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CSuite Workshop - October 9, 1996
===================================
Agenda
PAT Update
-ftp proxy
Surveys - cgi wrapper
Concurrent Version System - CVS
Distribution
Disk Quota sales
PAT Update
==========
David Trueman compiled, configured and ran the apache 800 proxy server
with little difficulty, using /ccn/etc/proxy and /ccn/etc/cache. Apache
serves only the http protocol directly, but has an API for adding
functionality, e.g. ftp proxy via lynx
Landon reported that Netscape would run with no swapping in a 16 M Linux
system, with no window manager.
To Do:
--search for ftp proxy module for apache
--evaluate PAT log summaries for performance and reliablility
It was agreed that we need to maintain a log for configuration of the PAT
and Router machines. A logfile of the installation would help to
facilitate upgrading, using md5 to generate checksums (like
tripwire uses.) This capability is needed anyway, to provide the upgrade
capability that we have planned for Beta 2
Surveys/cgi-wrapper
===================
There is a survey generator package available (Dalhousie) which creates
scripts and forms to do surveys. We should consider installing the
package, or importing the scripts as generated. This would provide some
of the enhanced capability that is if interest to some of our Information
Providers (IP's). Using a cgi-wrapper function would allow the script to
run as the owner of the target file. (Ownership could be assigned to a
"non-login" dead user to set appropriate privilege.)
Concurrent Version System
========================
Landon Boyd gave a talk on Concurrent Version System (CVS), a development
tool that maintains an archive of a project, and allows multiple users to
check out parts of the project simultaneously. CVS keeps its database in
a "Repository" which is equivalent to the /RCS directories with which we
are familiar. CVS exists as a layer on top of RCS.
Sample repository:
/usr/local/cvsroot/ ; all files and RCS files managed by CVS are in this tree.
CVSROOT ; contains administration and configuration data.
csuite/bin/ ; these files are never touched by users.
lynx
...
lib/
...
A user can, for example, checkout the lynx source tree:
$cvs checkout csuite/bin/lynx
A csuite/bin/lynx directory is added to your home directory.
Changes take effect upon commit, which records changes back into the
Repository, but does not change the checked out status of the files.
$cvs commit Makefile
- calls RCS to copy files, do log, etc.
- if the same file is committed by another editor, then cvs notifies you
of "close differences", which must be resolved before the commit is accepted.
cvs import builds a database from a file set.
to check a file set back into cvs:
$cvs release -d csuite
-warns about uncommitted changes.
cvs tag makes a record of revision levels for all files in a project, so
that a given version can be rebuilt or serve as a branching point for
multiple versions.
CVS supports remote access, using environment variable $CVSROOT e.g.
$CVSROOT=user@chebucto.ns.ca/usr/local/cvsroot
Either .rhosts or Kerberos are used to authenticate remote access.
NFS is also an option, although there are performance problems.
A new version of CVS has just been released.
Information Providers
====================
File edit functionality improvement is needed: It is currently possible
to install files into an RCS controlled area, and then move or copy them
to another directory. This breaks RCS continuity, leaves orphaned RCS
files, and breaks links in the go recent listing. Perhaps the
modify/name, modify/location functions need to be brought under RCS,
along with a cleanup function that optionally moves/removes orphaned RCS
logs. Orphaned "recent" links would be removed !
Functionality to revert RCS versions would also be nice.
It is also possible to reinstall a document from one directory to
another, so perhaps some of the required functionality is already present.
Distribution/Releases
====================
-We have a request to try the latest version on a Sun system
-the var/csuite/dicts/ files need to be included in distribution
-David Potter has scanned the mailing lists archives for problem reports
and notes.
Disk Quota Sales
===============
Work continues on the Disk Quota system. A lengthy discussion concluded
that a system processing user submitted requests as orders, generated by
a HTML form system, and simply processing cheques to verify the user's
order requests, would be simpler to implement than a system which tries
to generate the order at the time the cheque is processed. Locking of
the order until the complete transaction is verified seems to be a major
problem, as our plan is to have the system automatically carry out the
changes when the office processes the money.
Please send updates/corrections to Ed Dyer aa146@chebucto.ns.ca
Ed Dyer aa146@chebucto.ns.ca (902) H 826-7496 CCN Assistant Postmaster
http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~aa146/ W 426-4894 CSuite Technical Workshop
Religion Page Editor, Chebucto Community Network http://www.chebucto.ns.ca
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