[ntp:hackers] Repairs, continued

David L. Mills mills at UDel.Edu
Wed Sep 10 20:11:20 PDT 2003


Harlan,

The fates were kind in that whimsy:/backroom was spared and that at
least an old archive of whimsy:/whimsy was restored and as of now has
current web and NTP documentation. I have mentioned several times in
recent messages that it might be a good idea to relocate the "master"
repository on pogo as being less dangerous than out in the weeds on
whimsy. I assumed also that you would need to move tools and maybe other
stuff in your huge home directory now on mort.

Thanks for the configure rescue, but I'm concerned about the problem
with br-flock. I didn't do anything except change a few sources and did
a make in A.mort. The same thing happened on campus with pogo and
malarky and that was before moving stuff post-bolt to campus. I'm
concerned about requiring a br-flock before sending off a new tarball to
campus for test. A full build of all backroom machines from scratch
takes several hours.

About the relocate. Frankly, I'm happy with the master trove on a
backroom machine, as this is so convenient for me to edit and test.
However, I am really concerned about the aftermath of things like the
bolt, which has so far tied me completely up for almost two weeks trying
to put things back together. I've been pulling cables, installing
joule-dumps and rebuilding backplanes with new modules. As further
insult, today I discovered that the backroom printer was damaged and may
have to be replaced. As ultimate irony, the little PPS gadget box got
fried along with an expensive shortwave receiver, another transceiver
and the antenna rotor/control box.

I have now both DAT and Exabyte backup tapes, but have not yet mastered
how to use them effectively other than dump everything from time to
time. Everything now on mort and grundoon is backed up on either DAT or
Exabyte or both. It probably would be a good idea to back up
configuration files for the other machines, but how to do that with the
tapes on mort is not in my braintool kit. I need to ask advice on that.

It seems to me the ultimate game is massive, robotic redundancy. There
is more than enough space on mort and pogo and (repaired) whimsy for a
full repository and tools of everything. My prior habit was to move web
and documentation things that changed overnight to campus on a
department machine and that saved lives from the bolt. Why not do the
same thing - an overnight sdist for the things that might change in
ntp-dev and ntp-stable and anything else for that matter. I'm not locked
in sdist, although the department does maintain it. The point is to have
somethin automatic and hands-free that keeps mort and pogo (and others)
in sync. [Eegods, am I promoting a new tool?]

As for your mail in jail to pale on whimsy, I fear for its survival, as
I assume it was on the fried internal disk. The external disk with
/whimsy did not survive either, but it was on warranty and presumably
will be replaced free. I have to find university cash somewhere to pay
the fixit bill for whimsy, expected to be more than a few bucks. I'm
hoping the fixit bill for my personal gear, including a $3000 pump, due
bolt damage, now some $7000 total, will be covered largely by insurance.

My current plan is to survive intermittent mort shutdowns, which seem
due to a faulty environment sensor, until whimsy comes back, then clone
mort on whimsy machine, which runs as mort evermore. Then send mort for
repair and when it comes back come up as whimsy. This avoids messy
changes in mail, etc., and leaves the highest horsepower and most
business where it is most useful. Finally, whimsy-as-mort machine is
banished to the basement. Besides making it safer at the other end of a
fiber run and away from antennas, etc., that reduces clutter in my
upstairs office.

As more than enough space is available, I would expect to clone
important stuff on whimsy, mort and pogo, presumably robotically, with
due attention to minimizing ISDN traffic during waking hours. So, I need
to know what if anyhing you want to move from mort to pogo and whether
the above plan is workable and what is the best plan for implementing
it. While you could move it yourself, your home directory and tools are
easily gigabit joule, so it may be quicker to transport by DAT.

As for mail, if you are happy on ntp.org, fabulous. If you (or anybody
else) needs a box on a sandbox machine, that's fine as well. Somehow I
think the box stenn at whimsy.udel.edu or stenn at malarky.udel.edu has a
certain ring to it.

Dave

Harlan Stenn wrote:
> 
> On Wed, Sep 10, 2003 at 07:45:43PM +0000, David L. Mills wrote:
> > I have asked for advice on what to move from backroom to campus and what
> > to do about whimsy mail relocate. I have received none.
> 
> That's because the only thing on whimsy was your master copy of ntp-dev
> (and my master copy of ntp-stable), so there is nothing left to move.
> 
> If you don't want the master copies on whimsy (or wherever) and are
> satisfied with having your working copies there, I can arrange that.
> 
> I have no idea what to do about whimsy email relocate.  I am now reading
> my email on ntp.org (maccarony), but I have no idea what is "in limbo"
> for me waiting to be delievered on whimsy.
> 
> > I have rebuilt backroom ntp-dev on the Freebies and SunOS with joy. I
> > have no joy with Solaris nor with make dist, as my previous messages
> > have reported. Having received no confirmation or answer, I might have
> > to indulge in unlicensed surgery.
> 
> I fixed that last night and perhaps this morning.  See ntp-dev/A.mort/ .
> 
> It is important to use br-flock to build things for dist, and not do
> manual "configure" runs.  The problem is that you apparently did a
> configure run, and that "set the stage" for all future builds.  I removed
> config.status from A.mort and used br-flock to rebuild it.  Seems better now.
> 
> H



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