Re: Donation of a Calxeda Highbank node

[Peter Palfrader <weasel@debian.org>]

On Fri, 26 Apr 2013, Steve Langasek wrote:

> On Fri, Apr 26, 2013 at 02:49:05PM +0200, Hector Oron wrote:
> > Thanks, that is a very kind offer and with ARM hat on, we cannot
> > reject the offer, it makes it very interesting as a playground
> > machine. However, let me make some points here:
> 
> > * ARM porters hat: It is very interesting machine, and very useful to
> > start experimenting with it as Debian is seeking for a full Calxeda
> > chassis.
> > * DSA hat: The machine shall not be a debian.org machine, so DSA could
> > export accounts if requested.
> 
> Why in the world not?  I'm sure there's no requirement for debian.org
> machines to be hardware owned by Debian.  The s390 porter machines/buildds
> certainly aren't; I don't see why this machine would necessarily *not* be a
> d.o machine managed by DSA.
> 
> Of course if it's going to be DSA-administered, I'm sure DSA would want
> exclusive admin rights on the machine; but that's just common sense, and
> AIUI not excluded by the offer.

The impression I got during the brief from the arm porters is that it is
so far unclear how well Debian will run on this nice shiney thing.
So for now it's just a test box/early porting box, and the policies and
procedures that come with DSAing a machine would be more a hindrance
than an asset during that stage.

Also, if it were a d.o system, it would be /either/ a porterbox /or/ a
buildd, not both.  Whereas, as long as it's a test/play system run by
the porters presumably, they can stress test is at needed, maybe run a
(non-official?) buildd, while also providing porter chroots.

Once we have Debian running properly on this kind of HW, I wouldn't mind
taking over the machine.  Though, to be really useful, we probably will
try to get more than one instance, one for a porterbox, and two -
ideally in different locations - for autobuilding packages.

Cheers,
weasel
-- 
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