RE: [stellation-res] The server, and self-hosting

["Mark C. Chu-Carroll" <mcc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sun, 2003-02-09 at 21:10, Jonathan Gossage wrote:
> > >-----Original Message-----
> > >From: stellation-res-admin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > >[mailto:stellation-res-admin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Mark C.
> > >Chu-Carroll
> > >Sent: February 9, 2003 2:07 PM
> > >To: Stellation-res
> > >Subject: [stellation-res] The server, and self-hosting
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >So, finally, the Stellation server machine is pretty much ready to
> > >go. The Eclipse folks have set up the machine, and once I do a bit
> > >of set-up, it will be unveiled.
> > >
> > >Based on my work over the last couple of days, there are a few
> > >things that I'd like to finish before we really start using it. I'll
> > >provide my own list at the end of this message, and I'd like to know
> > >what others think are essential before we start really using it. (Just
> > >for info sake: even after we're self-hosting, I plan to mirror changes
> > >into the public CVS for backup.)
> > >
> > >I'd also like to propose that initially, we not have an anonymous
> > >account on the server. For at least the first month or so, I'd like
> > >for people to have to explicitly request accounts on the server. (The
> > >accounts will be set up with read-only privileges.) There
> > >are three reasons for this. First, it will somewhat limit the traffic
> > >pounding on the server. Second, with the ACL support being relatively
> > >untested, it gives us a bit of added security - if something goes
> > >wrong, we can tell *who* did it. And finally, it gives us a bit
> > >more information, so that if a certain user crashes the server, we
> > >can reproduce the sequence of operations that they performed
> > >leading up to it.
> > >
> > >I've been skimming the code, and the one thing that worries me is ACL
> > >support. I've written a lot of tests that really pound on the ACL
> > >support in the repository, but the command line ACL support is
> > >completely untested. Reading the code, the command-line ACL
> > >stuff is pretty complicated, and with no tests, I have absolutely
> > >no trust that it's bug free. So I'd like to do some code cleanup and
> > >some testing to make sure that it's working correctly.
> > >
> > >Our Eclipse support is currently quite weak. The working Eclipse plugin
> > >is based on Jim's first attempt, which was done by wrapping the
> > >command-line in an Eclipse veneer. This was not entirely successful,
> > >because the command-line and the Eclipse workspace have very different
> > >deep assumptions. The plugin mostly works, except that the merge support
> > >does *not* use the Eclipse sync view for conflicts. It places a textual
> > >conflict marker, just like the CVS command-line, and then Eclipse
> > >generates a cascade of syntax errors around the marked conflict.
> > >Personally, I'm willing to live with this in order to get us to start
> > >using Stellation.
> > >
> > >Is there anything that anyone else considers crucial before we start
> > >up a Stellation server?
> > >
> > >	-Mark
> 
> Do you think we have sufficient support to handle code audits at this point?

We have full branch support. So for doing audited work, we can fork
branches named after the bugzilla bug that they're related to; check in
the changes there; and then pass the branch to someone else to be
committed back into the main branch. 

> Will it be possible for interested parties to continue to use CVS if we
> experience early problems?

I'm planning to do mirroring of changes from Stellation to CVS. If it's
at all possible, I'd like to avoid the dual-mirroring situation, where
there are concurrently changes happening in both CVS and Stellation,
and I need to keep things in synch manually. But the changes will be
mirrored out to CVS, so that if we experience problems, we can easily
temporary back out to CVS. I'd just like to be sure to do that as a
group: if we have insurmountable trouble, we'll all go back to CVS. 

	-Mark

-- 
Mark Craig Chu-Carroll,  IBM T.J. Watson Research Center  
*** The Stellation project: Advanced SCM for Collaboration
***		http://www.eclipse.org/stellation
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