[Klug-general] KLUG - Karoshi Doc Project - VIRTUAL MEETING

[Colin McCarthy]

As advertised we had a Virtual Meeting on IRC last night.  Below is an
edited log of the conversation.  It has been edited for content.  Read it if
you are interested, or just skip to the bottom and the summary.

*MikeEvans updated us on progress of tasks set at last meeting.*

(20:12:29) MikeEvans: ok - so the first action was at point 2a - for
MacGyver to set up MediaWiki for us
(20:13:01) MikeEvans: This he has done on kentlug.org, it ran like a dog,
but this was mostly because it was out of RAM.
(20:13:18) MikeEvans: I've reconfigured Apache to use less and it seems to
be working ok now
(20:13:29) Colin: excellent.
(20:13:49) MikeEvans: the other thing I could to to make more space rather
than asking Katje for more is to shut down the games server, which appears
to be getting no use
(20:14:10) MikeEvans: or to put the games server on a cron job that starts
and stops it for certain periods
(20:14:16) ***Colin makes mental note to organise game night.
(20:14:27) Discordian: either would seem logical
(20:14:40) Colin: seconded
(20:14:49) danbuntu: I'd kill it completely and we'll start it by hand when
we need to

*Mail Server requirements for MediaWiki registration were discussed*

(20:15:06) MikeEvans: the one thing left to do for MediaWiki to be usable is
to have an MTA so that it can mail people with their access authoorisation
codes
(20:15:08) Spode: a cron makes sense
(20:15:54) oly [~sysadmin at 78-86-186-177.zone2.bethere.co.uk] entered the
room.
(20:16:00) MikeEvans: hi oly
(20:16:04) oly: hi
(20:16:21) Discordian: i'd suggest sendmail but i'm sure the majority will
favour something else
(20:16:39) Spode: well, for simple stuff, why not.
(20:16:43) MikeEvans: katje recommends exim
(20:16:47) Spode: I'm more of a postfix fan myself and it's sendmail
compatable
(20:16:53) Discordian: but just having it listen on localhost is all you
need
(20:16:59) Spode: exactly
(20:17:06) MikeEvans: both sendmail and exim are installed
(20:17:12) Spode: I think if you install ubuntu postfix package it is setp
to only listen locally anyway
(20:17:27) Spode: If sendmail is already installed, that'll do
(20:17:34) Spode: It's only going to be a few internal mails - essentially
(20:17:54) Discordian: i'd imagine sendmail would also default to loca;host
(20:17:59) Discordian: localhost
(20:18:09) Spode: I seem to recall it does
(20:18:12) MikeEvans: yes - well they will have to go out to whatever email
address they are requested to
(20:18:28) Discordian: yeah the emails will
(20:18:43) Spode: If it's not properly setup though, there is a greater
chance of it being spam binned.
(20:18:48) Discordian: but it'll only accepted submissions from localhost
(20:18:49) MikeEvans: I can't find a feature on MediaWiki that allows me to
authenticate people manually - which would be ideal at the moment
(20:19:04) Discordian: s/accepted/accept/
(20:19:28) MikeEvans: so anyway - if people are happy I'll have a go with
sendmail or exim in the next few days
(20:19:40) Colin: sounds great.
(20:19:47) danbuntu: seconded
(20:19:57) Spode: seconded

*We then discussed other methods/technologies to use to hold Virtual
Meetings.   There is not a perfect solution but we will keep looking and
trying.*

(20:20:11) MikeEvans: ok - so the next action was to set up stuff on the
Wiki - but I've not done that
(20:20:52) MikeEvans: we had a look at mumble for meetings last night and
found a number of difficulties
(20:21:11) Colin: it would be nice, but it's not essential.
(20:21:22) Colin: it's one of those W!BIC? things.
(20:21:25) MikeEvans: appart from everthing else I'm not sure it would be
easy to follow the thread of a meeting in audio with this number of people
(20:21:49) Discordian: I can see that being a consideration
(20:22:02) danbuntu: I have a feeling that with audio meetings it might just
be a case of keep looking
(20:22:18) Discordian: But I've been involved in conference calls with more
people than this
(20:22:23) Discordian: and they work
(20:22:26) boudiccas: we've previously tried skype but we could only get 5-6
people in a conference call
(20:22:38) Discordian: You do need a strong chair
(20:22:39) danbuntu: telepathy and pidgin both have new audio stuff in the
works but it will be a while yet
(20:22:44) MikeEvans: so anyway we've parked that for the moment - and if
anyone finds anything new or we want to have a side-meeting about nothing in
particular on mumble as an experiment then we can do that

*We then discussed current Karoshi Documentation and parts that need
documenting.*

(20:23:43) MikeEvans: finally: Colin will make a list of all the Karoshi
parts and services and also list what has already been documented by Karoshi
- but that appears to be a moving feast.
(20:23:58) Colin: i have done this
(20:24:05) Colin: and karoshi appears to be large
(20:24:17) Colin: and have a lot of options under the menus.
(20:24:33) Colin: also their menu system is not create for knowing where you
are in the system.
(20:25:20) Colin: the Karoshi docmentation consists of
(20:25:38) Colin: 4 how to bits
(20:26:09) Colin: The Karoshi system has 8 main option areas.
(20:26:38) Colin: with up to 20 suboptions or configurable options under
those areas.
(20:26:42) MikeEvans: yes - had a browse of it the other night - the
installation looks pretty comprehensive as far as screenshots go - but
little beyond that
(20:27:04) Colin: they only document half the installation.
(20:27:21) Colin: the main (complicated) part of the installation happens
after the first reboot
(20:27:32) Colin: there you select the server options you want.
(20:27:44) Discordian: I read their docs and it seemed very incpmplete
(20:28:06) MikeEvans: so we believe there is plenty of work to do if they
want us to do it
*
We then discussed communication with Karoshi Project people.*

(20:28:22) Colin: that brings us to the next point....................
(20:28:31) MikeEvans: be my guest
(20:28:44) boudiccas: i'm rather concerned about their lack of response to
us
(20:28:47) Colin: I have had no response from any emails to Jo Harris the
Karoshi Girl.
(20:29:02) Colin: I have emailed 3 times and heard nothing.
(20:29:11) Discordian: That would seem to be a problem
(20:29:22) boudiccas: does karoshi have a contact page?
(20:29:24) MikeEvans: Is there a general contact email on their site?
(20:29:34) Colin: boudiccas: yes they do.
(20:29:50) Colin: MikeEvans: no email, just a contact form.
(20:29:56) boudiccas: can we not contact them through the contact page then?
(20:30:06) danbuntu: is joes email personnal or work?
(20:30:16) danbuntu: baering in mind the schools have only just gone back
(20:30:26) boudiccas: even if its just to get a working email address from
them
(20:31:13) oly: well when i got in contact with them i rang up :p
(20:31:30) MikeEvans: the telephone?  how quaint
(20:31:47) Spode: tele-what?
(20:31:50) Colin: email has been working, it did in june,
(20:31:51) oly: :)
(20:31:53) Discordian: whois has Jo Harris as the contact
(20:32:40) MikeEvans: So are we at an impasse?
(20:32:58) Colin: yes, how long should we wait?
(20:33:19) danbuntu: maybe getting a few simple things up on the wiki and
mailing the link might spur some action
(20:33:35) MikeEvans:  should we phone or use the contact page?
(20:33:40) danbuntu: also you could try paul shared
(20:33:44) boudiccas: both
(20:34:11) MikeEvans: ok - does someone have the time to do that this week?
(20:34:50) MikeEvans: That sounds like a no then
(20:35:43) MikeEvans: so in the absence of someone prepared to make contact
- we need to set a time we are prepared to wait for a response to Colin's
email before abandoning the project
(20:35:49) Discordian: The thing that worries me a bit is the karoshi
homepage
(20:36:08) Discordian: It mutters about commercial support
(20:37:01) danbuntu: most distros have a commercial support option
(20:37:03) oly: they do have a company that will support karoshi
(20:37:11) Colin: ok i just used the karoshi website contact page to send
them my last email to them again.
(20:37:14) Discordian: I'd guess that's where their priorities lie
(20:37:21) oly: there are only 2 schools using it in the uk though
(20:37:36) Spode: If they have a commercial support company - why aren't
they writing the support documents?
(20:37:49) MikeEvans: so how long to we think respectable to wait - one week
further?
(20:37:54) oly: because there a linux support company
(20:37:55) Colin: yes.
(20:37:57) Discordian: good question
(20:37:58) danbuntu: I wonder if they think might not be serious/ have
suffered volunteer burn out
(20:38:05) oly: not specific to karoshi
(20:38:15) oly: karoshi is basically a load of bash scripts
(20:38:17) Spode: So it's just straight linux support.
(20:38:31) oly: that setup everything sync users between servers etc
(20:38:38) Colin: i say the deadline is Friday 19th.
(20:38:42) boudiccas: the most recent thing that i've come across when i've
googled for linuxgirlie is dated february 2007
(20:38:43) Colin: opps suggest.
(20:39:01) MikeEvans: I'd go with that - any objections?
(20:39:08) boudiccas: maybe shes moved on or change dher mail address
(20:39:11) oly: they have 3 main devs and get the kids to help out at the
schools that use karoshi
(20:39:59) Colin: any objections to the deadline, then we move on to another
project.
(20:40:06) Colin: if we can find one :-)
(20:40:14) danbuntu: no sounds good - seconded
(20:40:35) Colin: thirded Spode?
(20:40:39) Spode: yes
(20:40:47) Colin: ok it's a motion.
(20:40:53) Spode: Giggity

*Summary:*

So it stands that MediaWiki is ready on kentlug.org, the email server just
needs setting up so users signing up can receive activation emails.  The
Karoshi Project people have been emailed and if we do not heard from them by
Friday 19th September we will move on to assisting another project.  We did
not schedule another Virtual Meeting as we have our Social Meeting on Friday
12th and our Physical Meeting on Saturday 27th so there is already enough
happening in KLUG.
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