[Labs-l] RFC: Webtools setup

Mon Feb 18 01:14:04 UTC 2013

On 18/02/13 01:51, Tim Landscheidt wrote:
>>> No, I mean if we have a wildcard DNS entry for
>>> *.wmflabs.org, we need to ensure that
>>> non-webtools-project-1.wmflabs.org and
>>> non-webtools-project-2.wmflabs.org are still reachable.
> 
>> No, I thought you wanted tools.wmflabs.org/$toolname but now I'm
>> wondering if you wanted tools to be a variable,  ie.
>> {$toolname}.wmflabs.org (which I don't consider a good idea, better to
>> balance it from varnish)
> 
> Actually I misread Giftpflanze's proposal that suggested
> tools.wmflabs.org/$toolname (i. e., just change the server
> name from "webtools" to "tool(s)").  I'm not passionate
> about {$toolname}.wmflabs.org, but it should be balanceable
> just as well?!

Yes, even easier, but looks messier.

>> [...]
> 
>>> IMVHO, though, if developers want to work in a collaborative
>>> environment, they have to collaborate.  If the world must
>>> stop just because they think so, how will they handle issues
>>> where they definitely need to wait for other humans?
> 
>> No, they don't want that. Those volunteers want to solve for us a
>> problem that our software doesn't handle.
>> It is our task to make that process easy and nice.
> 
> I disagree with this view.  There's no "we" and "them";
> we're all volunteers (well, most of us :-)), and there's no
> reason why a tool developer cannot wait a few minutes, while
> at the same time an immediate reaction would put unnecessary
> burden on administrators.  Even in areas where paid WMF em-
> ployees/contractors wear the hat and you really could think
> of developers submitting a patch to MediaWiki or requesting
> a Gerrit repository as "customers" who should be fed and
> pampered, we accept *much* longer response times.
> 
> In my experience developers in the Wikipedia sphere and es-
> pecially on Toolserver are *very* patient, and before we op-
> timize the processes for someone who loses interest in de-
> veloping a tool after fifteen minutes, we should see how
> many of them there really are.

If mapping to the toolserver, I am trying to optimize the creation of a
MMP. Maybe they will not drop their tool idea, but they will easily use
their own accounts instead.

PS: Yes, I realised when writing that my usage of 'us' and 'we' was a
bit odd :)