On 03/11/10 16:08, Roan Kattouw wrote:
<snip>
> Not for core no, but there are plenty of extensions that could be
> reviewed and deployed in a shorter period of time, and many config
> changes ready to go.

Hello,

I used to handle a few shell requests myself.  Mostly :
  - enabling extensions already enabled on other wikis
  - changing / tweaking global variables
  - deploying minor code changes that solves annoying bugs

There is no rocket science in there, it is easy to do BUT it is very 
time consuming.  I probably still have a shell access around but I am 
not going to do anything without having proper documentation about the 
2010 way to handle thing.

Years ago, it was:
  - make sure you have someone to back your ***
  - edit a global setting file on Zwinger
  - lint it
  - verify your change on test.wikipedia.org (or something like that)
  - ask all Apaches servers to copy the new file through NFS (scap?)
  - verify the change in production and get ready to revert
  - stay around in IRC, specially in channels used by the project impacted
  - udpate bug report
  - proceed with next request

The two issues I had with this were:
  - The global setting file was not under a version control system which 
made it hard to track changes and revert mines
  - Making sure I will not produce a worldwide blank page (it happened 
once and I can tell you it gives you a huge boost of adrenaline).

The positive point is that it was really enjoyable to receives emails 
from everywhere around the world with the same last word : Thanks.


If the process is still roughly the same and that I am still allowed to 
connect to the server : I am a volunteer to help with handling the shell 
backlog.

:-)

-- 
Ashar Voultoiz


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