Re: [Sks-devel] keyservers.org downtime

[Robert J. Hansen]

On 7/30/11 2:42 AM, Scott Grayban wrote:
> How is that rude ? All I asked was why are you using beta software on a
> production server ?

Yes.  And notice all the hidden assumptions and implications:

1.  I am, or should be, running a production server.
2.  Fedora is beta software.
3.  Beta software is inappropriate for a production server.
4.  Unless I have a very good reason, I'm doing it wrong.
5.  I have some vague obligation to do it right.

Let's address each point in turn:

1.  This is not a "production server" (whatever that is: that phrase is
about as meaningless as "beta").  This is the server that lives in my
closet, hosts my private Subversion repos, and serves up keys.  The
total number of users impacted by this machine going down for even a
period of weeks is precisely 1, no more, no less.  My announcement to
the list was so that people I peer with could have advance notice and
not be surprised by the downtime.  (The downtime is for a most quotidian
reason: I'm rewiring part of my kitchen, and I have to throw the breaker
that also controls the outlet the server lives on.)

2.  Fedora is in no way beta software.  It's a mature product and
perfectly capable of supporting large projects, the same as any other
reasonable Linux distro.  I wouldn't mind in the least if someone were
to run a production server on Linux Mint, for crying out loud, so long
as that person was attentive and knowledgeable.

3.  "Beta" is a meaningless term anyway.  I've seen showstopper bugs
released in "stable" releases (such as Java 7's misoptimization of
loops) and I've seen beta software that's impressively reliable and
feature-complete (GMail).  Discounting something just because it's beta
software is a cop-out: it means, "I am going to latch onto this label
and think it means something because doing my own evaluation of the
software is too difficult."

4.  I reject this one out of hand.

5.  Sure, I do.  But I don't think you've got much of a place to stand
on declaring what is or isn't right.