[Bug 2091293] Re: [SRU] Move WSL to new Microsoft WSL package format

Tue Dec 10 12:44:15 UTC 2024

** Description changed:

- Microsoft is moving to a new package format which will allow us to
- release a .wsl rootfs and will be published to releases.ubuntu.com. Move
- to that format.
+ [Context]
+ Microsoft recently announced a new format for WSL distributions that no longer depends on Windows application packages nor MS Store [1,2].
+ Instead distros are shipped as a single rootfs tarball with some special metadata and the ".wsl" extension (to allow special handling on Windows when a user clicks on such tarball).
+ Also, by no longer relying on MS Store, distro maintainers are now required to host their own images.
+ The new format addresses feedback Microsoft received from customers, specially in enterprises, so it's imperative to us to pioneer on supporting it to ensure we remain the first choice for WSL users.
+ The existing publication format remains valid for an indetermined amount of time, so we'll gradually migrate users of the existing Ubuntu WSL applications. New users will likely adopt the new format as distros become available.
+ 
+ To implement such format we need to patch the `livecd-rootfs` package to:
+ - handle the new configuration file that provides the above mentioned metadata (specifically for the ubuntu-wsl project);
+ - remove the special treatment we had for the upgrade policy per Ubuntu release application;
+ - and create the rootfs tarball named after the "livecd" naming convention with the ".wsl" extension.
+ 
+ The build artifacts are meant to be hosted at cdimage.ubuntu.com (for
+ daily builds) and releases.ubuntu.com (for the released images), similar
+ to what happens to Ubuntu Desktop or Ubuntu Server images.
+ 
+ Additionally, the `wsl-setup` package is set to ship the Windows icon, terminal profile template and the new initialisation script (automatically invoked by WSL itself during an instance installation). That script relies on binaries provided by adduser, gawk and passwd packages. Also, it's used to install the Ubuntu font on Windows, thus we update the package dependency list to include those packages.
+ While `livecd-rootfs` handles the piece of metadata that needs to change per Ubuntu release, the contents of wsl-setup remain static and release-agnostic. Since there are no more compiled binaries, we remove the build dependency on libsystemd-dev.
+ 
+ 
+ [Impact]
+ * Since all changes herein proposed to `livecd-rootfs` are introduced as hooks, other Ubuntu products and projects are not affected.
+ * wsl-setup is exclusive to Ubuntu WSL, so no other Ubuntu product or experience is affected.
+ * Current Ubuntu WSL instances that could get wsl-setup upgraded by `apt upgrade` won't be functionally affected, as no code will be executed as part of the upgrade or later.
+ * Only WSL users running the latest pre-release versions of WSL (2.4.4 and later) will be immediately affected by this change when images built with those changes become available (expected for 24.04.2).
+ 
+ 
+ [1] https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/whats-new-in-the-windows-subsystem-for-linux-in-november-2024/
+ [2] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/build-custom-distro

** Description changed:

  [Context]
  Microsoft recently announced a new format for WSL distributions that no longer depends on Windows application packages nor MS Store [1,2].
  Instead distros are shipped as a single rootfs tarball with some special metadata and the ".wsl" extension (to allow special handling on Windows when a user clicks on such tarball).
  Also, by no longer relying on MS Store, distro maintainers are now required to host their own images.
  The new format addresses feedback Microsoft received from customers, specially in enterprises, so it's imperative to us to pioneer on supporting it to ensure we remain the first choice for WSL users.
  The existing publication format remains valid for an indetermined amount of time, so we'll gradually migrate users of the existing Ubuntu WSL applications. New users will likely adopt the new format as distros become available.

  To implement such format we need to patch the `livecd-rootfs` package to:
  - handle the new configuration file that provides the above mentioned metadata (specifically for the ubuntu-wsl project);
  - remove the special treatment we had for the upgrade policy per Ubuntu release application;
  - and create the rootfs tarball named after the "livecd" naming convention with the ".wsl" extension.

  The build artifacts are meant to be hosted at cdimage.ubuntu.com (for
  daily builds) and releases.ubuntu.com (for the released images), similar
  to what happens to Ubuntu Desktop or Ubuntu Server images.

- Additionally, the `wsl-setup` package is set to ship the Windows icon, terminal profile template and the new initialisation script (automatically invoked by WSL itself during an instance installation). That script relies on binaries provided by adduser, gawk and passwd packages. Also, it's used to install the Ubuntu font on Windows, thus we update the package dependency list to include those packages.
+ Additionally, the `wsl-setup` package is set to ship the Windows icon, terminal profile template and the new initialisation script (automatically invoked by WSL itself during an instance installation). That script relies on binaries provided by adduser, cloud-init, gawk and passwd packages, which are all seeded. Also, it's used to install the Ubuntu font on Windows, thus we update the package dependency list to include those packages.
  While `livecd-rootfs` handles the piece of metadata that needs to change per Ubuntu release, the contents of wsl-setup remain static and release-agnostic. Since there are no more compiled binaries, we remove the build dependency on libsystemd-dev.
- 

  [Impact]
  * Since all changes herein proposed to `livecd-rootfs` are introduced as hooks, other Ubuntu products and projects are not affected.
  * wsl-setup is exclusive to Ubuntu WSL, so no other Ubuntu product or experience is affected.
  * Current Ubuntu WSL instances that could get wsl-setup upgraded by `apt upgrade` won't be functionally affected, as no code will be executed as part of the upgrade or later.
  * Only WSL users running the latest pre-release versions of WSL (2.4.4 and later) will be immediately affected by this change when images built with those changes become available (expected for 24.04.2).

- 
  [1] https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/whats-new-in-the-windows-subsystem-for-linux-in-november-2024/
  [2] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/build-custom-distro

** Description changed:

  [Context]
  Microsoft recently announced a new format for WSL distributions that no longer depends on Windows application packages nor MS Store [1,2].
  Instead distros are shipped as a single rootfs tarball with some special metadata and the ".wsl" extension (to allow special handling on Windows when a user clicks on such tarball).
  Also, by no longer relying on MS Store, distro maintainers are now required to host their own images.
  The new format addresses feedback Microsoft received from customers, specially in enterprises, so it's imperative to us to pioneer on supporting it to ensure we remain the first choice for WSL users.
  The existing publication format remains valid for an indetermined amount of time, so we'll gradually migrate users of the existing Ubuntu WSL applications. New users will likely adopt the new format as distros become available.

  To implement such format we need to patch the `livecd-rootfs` package to:
  - handle the new configuration file that provides the above mentioned metadata (specifically for the ubuntu-wsl project);
  - remove the special treatment we had for the upgrade policy per Ubuntu release application;
  - and create the rootfs tarball named after the "livecd" naming convention with the ".wsl" extension.

  The build artifacts are meant to be hosted at cdimage.ubuntu.com (for
  daily builds) and releases.ubuntu.com (for the released images), similar
  to what happens to Ubuntu Desktop or Ubuntu Server images.

- Additionally, the `wsl-setup` package is set to ship the Windows icon, terminal profile template and the new initialisation script (automatically invoked by WSL itself during an instance installation). That script relies on binaries provided by adduser, cloud-init, gawk and passwd packages, which are all seeded. Also, it's used to install the Ubuntu font on Windows, thus we update the package dependency list to include those packages.
+ Additionally, the `wsl-setup` package is set to ship the Windows icon, terminal profile template and the new initialisation script (automatically invoked by WSL itself during an instance installation). That script relies on binaries provided by adduser, cloud-init, gawk and passwd packages, which are all seeded. Also, it's used to install the Ubuntu font (provided by fonts-ubuntu) on Windows, thus we update the package dependency list to include those packages.
  While `livecd-rootfs` handles the piece of metadata that needs to change per Ubuntu release, the contents of wsl-setup remain static and release-agnostic. Since there are no more compiled binaries, we remove the build dependency on libsystemd-dev.

  [Impact]
  * Since all changes herein proposed to `livecd-rootfs` are introduced as hooks, other Ubuntu products and projects are not affected.
  * wsl-setup is exclusive to Ubuntu WSL, so no other Ubuntu product or experience is affected.
  * Current Ubuntu WSL instances that could get wsl-setup upgraded by `apt upgrade` won't be functionally affected, as no code will be executed as part of the upgrade or later.
  * Only WSL users running the latest pre-release versions of WSL (2.4.4 and later) will be immediately affected by this change when images built with those changes become available (expected for 24.04.2).

+ [Test Plan]
+ 
+ * Existing instances
+ * New instances on WSL older than 2.4.4
+ * New instances on WSL 2.4.4 or later
+ 
+ [Where problems could occur]
+ 
+ 
+ [Other Info]
+ 
  [1] https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/whats-new-in-the-windows-subsystem-for-linux-in-november-2024/
  [2] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/build-custom-distro

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2091293

Title:
  [SRU] Move WSL to new Microsoft WSL package format

Status in livecd-rootfs package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in wsl-setup package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in livecd-rootfs source package in Jammy:
  Confirmed
Status in wsl-setup source package in Jammy:
  Confirmed
Status in livecd-rootfs source package in Noble:
  Confirmed
Status in wsl-setup source package in Noble:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  [Context]
  Microsoft recently announced a new format for WSL distributions that no longer depends on Windows application packages nor MS Store [1,2].
  Instead distros are shipped as a single rootfs tarball with some special metadata and the ".wsl" extension (to allow special handling on Windows when a user clicks on such tarball).
  Also, by no longer relying on MS Store, distro maintainers are now required to host their own images.
  The new format addresses feedback Microsoft received from customers, specially in enterprises, so it's imperative to us to pioneer on supporting it to ensure we remain the first choice for WSL users.
  The existing publication format remains valid for an indetermined amount of time, so we'll gradually migrate users of the existing Ubuntu WSL applications. New users will likely adopt the new format as distros become available.

  To implement such format we need to patch the `livecd-rootfs` package to:
  - handle the new configuration file that provides the above mentioned metadata (specifically for the ubuntu-wsl project);
  - remove the special treatment we had for the upgrade policy per Ubuntu release application;
  - and create the rootfs tarball named after the "livecd" naming convention with the ".wsl" extension.

  The build artifacts are meant to be hosted at cdimage.ubuntu.com (for
  daily builds) and releases.ubuntu.com (for the released images),
  similar to what happens to Ubuntu Desktop or Ubuntu Server images.

  Additionally, the `wsl-setup` package is set to ship the Windows icon, terminal profile template and the new initialisation script (automatically invoked by WSL itself during an instance installation). That script relies on binaries provided by adduser, cloud-init, gawk and passwd packages, which are all seeded. Also, it's used to install the Ubuntu font (provided by fonts-ubuntu) on Windows, thus we update the package dependency list to include those packages.
  While `livecd-rootfs` handles the piece of metadata that needs to change per Ubuntu release, the contents of wsl-setup remain static and release-agnostic. Since there are no more compiled binaries, we remove the build dependency on libsystemd-dev.

  [Impact]
  * Since all changes herein proposed to `livecd-rootfs` are introduced as hooks, other Ubuntu products and projects are not affected.
  * wsl-setup is exclusive to Ubuntu WSL, so no other Ubuntu product or experience is affected.
  * Current Ubuntu WSL instances that could get wsl-setup upgraded by `apt upgrade` won't be functionally affected, as no code will be executed as part of the upgrade or later.
  * Only WSL users running the latest pre-release versions of WSL (2.4.4 and later) will be immediately affected by this change when images built with those changes become available (expected for 24.04.2).

  [Test Plan]

  * Existing instances
  * New instances on WSL older than 2.4.4
  * New instances on WSL 2.4.4 or later

  [Where problems could occur]

  [Other Info]

  [1] https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/whats-new-in-the-windows-subsystem-for-linux-in-november-2024/
  [2] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/build-custom-distro

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