apache 1.3.26?

[Graham Leggett]

Christopher Murtagh wrote:

>  Also, when I do *anything* to the configuration of my servers, it is all
> documented. Everything from where I put the source, what version(s) any
> server is running, what modifications were done, what patches applied,
> etc.. Not doing this is neglect.

A good system for be self documented. Seperately maintained 
documentation usually doesn't get maintained, or it simply gets lost 
(from experience).

>  Nonsense. Just about any real sysadmin I know will compile Apache from
> source rather than use an RPM, and many of these folks have been doing
> this sort of work for decades.

I used to compile Apache from source on the installations I was 
responsible for. It was a hugely timeconsuming process, and prone to 
mistakes. RPMs have turned out to be a better way. I don't personally 
believe "doing it that way for decades" is a valid reason for adopting a 
methodology.

>>You should not need to modify the code. If you do need to, make the
>>change and submit it to the project for inclusion in the main project.
>>Systems are not maintainable otherwise
> 
>  Hello!!?!? I think you have missed the point of OSS entirely.

As an Apache committer I think I fully understand the point of OSS.

> There are
> many reasons to modify source other than enhancements other folks might
> want/need. We have built an enterprise system that the configuration is
> not likely to be repeated elsewhere, and we have tuned our software to
> work with our system. This is what the beauty of OSS is.

The reason I got involved with Apache in the first place was because at 
the time we needed to use Apache functionality (proxy) that was broken 
and unmaintained. We were not prepared to support the changes ourselves 
(too much chance the changes would have fallen by the wayside) so we got 
the enhancements included in the main distribution.

Making your own changes is all well and good, but if you don't pass your 
changes back to the main project you a) create work for yourself down 
the line and b) deny others access to the same work.

>>This is rubbish. Seriously, there is no way in hell I'm going to
>>remember how I configured something six months ago,
>
>  Document, document, document.

Lovely in theory, useless in practice. Documentation separate from the 
installation is extra work which in most cases can be avoided, and 
should be avoided seeing most of the time this documentation isn't 
maintained in practice anyway.

>  I wouldn't go saying this to your boss if I were you (unless your boss
> isn't a geek).

I am the boss, so this isn't a problem.

Regards,
Graham
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