ILX maintainers

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

"What the hell is going on, eh?"

Right, so Graham has decided he has, in some way, finished his project. He's handed me the keys, so now there are three issues on my mind:

1. The Server
What happens when there's some issue with the server? Well Andrew Gerrand (enneff) appears to be the man that owns the server. Where is it? Is it in Australia? Only he can do anything about the really catastrophic stuff, and upgrading, but as the current "uptime" is something like 8 months, that's not something to really worry about.

The main day-to-day issue will be "firefighting" with processor load and sql problems. Again I haven't seen much evidence of any problems like this of late. If any come up I'll have to deal with them as best I can. However, here's the first issue. Graham was very quick to respond to problems in a way I don't think I can live up to.

I do look in here a lot (despite not posting a great deal any more), but not regularly, and I do have a day job (no offence meant to student graham there!), so perhaps it would be wise to have 2 (or 3?) people with actual remote access to the server -- preferably in different time zones. (As a bonus, I'm actually going on holiday tomorrow and will not be "on board" for a week or so, bringing this concern into focus).

If you can use ssh and have a passing or better knowledge of unix and (my)sql then raise your hands. Someone from the US would be ideal, especially as you guys/gals seem to be more dominant on the boards these days.

2. The Databases
I don't know how/if these are backed up. Enlighten me. Andrew?

3. The Code
Well the code works, so what's to do? There may be features people request, or good ideas some geek (hem hem) will come up with, and there are probably a few bugs to mop up (there's a warning when you save the settings for example).

I specifically asked graham about sharing out access to the code. He rightly (to my mind) sees it as his and has said he doesn't want the code on unlimited public access, but he has said we can have a team of people with access to the code. I'll think about the best way to do this -- nothing too clever is needed, as it's too small scale for CVS to be useful (though i'm prepared for someone to prove me otherwise).

Right now I'm going through the code and "tidying". Adding LOTS of comments and (I hope) making it easier to read (and hence develop). When I'm done I'll be looking for a (small?) group of maintainers to have access to the code so they can help with implementing new stuff, zapping bugs and suggesting optimisations in some of the sql access.

A long term aim would be to make the code fully public, and if we do a good job of making the code nice and clean, I hope we can persuade Graham that this would be a GOOD THING. (Currently there are a few hacks in the code to put off some nuisance posters, but I'm sure we can get round that sort of thing by having a small amount of private code that isn't published but doesn't effect the running of the code)

― Alan (Alan), Thursday, 17 April 2003 08:14 (twenty-two years ago)

At the moment the databases are not backed up. This is difficult, because the database is over 1gb in size. To perform any kind of periodic backup would mean bandwidth hell. I've thought of performing DB dumps and then diffing them against previous backups, but with the amount of traffic we get here that's a pretty momentous process in itself. I really don't know what we could do here. Email correspondance about this would be appreciated.

When I get back to Australia in early July, I'd like to maintain the code alongside Alan. I'll also be able to keep a closer eye on the server after that date.

I'm opposed to any more than three people technically maintaining ILX. I want to be able to keep track of everything that goes on, and with too many developers this just isn't possible. Additionally, I don't feel comfortable with more than one (or maybe two) people besides myself having shell access to the server. The fact that the login details were passed on to you, Alan, without my consent is an example of why I am (and should be) paranoid about this. (Don't worry Graham, I don't blame you.)

― Andrew (enneff), Thursday, 17 April 2003 09:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Perhaps ilx should club together and buy andrew a dvd burner so he can do backups and also as a vote of thanks from the ilx community?

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 17 April 2003 09:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh yeah. The server is located in Melbourne, Australia. It is housed in a large ISP's server room. Nothing environmental can really go wrong here - there is very little danger of fire/accident/etc. In the case of a hardware failure, I'd have to go in and replace the bits myself. If it happened now, you'd be waiting a couple of months. Until July. Sorry. (Unless one of my former coworkers would feel inclined to fix it for me - something I wouldn't want to force upon anyone.)

Graham's done a lot over the past few months to fix load / sql backlog problems. The code is running a lot cleaner now, and server load rarely gets above 200%.

I have two administrators looking after the box while I'm away. They're doing a great job, and have solved many problems during my absence. They'll continue to do so until I return.

― Andrew (enneff), Thursday, 17 April 2003 09:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Also several people maintaining the code != all of those having shell access. Is there a cvs like system that could be installed on the server so that those maintainers can access the code, not the operational code of course, it could be left to Andrew to implement changes made to the code.

Couldn't WebDAV be used as the cvs type thing?

Also CVS itself does appear to preclude such a small project although maybe its a bit of a sledgehammer/nut situation.

Come summer time I might have a server at home which could be used as a devlopment server, but it will be running OS X or possibly linux ppc, but, more likely OS X. (I have an old g3 box which is going to become the house mailserver).

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 17 April 2003 09:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Thanks Andrew. Good to know. I certainly won't be dishing out access to the server without your say so -- and I promise a light hand in my access (I had a good rummage around last night just to get the hang of where everything is). In fact, maybe I'm overly worried and we don't need anyone else to have full access other than you and me.

Access to the code (just READ access) can be sorted out separately, likely by web interface and special logins.

― Alan (Alan), Thursday, 17 April 2003 09:29 (twenty-two years ago)

If you forget the indexes (and some of the replaceable tables) it's more like half a gigabyte I think.

The only things that cause a server backlog are updates and deletes on the busier tables (threads, messages, lastread), because they cause a read lock to be placed on the table, but have to wait until it any previous commands complete (eg searches). You can solve the update problem in most places by using replace delayed - this is something that still needs doing. Inserts don't seem to cause a problem.

I would like it to do the open-source thing one day, but it all needs to be tidier and more flexible before then. Possibly even a complete rewrite/restructure.

Sorry about the passing on the login details Andrew.

― Graham (graham), Thursday, 17 April 2003 09:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Also what are greenpun's rights to this code, would he want it to go GPL?

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 17 April 2003 09:41 (twenty-two years ago)

None - I never bothered using any of his code. And he's seen the interface and not complained.

― Graham (graham), Thursday, 17 April 2003 09:43 (twenty-two years ago)

I didn't know, even more props to you, Graham.

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 17 April 2003 09:45 (twenty-two years ago)

*raises hand*

I don't know that much SQL, but I'm a unix geek who knows PHP and would be happy to give up some spare time. I also use CVS at work, so would be able to help with setting that up if that's the way you want to go.

― caitlin (caitlin), Thursday, 17 April 2003 14:15 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm very much in Alan's timezone, but I volunteer to help if I can, if I'm needed (I won't be even slightly offended if I'm not needed!). I'm strong on SQL (don't know MySQL at all though - I work in Oracle) and decent on Unix.

If there is anything we can do to make backups easier, for instance buying Andrew a CD burner, I'd be very happy to contribute.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Thursday, 17 April 2003 17:38 (twenty-two years ago)

I am in the US and have some skillz in this area, though my free time comes in unpredictable blocks. I would be happy to help out, if only to get a look at Graham's beautiful code.

― Paul Eater (eater), Thursday, 17 April 2003 17:46 (twenty-two years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.