Presented at FOSDEM 2017 in Brussels. Introduction into the Fedora Modularity project - separating software (and it's life cycle and SLA) from the distribution by introducing the concept of modules. The black slide in the middle should have included the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNLhcYEMgO0 More information: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Modularity

1. Modularity & Generational Core
by Petr Šabata and Adam Šamalík
The future of Fedora?

2. Distributions
are great!

3. Why are distros great?
Ship packaged software
Dependencies included
Integrated and tested
Patched for security vulnerabilities

4. Distros have a life span

5. Everything is supported for
the same time!

6. but
... which is fine,

7. Applications are
released at their
own pace.
(independent of the distribution)

8. And applications can
come in multiple
versions.
(different variants or different generations)

9. But distributions
ship just a single
version of an
application for each
release.
(mostly because of conflicting dependencies)

10. So how to choose
the right version?

11. Fast updates
& latest versions? Slow
updates
&
stable
versions?
What is better?

12. That's right!
All of them!

13. But howto include multiple
versions?

14. (providing multiple versions of software in a distribution)
Option one:
Fast track + LTS

15. Option two:
Software
Collections
(providing multiple versions of software in a distribution)

16. Option three:
Linux
Containers
(providing multiple versions of software in a distribution)

17. Option four:
Modularity!
(providing multiple versions of software in a distribution)

20. Introducing tiny
system called
Base Runtime
Includes the kernel, glibc, and other basic tools and
libraries with proven long-term ABI stability.

21. Software runs on
Base Runtime
as a Module.
Similar concept to Android or iPhone apps.

22. Modules are groups
of packages with
a purpose.
Like a database, Firefox, or a LAMP stack.

23. Anatomy of a Module

24. Modules are defined
by a modulemd file.
Defining its components, an API, a build recipe,
and install profiles.
"Stop it! We want to see some code, Adam!"

25. document: modulemd
version: 1
data:
# An ID of the module.
name: foo
stream: stream-name
version: 20160927144203
# What's the module about?
summary: An example module
description: >
A module for the demonstration of the metadata format. Also,
the obligatory lorem ipsum dolor sit amet goes right here.
# How can I use it? How can I change it? Can I sell it?
license:
module:
- MIT
content:
- Beerware
- GPLv2+
# Where does it live?
references:
community: http://www.example.com/
documentation: http://www.example.com/
tracker: http://www.example.com/

26. Modules are built
in the Factory 2.0

27. Modules are
delivered as various
artifacts.
Like an RPM repository, Linux Container, Flatpak,
OSTree, ISO, etc.

28. Running modules

29. RPMs? Containers?
I don't care!

30. $ dnf install httpd

31. $ dnf install httpd
...
$ vim /etc/httpd/configuration.file

32. $ dnf install httpd
...
$ vim /etc/httpd/configuration.file
...
$ vim /var/www/index.html

33. $ dnf install httpd
...
$ vim /etc/httpd/configuration.file
...
$ vim /var/www/index.html
...
$ systemctl start httpd

34. $ dnf install httpd
...
$ vim /etc/httpd/configuration.file
...
$ vim /var/www/index.html
...
$ systemctl start httpd
#.... few days later ....
$ dnf update

35. No changes to the
current user
workflow!

36. How
that works?

37. We focus on the package

38. Don't build distro
versions...

39. Build module streams!

40. Modules come in
multiple streams.
Major versions or variants of an application.

41. You choose
the right streams
before installation.
Or get an iso with pre-selected streams - similar to the
current situation.

42. DNF keeps your
system updated
while preserving
compatibility.
So "$ dnf update" works!

43. ...so that will the
modular distro!

44. https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Modularity