by FESCo, tracking bug is created in Bugzilla and linked to this page
@@ Line 46: / Line 44: @@
 CLOSED as NEXTRELEASE -> change is completed and verified and will be delivered in next release under development
 -->
-* FESCo issue: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>
+* FESCo issue: [https://pagure.io/fesco/issue/2523 #2523]
-* Tracker bug: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>
+* Tracker bug: [https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1912515 #1912515]
-* Release notes tracker: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>
+* Release notes tracker: [https://pagure.io/fedora-docs/release-notes/issue/624 #624]
 == Detailed Description ==
-<!-- Expand on the summary, if appropriate.  A couple sentences suffices to explain the goal, but the more details you can provide the better. -->
+The nodejs libraries have been approved to be bundled, and there is infrastructure in place for the bundling to work properly.  Currently, it is recommended that packagers should create individual nodejs library packages instead of bundling all of the libraries into the package requiring them.
+This change is to make it default to bundle the nodejs libraries with the package that needs them, and retire the vast majority of nodejs library packages.
+In summary, for Nodejs Fedora should only package:
+* The interpreter, development headers/libraries, and the assorted tools to manage project-level installations (NPM, yarn, etc.).
+* Packages that provide binaries that users would want to use in their shell.
+* compiled/binary nodejs modules (for now)
 == Feedback ==
-<!-- Summarize the feedback from the community and address why you chose not to accept proposed alternatives. This section is optional for all change proposals but is strongly suggested. Incorporating feedback here as it is raised gives FESCo a clearer view of your proposal and leaves a good record for the future. If you get no feedback, that is useful to note in this section as well. For innovative or possibly controversial ideas, consider collecting feedback before you file the change proposal. -->
+There has been a discussion on the fedora nodejs mailing list about what to do with the extreme dependency problem of the nodejs library packages.  Because of the extreme inter-dependency, upgrading almost any package causes others to break.  It has caused most packages to rot, remaining on unsupported versions for years.  Many of the nodejs packagers are giving up and orphaning their packages, which has caused even more problems.
+An initial proposal was to find all of the important nodejs library packages and bundle those, making them easier to upgrade and maintain.  But there was problems with figuring out what was important, and what versions should those have.  During that discussion, this rather extreme solution of getting rid of all nodejs libraries was proposed.  To our surprise, it has been the best received suggestion and fixes the most problems.
 == Benefit to Fedora ==
-<!-- What is the benefit to the distribution?  Will the software we generate be improved? How will the process of creating Fedora releases be improved?
+* In Fedora 33, there are many nodejs libraries that are uninstallable, thus causing other programs based off them to also be uninstallable.  This gets rid of that problem.
+* Packages in Fedora that use nodejs libraries will be able to use the library versions that upstream has tested and approved.
-      Be sure to include the following areas if relevant:
+* If a package in Fedora uses a nodejs library, the packager will not have to also package extra individual nodejs library packages.  There have been times this has led to over 100 extra packages, each with their own package reviews and maintenance problems.  This change will lower the workload on that packager, and possibly get more packages into Fedora.
-      If this is a major capability update, what has changed?
+* The nodejs maintainers can concentrate on nodejs itself, instead of the whole nodejs library infrastructure.
-           For example: This change introduces Python 5 that runs without the Global Interpreter Lock and is fully multithreaded.
+* Nodejs developers using Fedora will no longer have to worry about Fedora's global nodejs libraries causing conflicts or inconsistencies.
-      If this is a new functionality, what capabilities does it bring?
-           For example: This change allows package upgrades to be performed automatically and rolled-back at will.
-      Does this improve some specific package or set of packages?
-           For example: This change modifies a package to use a different language stack that reduces install size by removing dependencies.
-      Does this improve specific Spins or Editions?
-           For example: This change modifies the default install of Fedora Workstation to be more in line with the base install of Fedora Server.
-      Does this make the distribution more efficient?
-           For example: This change replaces thousands of individual %post scriptlets in packages with one script that runs at the end.
-      Is this an improvement to maintainer processes?
-           For example: Gating Fedora packages on automatic QA tests will make rawhide more stable and allow changes to be implemented more smoothly.
-      Is this an improvement targeted as specific contributors?
-           For example: Ensuring that a minimal set of tools required for contribution to Fedora are installed by default eases the onboarding of new contributors.
-     When a Change has multiple benefits, it's better to list them all.
+== Scope ==
+* Proposal owners:
+We will go through the Fedora release and determine what nodejs packages Fedora should package. We will implement nodejs library bundling on those we already own.  For those that we do not own, we will work with their owners to implement nodejs library bundling.
-     Consider these Change pages from previous editions as inspiration:
+As packages implement nodejs library bundling, we will monitor the nodejs libraries and note which ones are no longer required.  When they are no longer required, we will retire them, if we own them.  If we do not own them, we will work with the owners to retire them, if they wish.
-     https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/Annobin (low-level and technical, invisible to users)
-     https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/ParallelInstallableDebuginfo (low-level, but visible to advanced users)
-     https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/VirtualBox_Guest_Integration (primarily a UX change)
-     https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/NoMoreAlpha (an improvement to distro processes)
-     https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/perl5.26 (major upgrade to a popular software stack, visible to users of that stack)
--->
-== Scope ==
+* Other developers:
-* Proposal owners:
+For Fedora packagers whose package rely on nodejs libraries, please contact the [[https://developer.fedoraproject.org/tech/languages/nodejs/SIG.html| Nodejs SIG]] and we will help you find the easiest way to bundle your nodejs libraries.
-<!-- What work do the feature owners have to accomplish to complete the feature in time for release?  Is it a large change affecting many parts of the distribution or is it a very isolated change? What are those changes?-->
-* Other developers: N/A (not a System Wide Change) <!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->
+For Fedora nodejs library packages, look to see what depends on your library.  If it looks like you can do so, retire your nodejs library.  If you would like, give the [[https://developer.fedoraproject.org/tech/languages/nodejs/SIG.html| Nodejs SIG]] admin to your nodejs libraries, and they will work through the process for you.
-<!-- What work do other developers have to accomplish to complete the feature in time for release?  Is it a large change affecting many parts of the distribution or is it a very isolated change? What are those changes?-->
 * Release engineering: [https://pagure.io/releng/issues #Releng issue number] (a check of an impact with Release Engineering is needed) <!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->
@@ Line 99: / Line 88: @@
 The issue is required to be filed prior to feature submission, to ensure that someone is on board to do any process development work and testing and that all changes make it into the pipeline; a bullet point in a change is not sufficient communication -->
-* Policies and guidelines: N/A (not a System Wide Change) <!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->
+* Policies and guidelines: https://pagure.io/packaging-committee/pull-request/1034 <!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->
 <!-- Do the packaging guidelines or other documents need to be updated for this feature?  If so, does it need to happen before or after the implementation is done?  If a FPC ticket exists, add a link here. -->
 * Trademark approval: N/A (not needed for this Change)
-<!-- If your Change may require trademark approval (for example, if it is a new Spin), file a ticket ( https://fedorahosted.org/council/ ) requesting trademark approval from the Fedora Council. This approval will be done via the Council's consensus-based process. -->
 * Alignment with Objectives:
@@ Line 109: / Line 97: @@
 == Upgrade/compatibility impact ==
+N/A
 <!-- What happens to systems that have had a previous versions of Fedora installed and are updated to the version containing this change? Will anything require manual configuration or data migration? Will any existing functionality be no longer supported? -->
-<!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->
-N/A (not a System Wide Change)
 == How To Test ==
-<!-- This does not need to be a full-fledged document. Describe the dimensions of tests that this change implementation is expected to pass when it is done.  If it needs to be tested with different hardware or software configurations, indicate them.  The more specific you can be, the better the community testing can be.
-Remember that you are writing this how to for interested testers to use to check out your change implementation - documenting what you do for testing is OK, but it's much better to document what *I* can do to test your change.
+* Install all nodejs libraries in Fedora 33.  Try to update to Fedora 34.
+* Try to install all packages that require nodejs in Fedora 34.
+* Install all packages that require nodejs in Fedora 33.  Try to update to Fedora 34.
-A good "how to test" should answer these four questions:
+== User Experience ==
+non-developer end users should not see anything different.  Their nodejs binaries should continue to work.
-. What special hardware / data / etc. is needed (if any)?
+Nodejs developers using Fedora will no longer have to worry about Fedora's global nodejs libraries causing conflicts or inconsistencies.
-. How do I prepare my system to test this change? What packages
-need to be installed, config files edited, etc.?
-. What specific actions do I perform to check that the change is
-working like it's supposed to?
-. What are the expected results of those actions?
--->
-<!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->
-N/A (not a System Wide Change)
-== User Experience ==
 <!-- If this change proposal is noticeable by users, how will their experiences change as a result?
@@ Line 145: / Line 124: @@
 == Dependencies ==
+As nodejs library packages are removed, we will work with the various packages that depend on them. We will help them bundle their nodejs libraries.
 <!-- What other packages (RPMs) depend on this package?  Are there changes outside the developers' control on which completion of this change depends?  In other words, completion of another change owned by someone else and might cause you to not be able to finish on time or that you would need to coordinate?  Other upstream projects like the kernel (if this is not a kernel change)? -->
-<!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->
-N/A (not a System Wide Change)
 == Contingency Plan ==
+Since we will be bundling the nodejs binaries, before we remove their current dependencies, we will simply stop where we are at the freeze.  There will be nothing to back out.
-<!-- If you cannot complete your feature by the final development freeze, what is the backup plan?  This might be as simple as "Revert the shipped configuration".  Or it might not (e.g. rebuilding a number of dependent packages).  If you feature is not completed in time we want to assure others that other parts of Fedora will not be in jeopardy.  -->
+* Contingency mechanism: N/A
-* Contingency mechanism: (What to do?  Who will do it?) N/A (not a System Wide Change)  <!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->
+* Contingency deadline: N/A
-<!-- When is the last time the contingency mechanism can be put in place?  This will typically be the beta freeze. -->
+* Blocks release? N/A
-* Contingency deadline: N/A (not a System Wide Change)  <!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->
+* Blocks product? N/A
-<!-- Does finishing this feature block the release, or can we ship with the feature in incomplete state? -->
-* Blocks release? N/A (not a System Wide Change), Yes/No <!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->
-* Blocks product? product <!-- Applicable for Changes that blocks specific product release/Fedora.next -->
 == Documentation ==
-<!-- Is there upstream documentation on this change, or notes you have written yourself?  Link to that material here so other interested developers can get involved. -->
+[https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/packaging-guidelines/Node.js/| Node.js Packaging Guidelines] will be changed with this [https://pagure.io/packaging-committee/pull-request/1034| pull request - #1034]
-<!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->
-N/A (not a System Wide Change)
 == Release Notes ==

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