I would like to request custom tracks for the brainframe-client Snap. As suggested in the name, this Snap is the client for the BrainFrame server, which is deployed using Docker. A new minor release (in semver terms) of the client corresponds to a release of the server, and we often take advantage of new server features in these client releases. That means that newer versions of the client usually don’t work with older versions of the server. Since Snaps update automatically, this would lead to a user’s client no longer working with the version of the server they have deployed. We do encourage our customers to upgrade their servers periodically, but it usually takes them at least a few days and some have LTS contracts with us.
With that in mind, I’m requesting custom tracks that correspond to each minor release we put out. The first one we need is “0.27”, although I would really appreciate it if we could get a few provisioned ahead of time so that new releases of BrainFrame can be immediately available on the Snap store. These additional releases would be “0.27”, “0.28”, “0.29”, “0.30”, “0.31”, and so on. The more we can get at once, the better
We do patch releases as well, but those are always completely compatible, so 0.27.0 and 0.27.1 would be on the same track.
We don’t have a very strict release schedule, but we make new minor releases approximately monthly.
If there’s concern over how many tracks this would create, we could probably delete tracks that are at least 3 releases old as long as we don’t have an LTS contract for them (and most releases won’t).
Also, please let me know if there’s a better way to do this! I’m rather new to Snaps. It would be great if there was a way to “pin” a Snap to a specific version, but to my understanding that isn’t possible yet.
Hi there - It definitely sounds like tracks are the best solution for your use case. +1 from me as reviewer, we need to wait a few days for others to chime in at which point I’ll check again and maybe action this request.
That said, I would create only 0.27 - we don’t typically create tracks in advance, however once your first set of tracks is ready, you can simply request more as needed here and per Simplified track request process for snaps with predictable cadence we don’t need a waiting period, we usually create them pretty quickly (I can’t provide a concrete commitment but I do aim to process them within one working day and typically create tracks “on sight”).
That said, I would create only 0.27 - we don’t typically create tracks in advance, however once your first set of tracks is ready, you can simply request more as needed here
Understood. Would it be okay if I request a track once development for a release starts as opposed to once it finishes? That would make our release workflow quite a bit simpler, and would ensure that our customers can get access to the new version on Snap as soon as it’s released.
No worries, given two +1 votes (Alex’s and mine) I’ve created the track (0.27 for now).
Let me know when you need the next one and we’ll create it ASAP.
As a note, tracks can’t really be deleted but you can close obsolete ones : snapcraft close brainframe-client 0.27/stable and so on for all other risks, and the track will become hidden.
