Understanding the parameters used by livecd-rootfs
==================================================

livecd-rootfs is a confusing codebase. One of the confusing things is
how information flows into and around the image build process. There
is IMAGEFORMAT and IMAGE_TARGETS and PROJECT and many other
variables. It is not obvious when looking at the code if a given
variable is something passed as a parameter or something derived from
it.

All (or almost all) production use of livecd-rootfs is via
launchpad-buildd so the set of potential parameters is limited by the
set of environment variables launchpad-build can set in response to
the build request.

The process from build request to environment live-build is run is a
little convoluted. The build request takes:

 an archive -- where to get livecd-rootfs from
 a distro_arch_series -- the series to get livecd-rootfs and build
 a pocket -- pocket to get livecd-rootfs from, also influences if proposed is
             used as a package source for the image being built
 unique_key -- you cannot have more than one pending livefs build with the same
               unique_key. does not affect the build at all.
 version -- optional version string, see below. often a serial like 20250525.1
 metadata_override -- combined with the metadata on the livefs itself to make
                      the metadata for this build.

(ref: https://launchpad.net/+apidoc/devel.html#livefs-requestBuild)

These parameters are stored on the livefsbuild object (ref:
https://git.launchpad.net/launchpad/tree/lib/lp/soyuz/model/livefsbuild.py#n372)
and converted into a set of args passed to launchpad-build by the
LiveFSBuildBehaviour class (ref:
https://git.launchpad.net/launchpad/tree/lib/lp/soyuz/model/livefsbuildbehaviour.py#n99).

Inside launchpad-build, these arguments are inspected by the
LiveFilesystemBuildManager.initiate method (ref:
https://git.launchpad.net/launchpad-buildd/tree/lpbuildd/livefs.py#n24)
which turns them into arguments for the BuildLiveFS lpbuild
"operation" which is what creates the environment live-build runs in
(ref:
https://git.launchpad.net/launchpad-buildd/tree/lpbuildd/target/build_livefs.py#n167).

These variables can be set for both lb config and lb build:

 PROJECT       (mandatory, comes from "project" in the metadata)
 ARCH          (set to the abi tag of the distroarchseries being built for)
 ARCH_VARIANT  (set to the isa tag of the distroarchseries being built for if it is
                different from the abi tag)
 SUBPROJECT    (optional, comes from "subproject" in the metadata)
 SUBARCH       (optional, comes from "subarch" in the metadata)
 CHANNEL       (optional, comes from "subarch" in the metadata)
 IMAGE_TARGETS (optional, comes from "image_targets" in the metadata
                "image_targets" is a list. IMAGE_TARGETS is set to " ".join(image_targets))
 REPO_SNAPSHOT_STAMP
               (optional, comes from "repo_snapshot_stamp" in the metadata)
 SNAPSHOT_SERVICE_TIMESTAMP
               (optional, comes from "snapshot_snapshot_stamp" in the metadata)
 COHORT_KEY
               (optional, comes from "cohort-key" in the metadata)

launchpad-buildd also contains code to set http_proxy / HTTP_PROXY /
LB_APT_HTTP_PROXY but there does not appear to be any way to trigger
this when requesting a build.

In addition the following variables can be set for lb config only (why
are some things set for lb config only? no idea):

 SUITE         (set to the name of the distroarchseries being built for)
 NOW           (set to value of the 'version' argument to the build request,
                defaults to strftime("%Y%m%d-%H%M%S"))
 IMAGEFORMAT   (optional, comes from "image_format" in the metadata)
 PROPOSED      (set to "1" if the pocket passed to the build request is proposed)
 EXTRA_PPAS    (optional, comes from "extra_ppas" in the metadata
                "extra_ppas" is a list. EXTRA_PPAS is set to " ".join(extra_ppas))
 EXTRA_SNAPS   (optional, comes from "extra_snaps" in the metadata
                "extra_snaps" is a list. EXTRA_SNAPS is set to " ".join(extra_snaps))
 BUILD_TYPE    (optional, the "type" (i.e. Daily or Release) of ISO being built,
                goes into .disk/info on the ISO, defaults to Daily)

Here is an opinionated and slightly angry attempt to describe what
each of these is for:

PROJECT
-------

This is the big one, the main variable that defines what is being
built. It can be ubuntu, ubuntu-server, xubuntu, ubuntu-mini-iso, that
sort of thing. Generally PROJECT determines the set of packages
installed but it (unfortunately?) has a bit more impact than that.

It's unarguable that we need a parameter like this.

ARCH
----

The architecture being built for. This is always the same as `dpkg
--print-architecture` for us, we don't do any cross builds.

It's kind of redundant but it's not really a problem that this exists.

ARCH_VARIANT
------------

The "variant" being built for, i.e. the ISA tag of the
distroarchseries. Only set if this is different from the ABI tag.

This is definitely needed to be able to build images for variants.

SUBPROJECT
----------

This is used for some builds to build a different sort of build of the
project. It can be set to:

 * "minimized" for ubuntu-cpc builds to make a minimal cloud image
 * "minimal" for xubuntu builds to make a smaller ISO
 * "desktop-preinstalled" for ubuntu builds to make a preinstalled
   image instead of the parts for an installer.
 * "buildd" for images to be used as build images by craft tools, and also
   buildd chroots used on launchpad builders?
 * "live" for ubuntu-server builds, historically to distinguish d-i
   style installers from subiquity style installers
 * "desktop" for ubuntu-core-installer builds, to influence which
   model is use to build the ubuntu core system that will be
   installed.

_This_ parameter is a total mess. The desktop-preinstalled use feels
particularly egregious.

SUBARCH
-------

This identifies the target machine more specifically than ARCH,
e.g. "tegra-jetson" or "licheerv". Used mostly but not exclusively for
preinstalled builds.

We probably do need something like this.

CHANNEL
-------

Influences which channel snaps included in the build are taken from
(via a few different mechanisms).

IMAGE_TARGETS
-------------

Passed for CPC (and ubuntu-oem, for some reason) builds to
`config/hooks.d/make-hooks` which uses it to select which binary hooks
to run (and so determines which artifacts get produced).

It is probably reasonable that this exists.

REPO_SNAPSHOT_STAMP
-------------------

Currently unused.

SNAPSHOT_SERVICE_TIMESTAMP
--------------------------

Also currently unused, and unclear how it differs from
REPO_SNAPSHOT_STAMP.

COHORT_KEY
----------

Used to make sure that different builds run at the same time don't get
different versions of snaps due to phasing differences.

This is a totally valid thing to need to supply.

http_proxy / HTTP_PROXY / LB_APT_HTTP_PROXY
-------------------------------------------

Nothing complex here!

SUITE
-----

This is the series being built (e.g. noble, questing). It is misnamed
really -- a suite is usually a combination of a series and a pocket
(noble-proposed, questing-security).

As with ARCH this is sort of redundant as we do builds in a chroot of
the series being built but OTOH it is definitely information the
build needs to know!

NOW
---

The serial for the build, e.g. 20250519 or 20240418.4.

It is a totally reasonable parameter.

IMAGEFORMAT
-----------

This is one of the more incoherently handled parameters. In rough
outline it is the filesystem of the image we produce.

Installer builds do not produce raw images, so this ends up being set
to 'plain' (which causes live-build to just leave the rootfs as a
directory tree) or 'none' (which causes live-build to do roughly the
same thing but in a different way?).

Image builds that use ubuntu-image set it to "ubuntu-image". These
builds do not call 'lb build' or 'lb binary'.

Other preinstalled images (mostly cpc images) set it to ext4 (but then
use live-build/ubuntu-cpc/hooks.d/remove-implicit-artifacts to remove
the output file that this causes live-build to produce...). Some
projects rely on this being set via metadata when building the project
it seems.

It can be set when starting an image build, but most builds do not and
the behavior when it is not set explicitly is pretty confusing.

This place is not a place of honor.

PROPOSED
--------

Should packages from proposed by included?

This is not really as useful as it used to be for a bunch of reasons
but it conceptually makes sense.

EXTRA_PPAS
----------

Extra archives to get packages from.

This is a space separated list by the time it gets to
livecd-rootfs. Each element of the list is of the form USER/NAME[:PIN]
where user is a Launchpad user/team name, NAME is the name of the ppa
to add and the optional colon-PIN at the end is the value to pin (in
the "man 5 apt_preferences: sense) packages from this PPA at.

Production builds shouldn't really use this but it's definitely useful
for development.

EXTRA_SNAPS
-----------

Extra snaps to include (but only for ubuntu-image based builds).

BUILD_TYPE
----------

Before release, the .disk/info on an ISO looks like:

    Ubuntu-Server 26.04 LTS "Resolute Raccoon" - Daily amd64 (20260210)

after release it looks like:

    Ubuntu-Server 26.04 LTS "Resolute Raccoon" - Release amd64 (20270210)

We could do a livecd-rootfs upload to change this (it only changes
once per cycle), but it's quicker and easier to manage this from the
code that triggers the livefs builds.
