Thursday, November 04, 2010

A server is a server is just a server

Gentoo Linux

In the process of getting the Horde4 packages ready for the Kolab Server the p@rdus development environment needed some love. Besides a few minor updates it remained virtually unchanged during the last two years.

The process started with an update of the underlying Gentoo base. Which took a few hours to compile. And of course there were a few problems associated. Which also took some time.

Subsequently the configuration via puppet didn't really work out. Some additional obscure issues. More time.

And ultimately the bundling and upload of the updated image didn't work. Even Google wasn't able to help this time.

All that is fine if the required time is available and if the stuff learned while fixing the issues means progress for yourself. But it is a fact: there is neither the time nor does fixing obscure issues align with the targets at hand. The server setup and upgrade must complete in minutes and not hours. It is "just a server" after all.

Sigh... I love Gentoo. I have been a Gentoo developer. I wrote a book about this distribution. Giving up on my developer status for Gentoo was hard. Giving up on Gentoo... damn. Nevertheless: Farewell.

3 comments:

  1. Which distro are your server running on now?

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  2. Sigh,... Ubuntu :( Yeah, I know...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Not a good decision I think. I do two upgrades per year and mos tof the time everything runs in the background.

    ReplyDelete