[H-source-users] sync published server code with production (#60939)

[bill-auger]

On Mon, 19 Jul 2021 13:55:13 +1000 Yuchen wrote:
> > I will create an issue to track this.  
> https://savannah.nongnu.org/bugs/index.php?60939



On Mon, 19 Jul 2021 12:19:39 +1000 Yuchen wrote:
> I had a look at the server code and compared the files with the
> latest commits on the repo, and it appears to me the only unmerged
> change is commit efd48dee15bbdf3a5a2b6a5cf724ca586568b53e. So the
> server code is rather up to date.

looking at the VCS may not tell the whole story - there could be
changes on the server, which are not committed to VCS


On Mon, 19 Jul 2021 12:19:39 +1000 Yuchen wrote:
> Furthermore, easygiant is not supported by php-7 which is the
> version on the staging server. Therefore it is blocking spinning
> up the staging server.

i think we are going to need the actual running server code -
this is what i would do:

* commit everything which is not committed
  $ git add -A ; git commit -m wip ;
* commit everything which is not tracked
  $ git add -Af ; git commit -m untracked ;
* email it (encrypted) to damien


On Mon, 19 Jul 2021 12:19:39 +1000 Yuchen wrote:
> There's a schema file in the repo
> Is it not sufficient for development?
>
> I have also cc'd sysadmin@fsf
> about getting a sql dump out of the fsf machine.

again, we can not presume that the published schema accurately
reflects the live DB - we should get a schema dump of the live
DB, then compare it to the published source schema


On Mon, 19 Jul 2021 12:19:39 +1000 Yuchen wrote:
> Since my php knowledge is hello-world-level and I'm more
> comfortable with a few other languages including python

unfortunately, that is the most common reason why any existing
software is re-written - its not a great reason though - IMHO,
there should be a more compelling reason than: "i dont wanna
learn anything new", such as: "its broken", "all function and
variable names are a single-letter", "it has no documentation",
"its written in french"


On Mon, 19 Jul 2021 12:19:39 +1000 Yuchen wrote:
> Taking a step back, why do you think django may be a better choice
> compared to other server software? Would it be easy to rewrite the
> api with django as well?

im not convinced that it is; but i wont be the one maintaining
it, so my opinion is irrelevant

if i were to do it, i would choose rails, because i like ruby;
but the languages and tools used, are mostly a matter of
preference/familiarity - someone with a strong PHP background,
could probably be able to knock down any other argument