Comment 17 for bug 1992026

I've been asked to review the changes present in 27.11.3 for inclusion in Ubuntu.

This comment relates to the proposed "APT news" feature in 27.11.3, which I think also partly existed in 27.11.2 but had not been individually called out in the review for that until after it was released, when this bug was filed.

My understanding is that the apt hook was added so that the Ubuntu Pro tooling would be able to provide system-specific information about updates available were the user to subscribe. For example, something to the effect of "5 packages have updates available in ESM were you to subscribe; here's how to do that" (but better phrased). It does seem appropriate to me to provide this information to users at the time of running apt.

But I'm not sure about extending this to make it a general messaging mechanism as suggested by "APT news". Given the concerns raised in this bug and the wide community feedback received, and speaking as a member of the Ubuntu Technical Board, I'm not sure I would approve.

In Ubuntu we value having a clear path to leadership to make a decision when it is needed, and then that's something we can all stand behind. I think it's appropriate to take that path here. In this case this kind of decision seems like a matter for the Ubuntu Technical Board rather than individual Ubuntu developers and the SRU team alone.

Can we escalate to the Ubuntu Technical Board to determine if this is appropriate please, or directly to sabdfl if you think an immediate decision is required?