[Savannah-hackers] ftp.gnu.org directories update & Savannah

[Loic Dachary]

       Hi,

       Here is what I propose to allow projects contributors registered
on Savannah and who have authorization to release files (a flag that exists
and can be set/removed by project administrators) to update the GNU
package directory without login on gnudist and doing it manualy.

        - A rsync updatable directory is granted to each project
        - Each project contributor has read/write access to this directory,
          if and only if the 'release maintainer' bit is set in the 
          Savannah database (a few lines in /usr/local/bin/cvssh does it,
          people who have a true shell account on subversions always have
          read/write access to the directory, as long as they belong to
          the right group, of course).
        - On gnudist a cron job updates daily the project repositories
          from subversions using rsync.

        A big advantage of using rsync is that it does not leave
incomplete files in the directory. Beside, it's a *lot* easier to use
and maintain than the over complex original SourceForge web interface.
Doing the sync daily instead of offering direct access to gnudist in
the same fashion has three advantages, I think:
        
        - The once-a-day delay reduces the chances of broadcasting mistakes
          (wrong file uploaded, wront file deleted etc.)
        - Less chances that someone compromises with the www.gnu.org structure
        - Much easier to implement access control on the machine where 
          Savannah is actually runing.

          Please let me know if you see problems with this setup. If not
I'll implement it this week.

     Cheers,

-- 
Loic   Dachary         http://www.dachary.org/  address@hidden
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