JaiaBot Repositories

The JaiaBot source code lives in the jaiabot Git repository (https://github.com/jaiarobotics/jaiabot).

It consists of source code that is compiled into a variety of binary applications and libraries to be run on the target platforms (vehicles and base station computers). This compilation can be carried out manually by the developers on their computers and automatically be the CircleCI service for the target hardware. See Building and CI/CD for more details.

• jaiabot
  • src: Source code (C++ primarily) that is built into compiled code (binaries and libraries)
  • rootfs: Root filesystem generation for jaiabot (prior to 1.12.0 this was the separate jaiabot-rootfs-gen repository).
  • debian: Debian packaging files for jaiabot (prior to 1.12.0 this was the separate jaiabot-debian repository).

Release Branches

jaiabot manages several release series at once (up to three supported, and two unsupported):

• Development (unsupported) - Code under active development until first release
• Early Access - Code for six months after first release.
• Stable - Stable code that receives regular feature updates, bug patches and security updates.
• Maintenance - Code that does not receive new features, but is still receiving bug patches and security updates.
• Legacy (unsupported) - Code after Ubuntu end of life.

The lifecycle of supported releases is given in this figure:

Ubuntu Releases

Each jaiabot release series is aligned to an long-term support (LTS) release of Ubuntu (except 1.y which supports two LTS releases as a special case):

• jaiabot 1.y: Ubuntu 20.04 (focal) and 22.04 (jammy)
• jaiabot 2.y (forthcoming, expected Oct 2024): Ubuntu 24.04 (noble)
• jaiabot 3.y (future, expected Oct 2026): Ubuntu 26.04

Updates to create new release branch

Whenever a new release branch is created, the following must be done:

• Update text in this document for Active/Stable/Maintenance branches.
• Create new release branch (X.y) where X is one greater than the current Testing. For example, git checkout -b 2.y 1.y
• Update jaiabot/scripts/common-versions.env with the new Ubuntu version to support by default (e.g., 'noble') and this new release branch (e.g., '2.y').
• Update jaiabot/scripts/packages/update_gobysoft_mirror.sh to include an entry for the new release branch and add a 'distros_for_releases' key mapping the supported Ubuntu distros for this release branch (comma separated).
  • Copy to /opt/jaia_packages on packages.jaia.tech.
  • Run ./update_gobysoft_mirror.sh on packages.jaia.tech to pull the new staging mirror for this release branch.
• Update jaiabot/.circleci/config.yml:
  • Change to new release branch in all the "filter-template-*" lists.
  • Change distros targeted by this release branch.
• Update entries for release, beta, continuous, and test for the new release branch to jaiabot/.circleci/dput.cf.
• Update jaiabot/config/ansible/change-sources.yml with the new release branch for variable "version".
• Add new directories to packages.jaia.tech:

  release_branch=2.y
  for repo in test continuous beta release; do
      sudo -E mkdir -p /var/www/html/ubuntu/${repo}/${release_branch}/mini-dinstall/incoming
  done
  sudo chown -R dput /var/www/html/ubuntu/

• Make a git tag and push it as a point of reference for commits until the first release, such as git tag 2.0.0_alpha1 && git push --tags.
• Update .circleci/test_deb_repo.sh to test for new release branch in non-standard branches

Ubuntu Distributions

To add a new Ubuntu distribution:

• Update jaiabot/scripts/packages/mini-dinstall.conf and copy to packages.jaia.tech (in /opt/jaia_packages).
• On packages.jaia.tech, run:

  sudo su dput
  release_branch=2.y
  for repo in test continuous beta release; do
      /usr/bin/mini-dinstall --batch --config=/opt/jaia_packages/mini-dinstall.conf /var/www/html/ubuntu/${repo}/${release_branch}
  done

• Also on packages.jaia.tech update the staging mirror and manually copy the new distro to release:

  release_branch=2.y
  new_distro=noble
  sudo -E rsync -aP /var/spool/apt-mirror/staging/${release_branch}/mirror/packages.gobysoft.org/ubuntu/release/${new_distro} /var/spool/apt-mirror/release/${release_branch}/mirror/packages.gobysoft.org/ubuntu/release/

• Symlink old docker (preferred) or create new for new distro in jaiabot/.docker
• Add new distro to docker-create-push-for-circleci.sh and run docker-create-push-for-circleci.sh {distroname}