Good point, agreed. But we've got what we've got, and what we've got can
work better if we don't rely on Ryan (who has another job) only to admin
it. Even if we had an agreed moratorium on ever adding anything else, I
still think we need to deal with a way to get other code4lib volunteers
to have shell access. Examples are me doing the planet; Jon Brinley
doing our WordPress install for the Journal; _someone_ taking on Wiki
admin, which right now pretty much nobody is doing (which is maybe fine,
it's working, but wouldn't we better off if someone did?).
[ I will admit that I have a personal interest in _replacing_ the
MediaWiki install with a DokuWiki install. But it's not fair to ask Ryan
to do that. We used to have a 'trac' wiki on the old anvil code4lib, and
when I asked Ryan to restore that functionality, he installed MediaWiki.
Which is great, but I'd rather have dokuwiki. If I can convince someone
to set it up for us. :) But I shouldn't have even brought this up,
because even with no change to our suite of installed apps at all ever,
I think we still need to deal with the shell access issue, right? When
we put code4lib hosted at OSU, a selling point for some of us would be
that shell access for volunteers was possible. I don't think it's fair
to expect Ryan to do app-level admin beyond the bare minimum perhaps.
But with more than the bare minimum, we can get better services! ]
Jonathan
Ross Singer wrote:
While I have no comment on this particular issue (since nobody wants
me adminning *anything*), I would like to propose that before we set
up any new services/applications on code4lib.org, we talk about
whether or not any of the existing applications have functionality
that could suffice.
I guess my point is, the level of ambivalence that this thread is
generating doesn't make me terribly hopeful for the longterm
sustainability of volunteer service admins.
-Ross.
On Wed, Apr 2, 2008 at 3:25 PM, Jonathan Rochkind <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Okay, so new plan for access to code4lib server, since nobody stepped up
to want to be an app admin junta. :) Subject to approval by Ryan and
Jeff, of course. Recall that Ryan and Jeff at OSU say they are ready to
grant shell access to code4libbers, but weren't sure how to figure out
_who_ to grant access too--granting access to any random person that
emails Ryan/Jeff seems like a bad idea of course! So they were open to
suggestion from us.
The idea last time was that there should be one or two or three people
that take overall responsibility for app-level admin on that machine,
who could then grant access to others. (Recall that Ryan is still
overall root sysadmin responsible for OS stuff, just not for our apps).
Which was a fine plan, but nobody said they wanted to do it. :)
So new plan. If someone has a need for shell access (because they want
to be responsible for management of one of our apps; Like the WordPress
for the Journal; or the Drupal; or the wiki; or the planet; including
possibly new apps that the code4lib community wants)---they email this
code4lib list explaining what they are going to do, and that they are
qualified to do it without messing it up. :) We, in our usual way, nit
pick it to death and debate it. But eventually a rough consensus is
reached. And Ryan grants the shell access. If someone thinks it's a
horrible idea to give that person shell access, then I guess it doesn't
go forward. I don't see the need for any actual 'voting', I think mostly
it'll just work out. (For instance, Ryan already pre-emptively gave me
shell access to add new feeds to the planet. If I had emailed the list
and said that, which I'm doing now, everyone would have just ignored it
and/or said, cool.)
So?
Jonathan
On 3/21/08 8:13 AM, "Jonathan Rochkind" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
So as many of you know, OSU is now hosting the code4lib.org server, with
the various code4lib community apps running on it. Jeremy Frumkin's
group hosts it, and Ryan Ordway does the heavy sysadmin lifting.
They're now ready to start granting other people shell access to the
machine to manage/admin apps. This was part of the original plan when
hosting moved to OSU. While Ryan provides basic sysadmining and
security, the intention isn't neccesarily for him to manage individual
apps, but instead to take advantage of interested code4lib volunteers to
do this--essentially how things worked before OSU hosted the code4lib
server. More hands means less work. (Sometimes, to an extent. :) ).
So the question for the community is--how the heck should Jeremy and
Ryan determine _who_ to give shell access to? Pre-OSU hosting, code4lib
was hosted by a defined group of code4libbers who chipped in for hosting
fees, and were the only ones who had shell access. If you wanted shell
access, as I understand it, you'd have to talk to them about becoming a
member of their 'cooperative', and they'd decide whether that would
happen or not. Now, with OSU hosting... what should happen? It probably
doesn't make sense that any Joe Schmoe that nobody's heard of can just
email Ryan and automatically get shell access. So ruling that out....
any ideas? Maybe if you want shell access to manage a particular
application, you email the code4lib listserv, and.... then what? Not
sure.
Jonathan
--
--
Jonathan Rochkind
Digital Services Software Engineer
The Sheridan Libraries
Johns Hopkins University
410.516.8886
rochkind (at) jhu.edu
--
Jonathan Rochkind
Digital Services Software Engineer
The Sheridan Libraries
Johns Hopkins University
410.516.8886
rochkind (at) jhu.edu
