Release Flatcar Container Linux Alpha 3941.0.0, Beta 3913.1.0, Stable 3815.2.2, LTS 3510.3.3

[dongsupark]

The release of the following Flatcar Container Linux version is planning April 15th, 2024.

• Alpha 3941.0.0
• Beta 3913.1.0
• Stable 3815.2.2
• LTS 3510.3.3

1. Preparation

Owner: @dongsupark

• A. Go/No-Go hackmd doc created from HackMD template for test tracking and release notes: (link)
• B. All planned changes are merged & blocker bugs are fixed, last nightly reviewed for problems.
• C. Check that the kernel PR are merged for the channel(s) to be released. (Kernel 6.6.26 for Alpha & Beta are pending. Upgrade Linux Kernel for main from 6.6.21 to 6.6.26 scripts#1871 and Upgrade Linux Kernel for flatcar-3913 from 6.6.21 to 6.6.26 scripts#1870)

2. Build

Note: We should build with an SDK version that doesn't have xz-utils > 5.4.2

Owner: @dongsupark

• A. Branched off the main branch (only for new major).
• B. Tagged all the build branches.
• C. Started the Jenkins builds, post the links into this issue as comment.

3. Release

i. The Go/No-Go Meeting

Owner: @dongsupark

• A. Test status captured in the HackMD document.
• B. All tests are Green.
• C. Release notes / announcements added to Go/No Go doc from container/image_changes job by selecting Timestamps: None.
• D. QA: Checked the diff for image file list, packages, and image size in the container/image_changes job output.
• E. Conduct Matrix Go/No Go meeting (inc. release notes review).

ii. Artifacts goes public

Owner: @dongsupark

• A. Created the Release Notes on the scripts repo for the respective tags on GitHub as GitHub Releases.
• B. Ran the container/release Release job.
• C. Images uploaded with copy-to-origin.sh.
• D. Symlink to "current" updated with set-symlink.sh.
• E. Website updated with ./update-flatcar-versions.sh and PR merged.

iii. Payload

Owner: @tormath1

• A. Update payload signed/uploaded.
• B. Release package published in Nebraska (Prerequisite: 3.ii.E should marked done).

iv. Cloud Marketplace & Cluster API

Owner:

• A. Azure (@sayanchowdhury)

  • Offers updated and started publishing.
  • Sent the offers to publish to Live.

• B. GCP (@t-lo)

  • Offer deployment package uploaded to Google Bucket & submit for verification.
  • Offer Publish

• C. Cluster API for new Stable

  • Azure: Manually run ./azure-sig.sh to create New Shared Community Gallery Images
  • OpenStack: documentation

4. Announcements

Owner: @tormath1

• A. Sent announcement to Mailing Lists
• B. Sent Tweet out to Twitter, and Toot out to Mastodon
• C. Brief version announcement in slack (k8s slack #flatcar) and the Flatcar Matrix channel

[dongsupark]

• Alpha 3941.0.0: http://jenkins.infra.kinvolk.io:8080/job/container/job/sdk/1416/cldsv/
• Beta 3913.1.0: http://jenkins.infra.kinvolk.io:8080/job/container/job/sdk/1415/cldsv/
• Stable 3815.2.2: http://jenkins.infra.kinvolk.io:8080/job/container/job/sdk/1414/cldsv/
• LTS 3510.3.3: http://jenkins.infra.kinvolk.io:8080/job/container/job/packages_all_arches/3837/cldsv/

[pothos]

I backported the arm64 kernel module TPM enablement for 3913: flatcar/scripts#1755
Should we do a rebuild for Beta 3913.1.0? Best would be to do this after merging flatcar/mantle#525 which I hope would fix the other test failure.

Edit: I think we don't need a rebuild for Beta as this is a new feature and it will be available in Alpha.

[t-lo]

GCP deployment package uploaded + verification started.

[randyg503]

Is this file missing?

https://alpha.release.flatcar-linux.net/amd64-usr/3941.0.0/flatcar_production_pxe.vmlinuz.sig

[jepio]

Is this file missing?

We were trying to optimize space usage by symlinking identical files but this didn't go fully as planned. We're going to get this resolved, but the signature would be the same as https://alpha.release.flatcar-linux.net/amd64-usr/3941.0.0/flatcar_production_image.vmlinuz.sig (download and rename to flatcar_production_pxe.vmlinuz.sig)

[randyg503]

Thank you for your work and this temporary workaround!

[pothos]

Thanks for reporting, the signature creation worked for other symlinks (…qemu_image.img) but not for this pxe.vmlinuz file, need to find out why.

[pothos]

I hope I found the place: flatcar/scripts#1936
(Note: We have digest code in the common.sh, build_library and under ci-automation…)

[t-lo]

GCP offer published.

[pothos]

Azure publishing is blocked due to changes in the marketplace offers

[sayanchowdhury]

We had 2 missing releases in Azure. The work to fix the automation in still in progress - but I was able to start the publishing process for the first missing version.

[sayanchowdhury]

The Azure releases are updated to the latest releases now