Merlissimo wrote:
Perhaps it is useful to summarize reasons why toolserver users are not able to change to tool/bot labs. I added my main reasons. Perhaps other can add their reasons, too? (Mabe we should also add this list to the wiki page)
temporary blockers
- no replication of wikimedia wiki databases
** joining of user databases with wiki databases
- no support for script execution dependency (on ts: currently done by sge)
- no support for servlets
missing support blockers
- no support for new users not familar with unix based systems
- no transparent updating of packages with security problems/bug
permanent blockers
- license problems (i wrote code at work for my company and reuse parts
for my bot framework. I have not the right to declare this code as open source which is needed by labs policy.)
- no DaB.
I think I'd add "general direction of centralizing everything under a single Wikimedia Foundation is a bad idea" as a permanent blocker. Maybe there's a reasonable case for why deprecating the Toolserver and creating Wikimedia Labs is a great idea, but I don't see it yet.
I don't see why each (Wikimedia) chapter shouldn't have its own replica of the databases. We want free content to be free (and re-used and re-mixed and whatever else). If you're going to invest in infrastructure, I think it makes more sense to bolster replication support than try to compete with the Toolserver.
That said, pooled resources can sometimes be a smart move to save on investments such as hardware. Chapters working together is not a bad thing (I believe some chapters donated to Wikimedia Deutschland for Toolserver support in the past). But the broader point is that users should be very cautious of the general direction that a Wikimedia (Foundation) Labs is headed and ask whether it's really a good idea iff it means the destruction of free-standing projects such as the Toolserver.
MZMcBride