Main Inclusion Review (MIR)¶
Packages in Ubuntu main (and restricted) are officially
maintained, supported and recommended by the Ubuntu project.
Canonical provides security updates, standard support services, and
certain Service Level Agreement (SLA) guarantees for these packages.
Therefore, special consideration is necessary before adding new packages
to main or restricted. The Ubuntu MIR team
reviews packages for promotion:
from multiverse to restricted.
Reviewing packages before they can be promoted is the Main Inclusion Review (MIR) process. The purpose of the MIR process is to avoid mistakes that have caused issues in the past and ensure the long-term maintainability of the packages in the Package Archive.
MIR process overview¶
If we reduce the process to its simplest components, it can be described in only three steps.
First, the process makes the reporter think about the package or packages they want to own. Then, the reviewer checks what is submitted and either approves or raises issues. Finally, any such issues are resolved by the reporter, and then the process is complete and the package can be promoted.
This process, and the different participants involved, are outlined in more detail in MIR roles and steps.
In reality, things are often more complex than that! We use Launchpad (and the states of bugs in Launchpad) to track the progress of any main inclusion request as shown in our more detailed Process states breakdown.
About the MIR team¶
To find out more about the team who oversees the MIR process, see our page about the MIR team.
There you will also find information on how to contact them if you have an MIR in progress, or want to submit one, and what to expect from the team.
File an MIR bug¶
The MIR process uses templates for both those submitting a request (reporters) and those reviewing requests (reviewers). To make the process as smooth as possible, which benefits everyone, we ask that you familiarize yourself with the process before filing a request.
Reporters: to file a request, use the MIR reporter’s template.
Reviewers: to review a request, use the MIR reviewer’s template.
Whether you are a reporter or a reviewer, new to the MIR process or a seasoned veteran, we have also prepared additional guidance on how to use the templates to make the task of filling out the template as straightforward as possible.
MIR special cases¶
Some packages have reasons not to follow the standard MIR process. This section provides details on these and exceptions.
Exceptions¶
Deviations from the norm¶
Sometimes cases are special and do not follow the normal procedures, those are outlined here.