Daniel Hilst
bd9c155f1a
buildrpms.pl is what actually builds xcat-core now: every core CD pipeline calls
it (ci/{el,suse,ubuntu}/Jenkinsfile.core-*), and it reaches none of these
scripts. What is left of them is a second, diverging build path that nothing
runs -- buildcore.sh has no caller at all (its one mention in
Jenkinsfile.core-el-stable is a comment), makerpm's only caller is
buildlocal.sh, and buildlocal.sh has no caller.
That divergence broke master. #7774 added a source-only mode to these scripts
rather than to buildrpms.pl, giving makerpm an unguarded
. "$(dirname "$0")/build-utils/source-only.sh"
at line 13, used on every build path (xcat_configure_rpm_build_mode,
xcat_announce_build), not only under SRCONLY. apache_config_sources.t stages
makerpm into a fixture that creates build-utils/ but copies only
sync-xcat-apache-configs into it, so makerpm died at line 13 and nothing reached
SOURCES/. Because prove -r xCAT-test/unit runs the whole suite, that reddened
xcat_pr_test on every open PR. It merged on a green run from 2026-08-27;
apache_config_sources.t landed 2026-08-30, and nothing rebuilt it in between.
Removed: makerpm, buildcore.sh, buildlocal.sh, build-utils/source-only.sh,
build-utils/buildcore-source-only.sh, and the tests that covered only them
(makerpm_source_only.t, buildcore_source_only.t). The makerpm half of
apache_config_sources.t goes with makerpm; its sync-xcat-apache-configs half
stays, because buildrpms.pl invokes that helper directly. The source-only
capability is preserved as buildrpms.pl --source-only, in the preceding commit.
build-ubunturepo is deliberately NOT touched. It is not a legacy script: both
Ubuntu core CD pipelines invoke it, github_action_xcat_test.pl:325 invokes it on
every PR, and it was last fixed this week. buildrpms.pl is RPM-only -- mock and
createrepo_c, no dpkg path -- so there is nothing to migrate it to. Giving
Debian builds an equivalent modern builder is separate work.
Verified: prove -r xCAT-test/unit before and after differs by exactly one file
-- apache_config_sources.t fails on upstream/master (4a0d9e0bb, tests 64-65) and
passes here. The other six failures are identical on both and are missing DB
modules on the machine that ran it. No remaining reference to any removed file
except the one comment in buildrpms.pl naming where its templates came from.
Signed-off-by: Daniel Hilst <392820+dhilst@users.noreply.github.com>
xCAT
xCAT is a toolkit for deployment and administration of clusters of all sizes.
The xCAT sunset was only a quick eclipse
Dear xCAT Community,
The xCAT sunset has changed course. VersatusHPC has been invited to join the xCAT Consortium, and future development will move toward direct upstream contributions coordinated with the Consortium and its existing member companies.
That matters most for Enterprise Linux 10 (EL10). EL10 support is coming to xCAT, restoring a future operating-system path for sites that still rely on xCAT. This is an important change from the previous sunset guidance, where the lack of an EL10 path was one of the strongest reasons to move away from xCAT.
The xCAT Consortium continues to recommend Confluent as the long-term successor to xCAT, and that remains the Consortium position. Users planning new cluster-management deployments should evaluate Confluent and its xCAT comparison documentation.
At the same time, xCAT is no longer sunsetted. The Consortium and participating companies will continue updating xCAT while there is community and user demand for it.
In summary:
- xCAT development is continuing upstream through the Consortium and participating companies.
- Enterprise Linux 10 support is coming.
- Confluent remains the Consortium-recommended successor and migration path.
- xCAT updates will continue while there is community and user demand.
We want to thank the xCAT Consortium and community for keeping this project moving. The sun went behind the moon for a moment, but xCAT is still here.
For more information on Confluent and how to get started, please visit the Confluent: Project Page, Documentation or Confluent vs xCAT comparison.
With thanks,
The xCAT Consortium
Documentation
xCAT Documentation is hosted on Read The Docs: https://xcat-docs.readthedocs.io
Status
| xCAT Version | Build Status |
|---|---|
| Latest (master branch) | |
| Stable (latest release) |
Looking for older versions?
Open Source License
xCAT is made available under the EPL license: https://opensource.org/licenses/eclipse-1.0.php
Developers
Want to help? Check out the developers guide!