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 <[log in to unmask]> 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" <[log in to unmask]> 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