Re: so long, CPAN

On Sunday 26 September 2010 13:49:26 Jarkko Hietaniemi wrote:
> It has become the time for me to admit to what has probably been pretty
> obvious for anyone else already for some time - I do not have the time
> to give CPAN the attention it deserves.  Time to pass the baton, etc.
> 
> First and foremost: CPAN is PAUSE.  So it's actually Andreas that has
> been doing most of the work all these years.  All the kudos to him.
> The FUNET site is still mirroring some other sources into CPAN, but
> they are completely dead and nobody would notice if they stopped.
> 
> Secondly: the CPAN mirror database maintenance is very messy,
> error-prone, and time-consuming: time to create a ticketing system
> for it, where each mirror is a queue, and each mirror maintainer gets
> an account?

Having seen that the inclusion of the only currently active CPAN mirror in 
Israel has fallen between the chairs:

http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg02834.html

I'd like to give a hand maintaining the CPAN mirror database. Can we use 
version control for that with people pulling or committing changes from other 
people?

Regards,

	Shlomi Fish

> 
> Thirdly, here's what I've been thinking about who could take over:
> 
> brian d foy & Ricardo Signes - project management ("policies")
> Ask Bjørn Hansen & Robert Spier - tech leads (i.e. running systems)
> Henk Penning & David Landgren - the mirror database
> 
> Note that I have named always two people - myself being a baaad
> example of a single point of failure.  Though: maybe the PAUSE
> maintenance could be shared with more people?  Andreas does need
> some evenings off.  Likewise, the DNS of .cpan.org is currently
> behind Jos.  Not a bad place to be, but again, a single point
> of failure sucks.
> 
> There are some other smaller parts in CPAN - like maintaining
> the FAQ, and maintaining the binaries page.  I don't have any
> good ideas on how/whom they should go.
> 
> As recipients I chose people who over the years have shown promise
> and/or interest in various aspects of CPAN, in reasonably random
> order.  Feel free to nominate/denominate yourself/other people.
> 
> The concrete first step could be that Ask's develooper starts mirroring
> PAUSE directly instead of from FUNET, and then I switch FUNET to mirror
> from develooper.  Second step: maybe get kernel.org as the North America
> Tier 1 mirror (they have shown interest in the past, and they have the
> capacity).  Third step: more Tier 1 mirrors in NA and other continents?
> Fourth step: you fill it in.
> 
> However Perl 6 will affect CPAN, I leave for younger minds to ponder.
> 
> To close off, some random musings, if I may: avoid tight couplings,
> like the plague they are.  Avoid single points of failure.
> Programming/middleware fads come and go, don't be too eager
> to follow them.

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Shlomi Fish       http://www.shlomifish.org/
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