Support or shell access for conference system - OCS

[tmitchell]

The FOSS4G2008 team (and shortly the 2009 team) are using the Open Conference System (OCS) (from: ​http://pkp.sfu.ca/ocs ) for their conference web site. They need a way to access the code and db for upgrading it, improving it, etc.

I installed it for them on osgeo1 a while ago and it's accessible at ​http://conference.osgeo.org. I thought about trying to handle file-level updates via SVN (like we do with website themes and a cgi script) but it's getting too complicated for me to think through. It also uses a mysql db.

Can someone offer some ideas on how to help make this work for them? If we could give shell access to one of them it might really help. They really only need access to one part of the www file tree and one db - so conceivably they wouldn't need anything near sudo rights at all. I'm marking it major only because the conference site is in full use now and will be increasingly important in the upcoming days, weeks, months.

[jbirch]

I really don't like the idea of systems updates being done outside the auspices of SAC. If this is required, then I would strongly recommend that the conference website be moved to osgeo2 first.

[warmerdam]

I'm curious about what sorts of changes are anticipated. A limited number of changes can be handled by filing tickets for SAC, or coordinating with someone with administrative priveledges in #osgeo or #telascience.

We have generally taken the position that login rights on osgeo1 should be restricted to a small group to avoid chaos and security problems since this machine is the core of our infrastructure. But if we can provide a regular user account (without sudo priveleges) that is suitable for these updates it does not seem like a serious problem to me.

[warmerdam]

Jason / Tyler / Gavin,

Any more feedback on what needs to be done?

[tmitchell]

I think this specific need has come and gone. I'm sure it will raise its head again but in a more specific and current context. SVN seems to be playing much of this role effectively lately, e.g. for 2009 event.