Public SIMP yum repository structure and usage

yum repo structure:

./
└── simp/
     └── yum/
          ├── 6/
          ├── 6.3/
          ├── 6.3.0/
          ├── 6.3.1/
          ├── 6.4/
          ├── 6.4.0/
          └── unstable/

• Info for the structure:
  • 6: Rolling update of the latest stable 6 release, currently 6.3.1, eventually possibly 6.3.2, then 6.4.0, and so on, up until SIMP 7
    • Also contains all previous RPM versions for all previous SIMP 6 releases
  • 6.3: Rolling Latest 6.3 release, in this case 6.3.1
    • Also contains all previous RPM versions for all previous SIMP 6.3 releases
  • 6.3.1: Hard lock on specific components for 6.3.1
    • Only contains RPM versions for 6.3.1
  • Unstable: latest RPMs, not recommended
    • Contains all RPMs for previous builds as well as current Alpha/Beta/RC components.

Internet_Repos Update:

The update to simp-simp would be to fix the issues caused by PackageCloud updates. This would add a new variable for simp minor version, called simp_repo_version, and update the URLs from PackageCloud to the SIMP download server. There is currently a simp_version function that grabs the full SIMP version and EL Version (something like 6.3.0-0.el7). The new variable would use something like $simp_repo_version => $simp_version.split('.')[0..1].join('.') to grab '6.3' by default. Then this would be changeable in hiera to 6 or 6.3.1, etc. 

As with the yum repo structure, if a user keeps the default version, they will get all patches for SIMP 6.3, but never update to 6.4, unless they change the variable. If they change it to 6.3.1, they'll be locked at 6.3.1 and never get updated, if they change it to 6, they'll get every minor and patch update to SIMP 6.

Yum Install Update:

These same principles would apply to the SIMP yum install method. Repo files would be added the same way, and the user would be able to run yum install simp -v <simp_repo_version> with the same effects as above occurring with the install (6 would install latest SIMP 6 release, 6.3 would install latest version of SIMP 6.3, 6.3.1 would install 6.3.1 specifically). 

Proposed Changes

yum repos:

• Create structure as listed above, and ensure all files are accessible, and all major/minor folders are matched with the latest patch release for each
• Ensure archives are cleared out and anything pointing to them is updated
• Create auto-script to ensure that major and minor folders are updated as new folders are created (6 and 6.3 get updated when 6.3.2 gets added, etc)

simp-simp:

• Remove simp_internet_repos and simp_internet_dependencies manifests
  • purge simp_release_slug variable (seems unused other than above manifests)
• Create simp_repo manifest
  • Create simp_repo_version variable from simp_version... $simp_repo_version => $simp_version.split('.')[0..1].join('.')
  • Ensure variable can be set via hiera
• Update simp_platform RPM to include all repos and be able to install based on passed variable

 Initial proposal

 Provides stable releases repositories for each super-release 

 Provides "stable" rolling repos to get the latest super-release in each X.Y family

 The unstable repository still lumps everything together into a single bucket, which may not be useful for developers working parallel releases

 Provides stable releases repositories for each super-release 

 Provides rolling repos to get the latest X.Y super-release with additional "stable" RPM updates

  The unstable repository supports parallel development branches and nightly builds

  The criteria to determine if an RPM is "stable" enough to add to the rolling repo isn't clear yet

 The rolling repo assumes the next super-release will be a .z update