Greetings everyone,

[I have addressed this email to the LTS mailing list, with the security
team in BCC. This is so that replies to this thread that are not of
specific concern to the security team do not unnecessarily inundate
them.]

**** Prologue

As has been discussed on several occasions by now (e.g., on this mailing
list, in IRC, and in any of several different LTS meetings/gatherings in
the last few months), the LTS Team will be holding a sprint during
DebCamp 25, with two primary focus areas: some LTS Team-specific needs
and the security tracker. This message outlines various key bits of information. I have tried to keep this is as compact as possible and may
have left something out in the process, so please do not hesitate to
follow up with any questions or concerns. As I have been delayed in
completing the necessary planning and sending out related announcements,
I would ask that those who intend to participate please let me know ASAP (according to the guidelines specified below in the "Rules of
engagement" section).

**** Objective

The objective of the DebCamp 25 security tracker sprint is to improve
LTS Team tools and processes and along the way make improvements to the security tracker itself, as well as to associated/related tools,
services, and documentation.

The are many longstanding issues which affect the security tracker, both directly and indirectly. These issues affect the work of the LTS Team;
some to a greater extent and others to a lesser extent. However, it is
not necessary that things remain as they are. While we do continuously
improve the tooling which the LTS Team uses to interact with the
security tracker (and occasionally also which the security team uses as
well), it seemed beneficial to organize and execute a focused sprint
that would help to make substantial improvements in and around the
security tracker. In particular, there are some changes which would be
much more feasible if completed in a very short time and with the
participation of multiple developers. We hope that this will not only
result in marked improvements coming out of the sprint but will also
create momentum to continue making improvements for some time.

**** Issue categories and issue list

The issues being targeted for the sprint fall into the following three categories:

- Bug fixes and improvements to core elements of the security tracker
itself
- Bug fixes and improvements to tools and services which utilize the
security tracker in some way
- Documentation and miscellany which may or may not directly relate to
the security tracker

Rather than list the issues here in this email, I instead provide a link
to planning issue in Salsa: https://salsa.debian.org/lts-team/lts-extra-tasks/-/issues/87

Please look at the proposed issue list (the issue description will be
kept up to date with the latest canonical listing) and discuss any
proposed additions/deletions/other modifications in the comments of that
issue.

**** Rules of engagement

In order to try to keep things relatively organized, I would very much appreciate it if everyone could help by adhering the following rules of engagement.

******** Remember that the Security Team owns the tracker

It is vitally important to remember that the Security Team owns the
tracker; the LTS Team are guests with some added special privileges. We
must take great care that any change does not break an existing
workflow. If a change has even the possibility of breaking an existing workflow, then that requires prior coordination with the Security Team.
Note that a number of the candidate issues for the Sprint have the
possibility of altering the tracker in a way that may result in just
that sort of breakage. Potential work of this sort needs to be discussed
(in the issue or BTS bug which describes the problem/work); if a
response from the Security Team is not made in a timely fashion, PLEASE
PLEASE PLEASE do not ping the Security Team about this directly. Rather,
get in touch with the coordinators and we will mediate the exchange or
find an alternate path.

******** Declare intention to participate

If you plan to attend DebCamp and/or plan to participate *during* the designated sprint days, please let me know. If you prefer to let me know
via private email, then that is completely fine. Please note that the
more detail you can provide, the better; the most important thing being information about what specific days you plan to be present at the
DebCamp venue, so that we can ensure adequate workspace for everyone who
will be there.

******** Assign or claim issues


Because the list of issues targeted for the sprint is very likely to
evolve as the event nears (since work may be started before the event
itself, or may start between now and then), it is important to assign
yourself to any issue(s) you may be working on. For situations where an ownership claim is not feasible (i.e., the Debian BTS), make a comment
stating your intent to work on the issue. If you have specific interest
in an issue that someone else has already claimed, then get in touch
with that person. It may be that the issue could be split into distinct
parts, or that there is enough work to support concurrent claims/work on
the issue. Please keep this information up to date; if you stop working
on something or decide you won't be able to, then release the claim; if
an issue is completely resolved, then please make note of that (and let
me know so I can update the planning issue); etc.

******** Feel free to start working on issues before the sprint

While there is a particular emphasis on a concentrated effort to be
executed during the sprint at DebCamp itself, there is no particular
reason that work cannot start prior to and continue after the event. If
a particular issue is ready for work and you have the spare cycles to
begin the work, then please go ahead and do so, updating the status of
the issue(s) as work progresses. This is especially true of
brainstorming, design, and related sorts of tasks, that if completed in
advance will allow for a more fluid pace of work during the sprint.

******** Suggest improvements

At this point I have received fairly little input concerning the sprint
and the planned work. It is doubtless that I have overlooked things and
made mistakes. Please make sure to suggest improvements, modifications
to the issue list, etc.

Regards,

-Roberto
--
Roberto C. S�nchez

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