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2025

  • 3 min read

Writing Docs with AI - An Experiment in Workflow

Writing documentation can often be a significant effort. Recently, I needed to document a new feature, the "Alternate Content Source". But where to start? The core information existed in a user conversation on Matrix. How could I turn that scattered information into structured, usable documentation efficiently? I decided to experiment with an AI tool, specifically NotebookLM, to see if it could streamline the process.

The starting point was straightforward. I took the raw Matrix conversation and uploaded it as a source into NotebookLM. I also added the existing pulpproject.org website as another source, hoping it would provide context and stylistic examples (Note: this specific detail about adding the pulpproject.org site comes from my process description, not the provided source text). My initial prompt was simple: "write me markdown docs from this user conversation". It produced the content for this pull requested.

  • 4 min read

Checkpoint Support - A Journey Towards Predictable and Consistent Deployments

In the ever-evolving landscape of software development, ensuring predictability and consistency in deployments has always been a challenge. Our team faced similar hurdles, especially when managing historical versions of repositories. We needed a solution that could help us recreate environments from specific points in time, ensure reproducible deployments, and track changes in package behavior over time.

Inspired by the success stories of Ubuntu Snapshots on Azure and the increased security and resiliency of Canonical workloads on Azure, we embarked on a journey to develop a feature that could address these challenges.

  • 6 min read

Whenever, Whatever-based Release Cycle

"Release fast, release often!" is not a metaphor, it is a mantra.

Pulp used to be a service mainly running on-premises as part of products with extremely long release cycles. About two years ago, we heard rumors to add highly volatile cloud service style installations to the mix. Because releasing a new version of pulpcore or any of its many plugins was a herculean task, the rumors were accompanied by very concerning sentences like: "We will run this service off of main branches of all the plugins." If that does not make you shiver, you can just stop reading here and go on with your happy life.