Factory Distribution

From openSUSE

What is the Factory Distribution?

The Factory distribution is the current state of the development for the next openSUSE release, openSUSE 11.3. The development releases of openSUSE (like Milestones or Release Candidates) are snapshots from this distribution.

This means the Factory distribution can be in any state, while the development releases do get some basic testing before the release. This is true between two distribution intervals (just after the release of the new distribution) as in the middle of a distribution test. The Factory distribution is always moving :-).

• Factory News contains a list of changes as they happen in the Factory Distribution.
• Live-CDs are automatically built from Factory. Please note that these are untested!
• USB Images are automatically built from Factory. Please note that these are untested!

What is it good for?

The Factory distribution is mainly useful for developers and experienced testers. It is used as an always up-to-date development or testing platform. For the most part, it is also possible only to update a certain package, if you use the last development release to validate a bug fix. It always provides the latest source code within the src.rpm files.

A fixed and submitted package should be available one day later within the Factory distribution.

What is the Factory Development Model?

• The Factory "code stream" is constantly developed. Every time a packager submits a fix, version update, new feature or new package it is built in Factory.
• From time to time, the Factory stream is "freezed" and only fixes are allowed to go in. No new features, no version updates and no new packages.
• On fixed dates (usually on Thursdays) installable medias are built from the Factory stream so that users can test the same "state" of the "frozen" Factory stream. First they are called milestones which then release candidates (RC), which finally lead to a gold master (GM).
• Once the goldmaster is ready, the frozen stream is "copied" to another location and the Factory stream is unfreezed again.

 ==>==Factory stream==>==|==>==thursday==>==thursday==>==some later thursday==>==|==>==Factory stream==>==
        |             |         |            |             |                  |         |
      Free            |   11.1 M1..       11.1 M2..     11.1 GM               |        Free
   Development        |                                                       |     Development
                      |                                                       |        again
                      |                                                       |
                      |                                                       |
                      11.1 starts                                             11.1 stops
                                                                              |
                                                                              ==>==11.1 Stream==>==

Then you have two streams:

Factory that receives:

• fixes
• new packages
• new features
• new versions of packages

A released product (like 11.1) that receives:

• security fixes
• fixes for serious bugs

Your fixes, package wishes or the results of your bug reports find always their way into Factory.

How does Communication work?

Development discussions happen on the openSUSE mailing lists, in Bugzilla, openFATE and on IRC (#opensuse-factory).

The most important mailing lists to follow Factory development are:

• opensuse-factory@opensuse.org - Discussion about all Milestone and RC versions of openSUSE

Subscribe | Unsubscribe | Help | Archives

• opensuse-packaging@opensuse.org - RPM packaging-oriented mailing list

Subscribe | Unsubscribe | Help | Archives

Besides those many more mailing lists for specific topics and development projects exist.

How can I contribute?

Factory development is being split into devel projects organized by topic areas, such as KDE, GNOME, Education, Java, and so on. Devel projects are responsible for sets of packages and organize themselves rather than following a top-down model of management. Bug fixes and new features have to be first commmitted to the devel project and from there submit requests will forward them to the main openSUSE:Factory project.

An easy way to start contributing is to submit patches for failing package builds, those are summarized on this Factory Status page. Submissions happen following the Build Service Collaboration process. The two blog entries Fixing Packages and Package Review in the Build Service detail it further.

How can I install/update it?

You can use and install it exactly like any other openSUSE distribution, even from a CD or from the Internet if the necessary openSUSE-NET.iso CD is available.

You should be able to update to the current Factory distribution from any other openSUSE version.

Note: Factory is not guaranteed to be in a consistent and installable state during the full development cycle.

• Factory Mirror List

How often does it update?

Each of the trees (x86, x86_64, ppc) is only synced when it is in a consistent state (all builds completed) and that usually happens only once or twice a week.

All trees should be in sync, when a new development version of openSUSE is released. Have a look at the Roadmap for the next date.

Bugreports about the Factory Distribution

Bugs discovered by using the Factory distribution may be caused by an unclean state. This means some of the packages got rebuilt, but depending packages have not yet been built or may not work with the newer packages. In general, it is wise to wait a few days and update again before creating a bug report. Most issues are very visible and will be solved anyway. In any case, you should always mention that you are using the Factory distribution in your bug report. Subscribe to the opensuse-factory mailing list