Tomasz Finc wrote:
I'm really eager to fix the latter. We currently have good documentation from Roan and others at http://wikitech.wikimedia.org/view/How_to_deploy_code and we'll have a much better eco system when het deploy is out. For those of you that actively deploy code .. do we have enough documentation for someone new to learn the system? If not .. what key pieces are missing? Feel free to grab me on irc if you want to dive into this deeply or if your just curious.
Internally i've watched/supported our engineers becoming more familiar with our deployment system and i'm eager to have more who are comfortable with this from both staff and the volunteer community.
--tomasz
I think it is as easy as knowing how to use scap and sync-file. I would consider some features that [[How_to_deploy_code]] covers, such as deployment of a new extensions as advanced.
The rest is mostly common sense: trusting the code that you are deploying, not making silly syntax errors*...
I would add a note about having to be around* after you make any changes, in case you broke something, and -for new scappers- to also have some senior developer available.
I think it is worth explaining the correct way to add a configuration setting or group. Those are changes done quite often (shell bugs), but can break the sites or expose a private wiki.
* This happens to everyone, it is probably the most common cause of breakdown (now sync-file runs php -l for you). ** For new people: that means at least being on #wikimedia-tech.