This software is copyright under GPL. See near end file for details...
This is a pile of random useful bits for developers. (aka notes to myself ;-)
Project Source code is managed using a git repository provided by sourceforge.net. Git ( http://git-scm.com/ ) provides a fully distributed development model, so one can exchange patches arbitrarily among developers. On the sf.net repository, the 'master' branch is the final integration target for future releases.
the following checks out the master branch of the source code tree and puts it in the drobo-utils subdirectory of the current tree.
git clone ssh://username@drobo-utils.git.sourceforge.net/gitroot/drobo-utils/drobo-utils drobo-utils
Before doing Any commits, ensure that the author fields are appropriately set. One can obtain patches applied to the branch with git pull, and commit patches for distribution with git push.
To build the package from source, there are a number of other packages needed:
boule% sudo aptitude install debhelper python2.5-dev boule% sudo aptitude install python-docutils boule%
The second line only required to build documentation. On the other hand, to get a complete list of packages you need, it is best to use a shell window to grep in the Debian package control file (which defines what the dependencies are for the build system):
peter@pepino% grep Depend debian/control Build-Depends: debhelper (>= 5), python2.5-dev, python-docutils Depends: ${shlibs:Depends}, ${misc:Depends}, parted peter@pepino%
To ensure the correct author on patches created, make sure to set your author settings. Something like the following is appropriate if you use a single identity for all your code contributions:
boule% git config --global user.name "firstname lastname" boule% git config --global user.email "developer@sourceforge.net" boule%
Others may wish for the identity to be associated with each project.
Sometimes, when there are issues, the correction gets checked in, but there hasn't been time to do a full release process. If you really need the fix, then your only option is to get it from the developers' git repository. If you are told 'it is in git', that refers to the git source code management system, and the server for that is at sourceforge.net. How to get it:
# git clone ssh://developer@drobo-utils.git.sourceforge.net/gitroot/drobo-utils/drobo-utils mine # cd mine # go into the source directory you downloaded # ./drobom status # try it out... # python setup.py install # install it in system places... # drobom status # try it out... # git pull # get any changes made since the git clone was done. # python setup.py install # install the changes in system places.
Sample checkout of a stable version. To view available branches:
% git branch -r origin/HEAD -> origin/master origin/master origin/noC origin/peter origin/r0.2.1 origin/r0_3_3 origin/r0_4_0 origin/r0_5_0 origin/r0_6_0
Where a version is something like r0_4_0. then you can pick anyone to work with:
% git branch r0_4_0 -r origin/r0_4_0 Branch r0_4_0 set up to track remote branch r0_4_0 from origin. % git checkout r0_4_0 Switched to branch 'r0_4_0' %
When you use git to get a tree, it keeps copies of metadata to be able to track changes. If you want a copy that is contains no git cruft, rm -rf .git in the root of the source tree.
If you are mixing downloaded packages and source installs, check out the next section for gotchas.
The 'setup.py' script, mentioned in the previous section, is a convention from the distutils python packaging system. distutils installation is slightly different from installation from debian packages. There doesn't seem to be a distutils way to remove a package. touch all the files, do an installation, then manually remove the files it installed.
drobo-utils has been picked up for inclusion in debian. The "real" packaging for debian packages is kept in a separate tree, and maintained by debian developers.
The debian/ setup puts stuff in /usr/sbin while setup.py puts things in /usr/bin. Python install does not install man pages either, which the dpkg takes care of. The libs are placed differently too. haven't reviewed for other conflicts, least confusing to use one or the other method on a system.
(if you do distutils install, then remove the debian package via: dpkg --purge drobo-utils)
Procedure:
1 - make a branch # assuming you have a local repository... git branch <branch> # creates the branch, from the cwd (ought to be master) git checkout <branch> # switches current dir to the branch. 2 - Stamp the branch with version vi CHANGES.txt # complete change manifest for release vi debian/changelog # copy manifest from txt, add signature. vi setup.py # edit version vi Drobo.py # edit VERSION 3 - Build packages for testing & Install them. (see separate recipe.) 4 - Run QA. Record results of release tests in the branch (QA.txt) As new tests are created, modify QA.txt on trunk for to keep references for the next release. 5 - Commit & Push QA'd branch git commit -a git push origin origin:refs/heads/<branch>
QA.txt is a quality assurance log. The version on the trunk of the releases indicates the QA procedure to be applied to the next version during the release process. Since a branch is created for each release, the version of QA.txt acts as a quality log for that release. so one can do a git checkout, or git export to get the quality log for any release (QA.txt introduce in version 0.4.0)
Assumes you have installed the Build dependencies:
# obtain a fresh tree % git clone ssh://user@drobo-utils.git.sourceforge.net/gitroot/drobo-utils/<version> drobo-utils-<version> % cd drobo-utils-<version> % rm -rf .git # get rid of Git cruft, yielding a raw source tree. % chmod 755 debian/rules # I dunno why the permissions are wrong... # this debian/ config is just for non-distro packages. # builds for debian and Ubuntu. % dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot % cd .. # rename it for whatever distro is appropriate... % mv drobo_utils_0.3.3-1_i386 --> droboutils_0.3.3-1_i386_ubunutuIntrepid.deb # rebuild the source tar because it will have the 'debian' link in it. % cd drobo-utils-0.99.9 % rm debian % cd .. % tar -czvf drobo-utils-0.3.3-1.tgz drobo-utils-0.99.9
apply QA tests. as per QA.txt recording results there.
use the restructured text tools (from the python-docutils package.) to build things using:
% make doc
Have a look at Makefile for how that works. update the web site:
% scp README.html <user>,drobo-utils@web.sourceforge.net:htdocs
Drobo is the only consumer-level storage unit that does Thin Provisioning (allocating a device larger than the physical space available, allowing space upgrades without OS changes.) Drobo does this by understanding the file system blocks, which is why it only supports a very limited set of file systems and cannot support full disk encryption.
There is considerable industry activity about adding ATA TRIM and corresponding SCSI UNMAP commands. These commands, for their respective command sets, add the ability for the operating systems' file system code to indicate blocks that are not in use to storage units. Drobo would work with any file system that uses these commands, with far less firmware. On linux, that file systems that are starting to support TRIM/DISCARD are: ext4, btrfs, and xfs. It may also help with the inherent limitations around full disk encryption.
These commands are still maturing in support. Long term, they seem like The right thing to do.
(2009/12/30)
Revision date: 2009/12/27
copyright:
Drobo Utils Copyright (C) 2008,2009 Peter Silva (Peter.A.Silva@gmail.com) Drobo Utils comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; For details type see the file named COPYING in the root of the source directory tree.
version 9999, somewhen