Canonical sources (was: Drop use of Gem for whimsy code)

[Sam Ruby <ru...@intertwingly.net>]

On Thu, Jan 14, 2016 at 10:20 AM, Jake Farrell <jf...@apache.org> wrote:
> currently we do not save a copy of what is live on github vs what people
> requested via the github teams text file. My personal though on this is it
> should really move into id.a.o and be apart of people ldap record and we
> could run through that and update the github teams based on this and a
> persons PMC/committer settings and not in a separate file

I tried to have this discussion on infrastructure's hipchat, but it
didn't go well.

We currently have multiple "canonical" definitions of pretty much
everything, and are constantly creating more.  Seeing this item
(github teams) as an example of the trend I believe should be
dampened, I tried to broach this subject on hipchat.  I definitely
support moving this to LDAP and volunteered to help.  At that point I
was quite clearly told that "we" (a pronoun that quite clearly
excluded me) hadn't decided yet, and that that discussion was
premature.  I promptly left the chat at that point, and will follow up
with ke4qqq.  I'm CC'ing him so that he sees this note.  I'm confident
that he will resolve this.

Over time, I wrote a number of tools that helps identify differences
in these definitions and to automate workflow.  Ultimately I requested
a VM to host these tools.  Whimsy is what resulted from that effort.

>From a user's perspective, where the source of truth is to be found is
an implementation detail.  The roster tool takes care of those details
and exposes differences: https://whimsy.apache.org/roster/.  In
addition, the public directory (mostly an effort of Sebb), publishes a
public view this data in a readily consumable form:
https://whimsy.apache.org/public/

Those items are read-only at the moment.  id.apache.org is read-write.
The simple truth is that the number of infrastructure staff members
who are enthusiastic about maintaining that tool is dwindling.

It is my intent to make the roster tool read/write.  It will then be
able to do everything that id.apache.org does as well as all of the
perl scripts for managing group membership.  This will also be folded
into the board agenda tool (example: the secretary updates LDAP chair
info based on which resolutions pass) as well as the secmail tool
(example: the secretary updates the member list upon receipt of a
member application).

It is also my intent that that tool be something that people can run
on their own development machines, and whimsy committers can deploy
changes simply by pushing them.  It is my hope that others join me in
this effort.

Additionally, a number of infrastructure team members are working with
the Syncope team to build a VM that should be able to do this
function.  Should that pan out, some portion of what I describe above
may not turn out to be necessary.  That's perfectly fine with me.  I
personally have no interest in writing J2EE code, but at a minimum I
am willing to consult.  At a minimum, I have a solid knowledge of the
secretarial workflows and what data is maintained well, and what data
is likely to be inconsistent.

> -Jake

- Sam Ruby

P.S.  I do not encourage people to look into the current roster tool.
http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?PlanToThrowOneAway applies here.  That actually
was the second major version of that tool.  The third version will be
organized a lot more like the board agenda and new secmail tools,
where each individual form or action is a separate file that can be
developed and maintained independently -- for all intents and purposes
a separate tool.

> On Wed, Jan 13, 2016 at 1:28 PM, sebb <se...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> It should be sorted by committerId not github id (according to the
>> comments).
>>
>> Note that I seem to be able to update Github/whimsy and my id is in
>> the Github apache list however I'm not listed in github_team.txt
>>
>> I don't know if that will be a problem going forward or if that is normal.
>>
>> On 13 January 2016 at 18:18, Jake Farrell <jf...@apache.org> wrote:
>> > yes, pending vs active is still used. that file is processed by a very
>> > quick script i put together, could sort it by github id, but at the time
>> my
>> > goal was to just get it working. i'll do some cleanup on the script and
>> > process the file again so it updates
>> >
>> > -Jake
>> >
>> > On Wed, Jan 13, 2016 at 12:44 PM, sebb <se...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> >
>> >> On 13 January 2016 at 17:33, Daniel Gruno <hu...@apache.org> wrote:
>> >> > On 01/13/2016 06:28 PM, sebb wrote:
>> >> >
>> >> >> Matt is stalled on the 3rd phase:
>> >> >>
>> >> >> MFA: Unknown, not part of the Apache organisation on GitHub yet.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> I have set up Github and 2FA using Google Authenticator on my phone,
>> >> >> and can login and out of Github (and reset the password).
>> >> >>
>> >> >> But no joy, cannot get past stage 2.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> I have tried restarting the matt process, and just now revoked the
>> >> >> permission and re-enabled it, but still no joy.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> If there's something else I'm supposed to do it's not obvious what
>> >> >> that is (unlike the previous stages, which were easy to follow).
>> >> >>
>> >> >
>> >> > You need to be part of the Apache github org before MATT will
>> recognize
>> >> > you.
>> >>
>> >> The Matt docs need to mention this.
>> >>
>> >> > You can add your name to
>> >> > https://svn.apache.org/repos/private/committers/docs/github_team.txt
>> or
>> >> > you can just tell me what your github ID is and I'll add you :)
>> >>
>> >> I've had a look at the file and it's not obvious which section I
>> >> should add the details to.
>> >> Is the Pending section still used?
>> >>
>> >> So I'll have to leave it to you to add
>> >>
>> >> sebb: sebbASF
>> >>
>> >> to the appropriate section(s)
>> >>
>> >> BTW, the Active section is not sorted.
>> >> The first part is sorted, and then it looks to have been updated
>> >> sequentially.
>> >> Do you want me to sort it?
>> >>
>> >> > With regards,
>> >> > Daniel.
>> >> >
>> >>
>>