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Index of Subjects Hi All, On Wed, 4 Oct 2000, Edward Dyer wrote: > But there is a BIG PROBLEM. In all the time that we have used RCS > in the Chebucto Suite system, it has never proven to be of any value > to any users EXCEPT for those who have shell accounts or developer > privileges. I agree: the little I know of it indicates that it could be very useful but without an effective interface its utility has been minimal. > Well I exaggerate - I have heard of an instance where > someone actually took a copy of an RCS file and recreated the > original file using the Pico editor. Actually, I've done so several times and once even recreated an entire site thaqt had been nuked from the RCS files, however, this use of RCS is rare and could (presumably) also be done from system backups. > But we haven't ever created any interface to RCS for ordinary users that > is of any value except as a very ugly, arcane, nearly useless version of > a file's historical record. Ditto, above. > So I agree STRONGLY with the complainers - it serves no useful > purpose, it breaks when users try to do things behind its back, it > wastes diskspace*, inodes, and cpu cycles. So let's get rid of it > AS FAR AS the IP area is concerned. > > We can discuss separately on the ccn-tech list whether we should > also remove RCS (and therefore also CVS) from the help and system > areas (I think there are still pros and maybe con's there.) > > Issues that need to be addressed, off the top of my head (others can > add items they know about) > > The editor script > The install script > The ftp daemon > The auto-unzipper, if it's still running > How will the above know what areas they should still use RCS for? I don't know enough to comment on any of these areas, but clearly we should iron out any techical issues to this functionality before we jettison RCS. > Significant changes to documentation around editing process (long > overdue anyway :) This shouldn't be that hard to do. > As far as whether there should be a substitute process to keep > backup copies of files, I think that is a good question. One way > that would work for text users would be to keep backup files (the > ones with the appended ~) and purge them after say 24 hours. I > think we do that anyway (unless it's broken, or at least we used > to.) The ftp daemon could be configured to do likewise, although > anyone who is used to uploading files by ftp would have no > expectation that we would keep old copies onsite; therefore let's > not. Just document it. Do we need to look at file locking for > read contention with httpd and Lynx during upload? > > Ed > > Ed Dyer aa146@chebucto.ns.ca (902) H 826-7496 CCN Postmaster > http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~aa146/ W 426-4894 CSuite Technical Workshop > Religion Page Editor, Chebucto Community Network http://www.chebucto.ns.ca > > * I saw one IP site where the RCS files were 16 megabytes for a 4 > megabyte website! ;-> Yoikes. I've on several occasions turfed sites that had moved off the CCN server elsewhere and found reams of RCS files littering the directories. Then there are the people who try and edit RCS files, creating further nested RCS directories ... I one found this four levels deep. Must have been someone very bored or very thick ... ;-> Cheers, Chris _._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._. Christopher Majka <aa051@chebucto.ns.ca> Editor: Culture & Philosophy - Chebucto Community Net, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. URL = http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Culture.html "Culture is the sum of all the forms of art, of love and of thought, which, in the course of centuries, have enabled man to be less enslaved." -- Andre Malraux, 1957 _._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._.
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