Size limit for ctm pieces

[Stephen Montgomery-Smith]

On 01/13/2013 09:49 AM, Julian H. Stacey wrote:
> Hi ctm-users at freebsd.org,
> 
> Andrew wrote:
>>   For example when I requested ctm-src-9
> 
> What service is this that Andrew is using ?

Yes, Andrew had subscribed to the ctm-src-9 mailing list.  The errors he
noted really were as he described them.

> Is it some service from mailman (like get with majordomo) ?

Yes.  When you signed up FreeBSD used majordomo.  FreeBSD now uses
mailman.  One thing I have noticed about mailman is that it is much more
reliable.  majordomo used to lose some of the pieces.

> ( Prob. not ref'd in content of last URL below *** in this email ? )
> 
> He's not fetching from eg http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/ctm-svn-cur/

The ctm mailing lists are not archived.  I never thought to ask that
they would be, but I assume that they would take up huge amounts of
space on servers around the world, that would duplicate the ftp sites.

> 
> I'm subscribed to all lists as per:
> 
>> From:		Stephen Montgomery-Smith <stephen at missouri.edu> 
>> However - there is also a ctm-src-9-fast mailing list, where you will 
> 
> & also when I occasionaly have a local mail failure, I 'fetch' 
> from mirrors, eg ftp://ftp2.de.freebsd.org/
> 	/pub/FreeBSD/development/CTM/cvs-cur/cvs-cur.19167.gz
> 	/pub/FreeBSD/development/CTM/ports-cur/ports-cur.9700.gz
> 	/pub/FreeBSD/development/CTM/src-4/src-4.2351.gz
> 	/pub/FreeBSD/development/CTM/src-5/src-5.0860.gz
> 	/pub/FreeBSD/development/CTM/src-6/src-6.1634.gz
> 	/pub/FreeBSD/development/CTM/src-7/src-7.1676.gz
> 	/pub/FreeBSD/development/CTM/src-8/src-8.1433.gz
> 	/pub/FreeBSD/development/CTM/src-9/src-9.0555.gz
> 	/pub/FreeBSD/development/CTM/src-cur/src-cur.10748.gz
> 	/pub/FreeBSD/development/CTM/svn-cur/svn-cur.01107.xz
> 	/pub/FreeBSD/development/CTM/svn-ports-cur/svn-ports-cur.00109.xz
> 
> but I guess Andrew is using some other fetch by mail service ? What ?

Andrew was originally using the ftp sites.  But in a private exchange
between he and I, he found out that the ftp sites can often be half a
day old.  ftp-master fetches from my computer about once every 4 or 6
hours, and even after it has fetched them it takes a while to propagate.

Some people used to offer ftp sites that directly fetched from my
computer, and tended to be much more current.  If anyone wants to offer
such a service, I can open up my firewall to let them in.

> 
> ----
> 
> I think there should be a link from
> 	http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/synching.html
> not justexisting link to
> 	http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=ctm_rmail&sektion=1
> but also a new link to
> ***	http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/ctm.html
> 
> Content of that last URL looks ancient with  eg:
> 	"There is a sequence of deltas for the ports collection too,
> 	but interest has not been all that high yet"
> (There's been a whole load of ctm lists for maybe a decade.)
> 
> Probably easiest if someone does an edit rewrite of whole page then
> asks Stephen to bless it as correct, & the freebsd doc team to
> replace whole old page, much less work than a load of small diff
> edits ?
> 
> (Only catch is unfortunately freebsd web team work with an SGML
> tool chain that has over 10 years here, has almost constantly broken
> & conflicted with other ports, so its not just a trivial edit in HTML job. )

It would be totally great if someone wants to rewrite the CTM pages.



The people who created CTM never anticipated it would still be used
today.  I have been running it for about 10 years.  The University of
Missouri has provided me a virtual computer on which to create the CTM
deltas.  It is really well hidden behind firewalls, as the person who
provides me this service is very security conscious.  So no-one else
will be able to access it.

If I ever suddenly died, I think it would be hard for someone else to
pick up CTM, and my guess is that CTM would die with me.  But if someone
wants to get a copy of all the scripts and such like, I would be happy
to give them a tar ball.  I'll not give them access to the private PGP
key unless I can be certain of who they are and that they won't abuse
it.  But whoever takes over the CTM stuff can create a new key, and as
long as the FreeBSD people trust them, they will put up the new key on
their mailman web sites.

(I'll also not give out the private key that allows me to download from
cvsup-master.freebsd.org, but since ctm-cvs-cur is due to die soon, that
is moot.)