Toolserver-announce November 2010

toolserver-announce@lists.wikimedia.org

2 participants
9 discussions

FYI: Changing of interwiki-bots-account-approval
by DaB. 23 Jan '11

23 Jan '11

Hello all, with the beginning of the next year (2011) I will not longer accept new interwiki-bot-accounts, if: -The homewiki of the bot has at least one active interwiki-bot, which runs on the toolserver, OR -The homewiki has less then 1000 articles. (There can be exceptions if there is a good reason of course) The homewiki is that wiki where the bot starts and where the account-requester got his/her bot approved (see [1]). If the account-requester requested the account only for the interwiki-bot, the request will be rejected; if he/she requested the account also for other things, only the interwiki-bot will be denied of course and the rest of the request will be handled the normal way. For interwiki-bots which runs already on the toolserver, there is no change at the moment. When you find a free minute: Please add your bot to [2] and check if there are inactive bots listed for your wiki. The goal of this change is to limit the number of interwiki-bots on the toolserver (and improve our documentary a bit). Sincerly, DaB. [1] https://wiki.toolserver.org/view/Account_approval_process, Request process, Point 4. [2] https://wiki.toolserver.org/view/Wikimedia_bots -- Userpage: [[:w:de:User:DaB.]] — PGP: 2B255885

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General maintenance notice: December 6th
by River Tarnell 06 Dec '10

06 Dec '10

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Hi, On the morning (UTC) of December 6th we will perform general maintenance[0] on all servers. Services will be affected as follows: Service | Expected impact -----------------------------+------------------------------------- Entire platform | As described in maintenance schedule[0] JIRA, MediaWiki, FishEye | Under 30 minutes outage for each service | during upgrade Start time: Monday, 6th December, 12AM UTC End time: Monday, 6th December, 8AM UTC (estimated) Details: This is a schedule general maintenance, which we use for various non-critical tasks. The expected outages are as described in the maintenance schedule[0]. Most of the changes for this maintenance are in the local TS software, /opt/ts; all software will be upgraded to the latest version, and some minor changes will be made. The full list of upgrades, including Perl modules, is available here: <https://wiki.toolserver.org/view/Admin:Pending_maintenance_tasks> The following changes will also be made: * Mono will now install directly in /opt/ts instead of /opt/ts/mono/2.0. If you call "mono" without an absolute path, this will not affect you. If you currently call "/opt/ts/mono/2.0/bin/mono", you should change this to remove the full path before the maintenance. * The preferred OpenSSL is now /opt/ts/bin/{amd64,}/openssl, which is OpenSSL 1.0.0b instead of /usr/sfw/bin/{amd64,}/openssl (0.9.7d). This should not affect users, but if you currently call the version in /usr/sfw with a full path, you may wish to remove the path so you automatically use our version, which is better. We will additionally make some changes to how the software is compiled; if you have compiled your own C or C++ programs, this will affect you, and you should read the section "Changes to ts-specs environment" below. If you do not have any locally-compiled software, this change will not affect you. During the maintenance, some software may not work correctly (e.g. programs or libraries not found). -- JIRA, FishEye, MediaWiki and phpMyAdmin will also be upgraded. -- The default Python version will change from 2.6 to 2.7. If you currently use /usr/bin/python, this change will happen for you automatically. If you use /usr/bin/python2.6 explicitly, you will need to change to /usr/bin/python2.7 to use the new Python. If you have programs which don't work under Python 2.7, you should a) report this in JIRA, and b) switch to /usr/bin/python2.6 before the maintenance. If there are no problems with Python 2.7, we will remove Python 2.6 from the system during the next maintenance (January 2011). We will patch Python 2.7 to revert the fix for bug 1054943[1], which introduced a regression affecting Unicode normalisation[2][3]. -- The default "gcc" will become GCC 4.5.1, rather than 3.4.3. This may affect you if you build locally-installed Perl modules, especially if these modules use C++ code. This is described in more detail below. -- Changes to ts-specs environment =============================== This section only applies to users with locally-compiled C or C++ software. The new version of ts-specs (/opt/ts) installed during the maintenance has switched the default compiler from Sun Studio to GCC 4.5.1. This is described in more detail at [4]. In brief: * You should change from your current compiler (Studio, GCC 3.4.3 or GCC 4.4) to GCC 4.5.1, /opt/ts/bin/gcc. * If you recompile any Studio- or GCC 3.4.3-compiled C++ code with the new compiler, you need to recompile all of it, because the ABIs are not compatible. * GCC 3.4.3 will no longer be installed. * If you use Studio-compiled versions of C++ libraries in /opt/ts/<lib>/<version>/, you should change to the GCC version in /opt/ts/<lib>/<version>-gcc/. The following libraries require special handling: * Studio-compiled versions of MySQL++ and VIPS were previously installed in /opt/ts/lib. If you use these libraries, you should switch to the version that we will install in /opt/ts/<lib> (where <lib> is "mysqlpp" or "vips"). The Studio-compiled version will remain available for now. * Studio-compiled versions of ImageMagick, sigc++ and cairomm are currently installed in /opt/ts. They will be replaced with GCC-compiled versions in the same path, and Studio-compiled versions will not be available. If this adversely affects you (because you use these libraries and need time to migrate), you should let us know before the maintenance. [0] https://wiki.toolserver.org/view/Maintenance_schedule [1] http://bugs.python.org/issue1054943 [2] http://bugs.python.org/issue10254 [3] http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/toolserver-l/2010-November/003633.html [4] http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/toolserver-announce/2010-November/0003… -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (FreeBSD) iEYEARECAAYFAkzz1HIACgkQIXd7fCuc5vIcAQCfffiUXeXvhgCdFT6wHtEFWc1X MZ4An1yUKY6ZFzeGhxcPFgXhA7DUDH7j =RfuR -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Reboot of nightshade tonight
by DaB. 28 Nov '10

28 Nov '10

Hello all, I will reboot nightshade tonight at 0:20 UTC, because of a kernel-update (Critical maintenance). Please see [[MNT-901]] for details. Sincerly, DaB. -- Userpage: [[:w:de:User:DaB.]] — PGP: 2B255885

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Default Python will change to 2.7
by River Tarnell 22 Nov '10

22 Nov '10

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Hi, During the general maintenance on Dec 6th, we will change the default Python version (/usr/bin/python) on the Solaris user servers from 2.6 to 2.7. You may wish to test your tools with /usr/bin/python2.7 before then. - river. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.16 (FreeBSD) iEYEARECAAYFAkzqREgACgkQIXd7fCuc5vIhFQCgpX20z0B9xHikuwl+yiEUDzFH WjYAn1wqm21wZjP1uQhsEO7RkxlTyE/N =CqUE -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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SGE can now be used for *all* tools
by River Tarnell 16 Nov '10

16 Nov '10

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Hi, In the past, our policy on SGE (batch job scheduling) was that it should only be used for jobs which run once then exit, and that it should not be used for jobs which run continuously. This policy has now changed, and SGE can be used for all jobs, including long-running jobs. This effectively obsoletes Phoenix and similar tools, since SGE with cronsub provides the same functionality. Because SGE makes it easier for us to scale the Toolserver cluster, as well as making your tools run more efficiently (and therefore quicker), we recommend that all tools be converted to SGE where possible. The wiki page now has a quick-start section explaining how to do this: <https://wiki.toolserver.org/view/Batch_job_scheduling#Quick_start> (While SGE has a lot of features and can be complicated, we've tried to make it easy to use for the typical cases; if something is not clear, please let us know.) - river. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.16 (FreeBSD) iEYEARECAAYFAkziD9YACgkQIXd7fCuc5vLmewCeLTy/5zyomUajAttXfPoG7j+e vToAnRD5yVeL5iccv/SfzIgGicHSoAS0 =fV93 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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SGE on web servers
by River Tarnell 16 Nov '10

16 Nov '10

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Hi, The webservers (wolfsbane and ortelius) have been added as SGE submit hosts, which means you can submit jobs from these servers (e.g. from CGI scripts). However, jobs will not run on these servers. - river. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.16 (FreeBSD) iEYEARECAAYFAkzgHFgACgkQIXd7fCuc5vJMsQCbBJfWa0Ii8akJowaN+/zHhdlH y8wAoKhGCpaPfCiZIhzfA4QQkHpiw/zf =2g0+ -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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nightshade will be converted to Solaris on January 3, 2011
by River Tarnell 14 Nov '10

14 Nov '10

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Hi, Since no major issues have been raised regarding the conversion of nightshade to Solaris, this has been schedule for the maintenance window on January 3rd, 2011. For more information, see <http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/toolserver-announce/2010-September/000…> During the maintenance window, we will back up crontabs to $HOME/crontab.nightshade, and then reinstall the OS. This will take about 30 minutes. After the reinstall, the system will be identical to willow. Users who currently use willow for cron will not have to make any changes. Cronjobs using SGE will automatically be scheduled on nightshade as appropriate. SGE jobs which force "-l arch=lx24-amd64" will fail to run, since there will be no Linux hosts left. If you currently do this, you should remove the arch limit. Users who have crontabs on nightshade should review the old crontab file (which will be saved as $HOME/crontab.nightshade), then run this command to install it: $ crontab $HOME/crontab.nightshade Note there are some differences between Linux and Solaris cron; in particular, "/" syntax is not supported. See <https://wiki.toolserver.org/view/Solaris#cron> for details. Any issues which prevent your tools running on Solaris must be fixed before the conversion date. If you need system changes for this, file a request in JIRA and include [solaris] in the summary. We will not delay the conversion unless serious unanticipated issues are discovered. - river. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.16 (FreeBSD) iEYEARECAAYFAkzgMHQACgkQIXd7fCuc5vJNUACdFP+v/BB8GJ1ZXOuJYGK6FVEf 0I4AoKDS1TdQ3zevlHenuWEg6opJ2wZA =hzAC -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Changes to software libraries in /opt/ts
by River Tarnell 14 Nov '10

14 Nov '10

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Hi, During the next maintenance window (Dec 6), we will switch from Sun Studio to GCC as the standard C and C++ compiler for ts-specs (/opt/ts). If you have have locally-compiled C or C++ software, you should read the rest of this mail. Otherwise, this change does not affect you. We this change for several reasons: + Some open source software (especially C++ software) is only tested on GCC, and doesn't compile with other compilers. We have to maintain (sometimes extensive) local patch sets to compile this software with Studio. + On x86, using GCC doesn't cause a performance penalty, and GCC now supports some features (e.g. OpenMP) which were previously only supported in Studio. + Since C++ ABIs are not portable between compilers, we currently need to provide compiled libraries for both compilers. + Users often try to link software using the GCC compiler, but with the Studio-compiled libraries. If you compile C or C++ software, this change will affect you as follows: + If you use TS GCC 4.4 (in /opt/ts/gcc/4.4/bin), you do not *have* to make any changes, but we will shortly be installing GCC 4.5 and making /opt/ts/bin/gcc (and g++) symlinks to the latest compiler versions. So, you may wish to switch to /opt/ts/bin/gcc when this is done rather than using a specific compiler version. + If you use Sun GCC 3.4.3 (in /usr/sfw/bin), you should switch to our GCC, because we will remove Sun's GCC during the maintenance window. (However, we will not remove the runtime libraries, so there is no need to recompile immediately.) + If you use Studio (cc and CC), you should switch to GCC (gcc and g++) and recompile. + GCC-specific compiled libraries, currently in /opt/ts/<library>/<version>-gcc, will stay there for now, in order to avoid breaking existing software. During the following maintenance window (Jan 3), the Studio versions in /opt/ts/<library>/<version> will be replaced with the GCC version, so using the "-gcc" suffix will no longer be necessary. - river. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.16 (FreeBSD) iEYEARECAAYFAkzgBeAACgkQIXd7fCuc5vKhYQCgh7MfD33dxoeyxKx3TdYGUg+P cwQAoIOPVyvA6gZXGXZ9SdbbjVBSGEQa =vbuk -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Account expiry
by River Tarnell 12 Nov '10

12 Nov '10

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Hi, Users were supposed to received an automated mail 28 days before account expiry (which is currently 1 Dec for most users), but due to an issue with the program which sends the mails, they were not sent. The problem has been fixed and users will receive another mail 7 days before expiry, but in the mean time you may wish to run 'acctrenew' on willow now to renew your account. - river. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.16 (FreeBSD) iEYEARECAAYFAkzcNuAACgkQIXd7fCuc5vKdHwCeOtktiQ2Oao8Au4OvNeyifQLY SgcAnjp7Ed+vKy3DzKmb2yfcQv81cJ2k =QZ/G -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Toolserver-announce November 2010