threads / discuss / 31667

The ciabot hook code in contrib/ is obsolete - delete it

Subject: The ciabot hook code in contrib/ is obsolete - delete it

## tl;dr

3 messages between Sep 28, 2012 and Oct 2, 2012.

replies: 2people: 2as markdown or json

Eric S. Raymond· Sep 28, 2012, 02:40 UTC · lore

The CIA notification server died about two days ago, done in by a screwup at the cloud service hosting is VM. For various technical reasons there cannot and will not be any effort to revive it. If you want the whole sordid tale, read "CIA and the perils of overengineering" at <http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=4540>.

Accordingly, the contrib/ciabot code is now obsolete and should be removed.

I have written a replacement service. irker, with a different (and fundamentally simpler) design. Though I released irker just today, it already has multiple deployments. A lot of hackers like their IRC commit notifications and have instantly seized on this option to get such a service running again - this time as a distributed flock of lightweight notifier proxy daemons that cannot be taken out by any single-point failure.

Interested persons may wish to monitor the freenode #cia channel, which is morphing into a discussion about coordinating irker deployment and building various proxy/symbiote/statistics-gathering services around it.

I'm shipping a generic repo-hook script that supports both git and Subversion in the irker distribution, so there won't be any need for git to carry a special hook. I remain grateful for your previous cooperation in supporting and distributing the ciabot code.

-- 
		<a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/">Eric S. Raymond</a>

You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a
reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating
the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the great struggle
for independence.	-- Attributed to Charles Austin Beard (1874-1948)

Junio C Hamano· Oct 2, 2012, 22:58 UTC · re: Eric S. Raymond · lore

Re: The ciabot hook code in contrib/ is obsolete - delete it

esr@thyrsus.com (Eric S. Raymond) writes:

Show 25 quoted lines

> The CIA notification server died about two days ago, done in by
> a screwup at the cloud service hosting is VM.  For various technical
> reasons there cannot and will not be any effort to revive it.  If you want
> the whole sordid tale, read "CIA and the perils of overengineering" at
> <http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=4540>.
>
> Accordingly, the contrib/ciabot code is now obsolete and should be removed.
>
> I have written a replacement service. irker, with a different (and
> fundamentally simpler) design. Though I released irker just today, it
> already has multiple deployments.  A lot of hackers like their IRC
> commit notifications and have instantly seized on this option to get
> such a service running again - this time as a distributed flock of
> lightweight notifier proxy daemons that cannot be taken out by any
> single-point failure. 
>
> Interested persons may wish to monitor the freenode #cia channel,
> which is morphing into a discussion about coordinating irker
> deployment and building various proxy/symbiote/statistics-gathering 
> services around it.
>
> I'm shipping a generic repo-hook script that supports both git and
> Subversion in the irker distribution, so there won't be any need
> for git to carry a special hook.  I remain grateful for your previous 
> cooperation in supporting and distributing the ciabot code.

Seeing the above without a signed-off patch and then this on cia.vc

    We intend to have the CIA.VC Site running soon then bring the
    service back at a later date!  We currently do not have an ETA for
    the Service but hope to have it functioning soon!

I am not sure what the right course of action at this moment.

Eric S. Raymond· Oct 2, 2012, 23:39 UTC · re: Junio C Hamano · lore

Re: The ciabot hook code in contrib/ is obsolete - delete it

Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>:

Show 7 quoted lines

> Seeing the above without a signed-off patch and then this on cia.vc
> 
>     We intend to have the CIA.VC Site running soon then bring the
>     service back at a later date!  We currently do not have an ETA for
>     the Service but hope to have it functioning soon!
> 
> I am not sure what the right course of action at this moment.

Then leave things as they are and we'll await developments.

Yes, Ilkotech is expressing a hope to revive CIA. For various reasons both technical and political I am near certain the effort will go nowhere. From #cia:

[17:19] Talad Hi [17:19] Talad the CIA bot in our channel is gone [17:20] Talad how to restore it ? [17:20] shadowm /topic [17:20] shadowm (Old news at this point, really.) [17:21] Talad what is the problem? [17:21] AI0867 the server was deleted [17:21] AI0867 the version running on it was never checked into version control, nor was it backed up [17:22] AI0867 in short, CIA is *gone* [17:22] AI0867 for a replacement, see #irker or http://www.catb.org/~esr/irker/ [17:25] The_Tick BearPerson: do we know if there was a backup of the database holding all the configs? [17:26] BearPerson There might be one on a hard drive somewhere in my apartment, but it'd be at least 2 years old at this point [17:26] BearPerson haven't gotten around to digging up that box yet [17:26] The_Tick might be worth pulling the emails out and shooting everyone an email explaining the situation [17:27] The_Tick so they stop coming in here asking about it [17:30] Talad "the server was deleted" <- by the owner? [17:32] Talad maybe CIA was discussed/agreed with freenode staff [17:32] Talad and they have a copy of it? [17:32] The_Tick doubt it [17:33] Talad I guess they are careful about widespread bots like CIA [17:33] shadowm No, freenode had nothing to do with running CIA.vc. [17:34] shadowm And the server was deleted by the hosting company, while the current owners did not have a backup plan at all. [17:36] Talad I see [17:36] Talad ok, thanks

On the other hand contrib/ciabot isn't taking up a lot of space in your tree, either, so there's little harm in leaving it in place.

-- 
		<a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/">Eric S. Raymond</a>