[tsc-devel] Project management software / server OS

Quintus | Sun, 17 Jan 2016 13:43:01 UTC

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Hi everyone,

xet7 yesterday decided that we are going to install Sandstorm as the OS
on alexandria. I read the corresponding email today, and I want to put
this before the entire team to decide on.

Here is the IRC log from yesterday, 2016-01-16:

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16:23 -->lambda-11235 entered #secretchronicles.
16:23 xet7         | Quintus_q head8debian: I now have access to new donated VPS. For comparison: Alexandria 2 GB RAM, 240 GB disk space where 64 GB used - mostly backups that are 44.6 GB, kernel 2.6.32. New VPS, running at DigitalOcean Frankfurt datacenter: 1 GB RAM, 30 GB disk space where 2.2 GB used. Running Ubuntu 14.04 64bit, with kernel 3.13.0-71. TSC website would need to thank DigitalOcean for providing hosting. I will use https://sandstorm.i
16:23 xet7         | o platform on the server. Server is donated by Sandstorm, that had DigitalOcean free credits. They will check progress after one year. I have been translating Sandstorm projects to Finnish, and will continue that.
16:25 xet7         | Anyway, alexandria server will remain as is now, until I have tested and configured all on new server.
16:25 xet7         | New kernel also makes possible to use OpenVPN on server, if needed.
16:27 xet7         | Sandstorm has lot of security features that require newer kernel.
17:21 <--DarkAceZ left the IRC network (Read error: Connection reset by peer)
17:21 -->DarkAceZ entered #secretchronicles.
17:49 --datahead8888 is now known as datahead7777
18:57 ZenWalker    | datahead7777: thanks
19:01 head8debian  | xet7: Why didn't you jsut ask Firstroot for another server? They would have been glad to give us one.
19:03 <--Tobbi left the IRC network (Remote host closed the connection)
19:03 -->Tobbi entered #secretchronicles.
19:04 xet7         | head8debian: Really? I can ask sure.
19:06 xet7         | head8debian: I could really use more RAM and disk space, it that is possible. I'll send Firstroot a ticket.
19:12 datahead7777 | lambda-11235, I merged your PR earlier today
19:22 lambda-11235 | datahead7777: I saw that.
19:51 head8debian  | xet7: I'd talke to QUintus first. ;)
19:51 head8debian  | talk*
19:52 datahead7777 | head8debian, are there advantages if we can get a second server with First Root rather than having two different providers?
19:53 xet7         | I already sent Firstroot a ticket .. did I act too fast?
19:53 head8debian  | datahead7777: Not really, except that First root knows us quite well, and has been very generous and willing in the past.
19:53 head8debian  | I guess we just sit back and see...
19:53 head8debian  | I was hoping to hear Quintus's opinion, since he has worked with them quite a bit.
19:57 xet7         | head8debian: I tried to be polite etc in my ticket to Firstroot. And previously at this channel Quintus said "<Quintus_q> head8debian: It would be nice if you took the time and work together with xet7 for upgrading alexandria and setting up our own project infrastructure"
19:59 xet7         | Plan was first to upgrade alexandria current server, but using Sandstorm for infra would be much easier and secure for upgrades etc, and Sandstorm requires newer kernel.
20:00 xet7         | I will send Quintus email about current status.
20:03 datahead7777 | I was thinking in the back of my mind if there was any chance they think we're asking too much of them to try to get another server, though it really depends on our relationship with them
20:04 datahead7777 | I guess it depends on how we approach it, too
20:04 head8debian  | datahead7777: Yes it does.
20:05 datahead7777 | head8debian, well, having one provider simplifies are administration
20:05 datahead7777 | We'd have one company to contact for any needs
20:05 head8debian  | datahead7777: From what i can tell from QUintus's convos is that they are quite impressed with what we have done so far, and are quite happy to keep helping us, but i could be wrong.
20:05 head8debian  | Anyways, im afk...
20:05 datahead7777 | Having a release makes a differences
20:05 datahead7777 | We'll need to get another release semi-soon to show more progress
20:10 xet7         | I sent email to Quintus.
20:32 datahead7777 | Okay, let us know if there's anything we should be aware of.  The mailing list is probably a good place to announce anything.
20:32 datahead7777 | Or discuss anything
20:33 datahead7777 | Thanks, xet7
20:36 xet7         | datahead7777: Yes I will let you know. Currently I'm testing various infra software etc, so no actual changes to any current system yet.
- ----------------------------------------

I have neither heard of nor have I tried Sandstorm previously. This
doesn’t have to say anything, though. However, a quick view on the
website of this software makes me sceptic about how it fits our current
workflow. It is more like a complete collaboration platform that
replaces everything we currently have. This is a fairly major switch
that I want to see appreciated by more people on the team. As for my
part, I think it is a known fact that I am a commandline hacker who has
not a lot of use for fancy UIs. I mostly communicate by means of email,
and I recently complained to GitHub their email notifications on PRs do
not contain a link to the full URL needed for $ git pull so that I am
forced to visit the website. My ideal project issue tracker is fully
email-transparent and mostly acts like a mailinglist; it doesn’t have to
be entirely like this, but to some degree I need my email interface. I
recognise I am of a somewhat singular opinion in this regard, but I hope
not completely alone.

To be clear, I don’t want an email-only thing only either. I do know it
is difficult for some people to use, although I can only point out how
much more productive one is this way. If there’s a web interface, that
is okay, just don’t force me to use it in a project I work on
voluntaryly. TSC does not have a large amount of contributors anyway,
and thus it is important that first and foremost any software we use
fits our workflow and only on a secondary level is easy to use for
non-core TSC contributors. As it stands, I fear we’re about to change
our current workflow from a rather classic, commandlineish, emailish OSS
one to a modern hyped one. If it wasn’t clear from the above, I am a
fairly conservative nature.

I realise I am not in the position to dictate the team what it has to
use as software, but neither is xet7. I will call for a vote on this if
you really want to impose this newly-fangled stuff on me.

It would be unfair of me if I forced xet7 to make a server only fitting
my very own views after I told him to think about stuff himself. I would
thus of course take over server maintenance myself again, so he is not
covered with work arising only from my queer views of how to administer
a project and a server. For the work he already put in the server OS and
software reserach, I do say thank you. It was me whose wording in IRC
was unclear; I expected to get a little more feedback before someone of
us runs out and asks other companies for support. For this I apologise.

Any input from anybody is appreciated.

Valete,
Quintus

- -- 
#!/sbin/quintus
Blog: http://www.guelkerdev.de

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