[207] in Release_7.7_team
Meeting minutes 11/17/94
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Dorothy Bowe)
Fri Nov 18 09:38:54 1994
To: release-team@MIT.EDU
Date: Fri, 18 Nov 1994 09:38:45 EST
From: Dorothy Bowe <dot@MIT.EDU>
[For those of you who don't like to read long minutes, #3 summarizes the
release team's recommendations for the summer release. If you have any
interest in expressing your opinion on these recommendations, please
speak up now.]
In attendance: Craig, Carla, Bruce, Anne, Gary, Mark, Mike, Dot
1. Questions and open issues
Since Carla has returned from Florida, we were able address the
suggestion regarding sendbug and olc; namely changing the behavior
of sendbug to first contact olc. With possible help desk
re-engineering, no one on the team considered it wise to make a major
change right now. Instead, we decided to add some text to the
sendbug command to the effect of suggesting that people try olc
first.
-> Carla will provide the text to be included in the January
release.
2. Discussion of remaining items for the Summer release
(A summary of each suggestion along with issues surrounding it can be
found in the release77 locker as
/mit/release77/Release7.8/Descriptions.)
Some of the highlights of the discussion:
* Use local disks better - We decided that this would mean "put a few
more things local", for example, su. Only affects DECstations as
more things are already local on the Sun and RS/6000.
* AFS 3.3 servers/Ultrix 4.3 - There are many issues surrounding this
suggestion which make it too complex for the release team to decide
right now. We would like to see a small group of people discuss
the issues and come up with a recommendation. The issues we raised
included
o Providing a DFS migration path
o Keeping current with the outside and moving towards unmodified
Transarc binaries.
o Backwards-compatibility issues
o Questions about DECstations as servers, which necessitates
Ultrix 4.3
o Much of the work is outside of the release cycle, but clients
in the release need to work with the servers.
The people we suggest that would best be able to address these
issues are Jeff, Kim, and Richard.
* Perl 5.0 - On the one hand this could be viewed as a major upgrade
to system software with possibly unknown ramifications. On the
other, it is viewed as a piece of third party software which should
be updated to keep up with the outside world.
* Cornell tcsh 6.0.5 - Only visible change would be on the DECstation
which DEC-specific dotfiles may break. (For example, prompts not
working correctly.)
* Changing mount points of lockers such as x11r{4,5}
While there are many compelling reasons to change the way these
types of lockers mount and to get rid of the symlinks on the packs,
there are many issues to be decided, not the least of which is how
to deal with the users who will be affected. Before the team can
decide on this item, it needs more investigation and a definite
implementation plan. Craig has volunteered to look into this.
3. Status of Summer suggestions
a) Things we should do and are planned for release
tcsh upgrade/change
Kerberos V5 support
mkserv print for Suns
Andrew patches
twm as default window manager
RCS upgrade
Move more programs to local disk
Perl 5.0, pending approval
b) Things which need investigation or more details
suncc - Would like to see implementation plan
printsrv sources - Investigation
AFS patches - Needs some sort of test plan
AFS 3.3 servers/Ultrix - Needs investigation. We suggest that
the right people are Jeff, Kim, and
Richard.
X11 mount pt changes - Needs investigation and plan. Craig
will take charge of this.
Faster login - Needs investigation
c) Things to include if possible
Sendmail 8.6.9
Uniform login library
4. Test clusters
Anne Salemme described the current state of test clusters and the
relationship with system packs. She will work with the team members
to identify a contact person for each workstation in the beta and
early clusters.
5. Next meeting
The next meeting will be on Thursday, December 1 (code cut!) at 10:30
in the large conference room. Mike will have the pleasure of leading
this meeting.
