Welcome! This page intends to house all the information admins need to maintain pm.org services. Suggested improvements welcome via GitHub

Intro: How does *.pm.org work?

Robert and Ask are the server kings. They control all the hardware and services. They keep the ships afloat.

When anyone needs help with anything Perl Mongers they create a github Issue or they email support(at)pm(dot)org which opens a ticket in RT. Some requests are valid, some are bad ideas or conflicts between group leaders, and some are spam. Those tickets need to be waded through, as frequently as possible, by the pm.org admin volunteers. Everything there is to know about being a pm.org admin volunteer is right here, below.

Working the tickets involves pulling miscellaneous levers to fulfill the valid requests (XML, git, MailMan, DNS, RT, TT site flushes. I (jhannah) am happy to train new volunteers.

Every communication we have with anyone around the world is recorded in github or RT for review. Constructive criticism is always welcome.

Current Admins

Hardware overlords: Robert, Ask
github Issues / RT Tickets: Jay Hannah, Chief Ticket Monkey

Procedures

Add a Group

perl_mongers.xml
1. Search to make sure the group didn't exist in a previous life.
  1. If you find the group, change their status to "active" and update all the info.
  2. If you don't find the group, add a new XML block, copying an existing active group and changing all the info.
  3. git: commit and push your changes
DNS for their website (legacy only)
1. Create an RT ticket in the DNS queue requesting Groupname.pm.org be pointed to their server IP (A record) or hostname (CNAME). e.g.:
```
          To: dns@perl.org
          Subject: paderborn.pm.org -> 216.52.237.133
          New PM group. Thanks!
          
```
Mailman. If they want a Mailman list (and one doesn't exist already), create one named "Groupname-pm".

Modify a Group

Group Leader ("Tsar") Changes

Update perl_mongers.xml
1. Did their group status change? From "sleeping" to "active" for instance?
Commit, push your change to github
Submit DNS changes if needed
Follow the instructions below to change their MailMan password?
Update the website per /README

Forgot my Password

Ensure that the MailMan list is owned by the correct person
Change the MailMan password
Email group leader telling them that their password has been changed to the value listed in your notification, encourage them to immediately change it to whatever they want.

Remove a Group

Mark group as inactive in XML file
commit, push changes to github
Refresh www.pm.org (see /README)

Web Update

See /README

Resources

git

The source repo is www.pm.org. See /README for the live site repo you'll flush to.

MailMan

pm.org Admin mailing list - the 6 of us that admin pm.org (unused since ~2014)
Group Leader mailing list - the ~209 group leaders (unused since ~2018)
List of all groups
Timestamps when lists last saw activity. Some have been inactive for decades.
Create a new list
Remove a group - only Robert/Ask can run rmlist
The super-duper MailMan password can admin all MailMan lists. If you need that secret and don't have it, ask Robert/Ask.

Cron jobs run every 20 minutes or so to implement any new groups you add.

Request Tracker (RT)

http://rt.perl.org/rt3/ (queue: pm-org-support)

Group leaders open a new support ticket by sending an email to any of these equivalent addresses:

support(at)pm(dot)org
tech(at)pm(dot)org
bugs-pm-org-support(at)rt(dot)perl(dot)org

DNS

In order to get a DNS change to happen, send an email to dns(at)perl(dot)org with information about the change you want made. You'll get an auto-reply ticket number back from RT. Things they do:

A records - we will point them at groups.pm.org (216.52.237.133) or their server.
CNAME records - sometimes this is easier than an A record

Sample Message


 To:        dns@perl.org
 Subject:   aberdeen.pm.org -> 216.52.237.133
 
 New Perl Monger group. Thanks!

XML

https://github.com/perlorg/www.pm.org/blob/master/perl_mongers.xml

All pm.org services are (or should be) driven by our single, master XML file. That file is perl_mongers.xml. The format is defined by perl_mongers.dtd (out of date). See /README for flushing our XML to our live site.

The "status" attribute

Q: What does a status mlb or leb mean?

A: Dave Cross, November 2004: These are left over from when I was tracking down all of the groups in 2002. I emailed all of the group leaders to check if the group still existed. "leb" stands for "leaders email bouncing". In some cases I then went on to try and email the group's mailing list. "mlb" stands for "mailing list bouncing". I should probably change all of those statuses to "inactive" now.

Q: Is there a difference between inactive and sleeping?

A: Dave Cross, November 2004: Inactive means that the group is basically dead. There's no interest in keeping the group going. I keep the records around because someone might come along in the future.

Sleeping means that there are one or two people who want to keep the group running, but they are having trouble finding recruits. The main difference is that the xml program generates listing pages for groups with a status of "active" or "sleeping" - but not for "inactive".

Q: If status is not present, does that mean inactive?

A: Dave Cross, November 2004: Yep.

Perl Mongers

20 international Perl User Groups.