[Popcon-developers] HTTP POST support and popcon

[Bill Allombert]

On Fri, Mar 18, 2005 at 11:54:20PM +0100, Petter Reinholdtsen wrote:
> > A faster way to make things going would be to provide a second
> > popcon package (say popularity-contest-http) that use http instead
> > of smtp. This way people just need to install whatever packages they
> > prefer and we don't bother people doing woody to sarge upgrade.
> 
> With the current NEW processing time, this is not a quick route.

Look at debian-project@lists.debian.org!

> Besides, I do not believe it is sensible to have two packages, when we
> could provide a sensible default selection method instead.  If we are
> able to connect to the popcon http server, we should use http.  If
> not, we should use email.  No need to confuse users by asking which
> method to use. :)

I agree, but this create a breach of trust to make the change without
warning the users.[1] IOW, users upgrading to the new version have
agreed we send the report through SMTP when saying OK in the debconf
template[2] They did not agree we send it through HTTP.  To avoid that we
to add a debconf template warning when users upgrade and change the 
installation template to mention both smtp and http.

Creating a new package will be much simpler to implement for sarge.

One good point: I should improve the script+CGI so that it is possible
to know with certainty if the HTTP worked so we can skip smtp in that
case. 

Cheers,
-- 
Bill. <ballombe@debian.org>

Imagine a large red swirl here. 

[1] I can be convinced otherwise, but I prefer to be careful because it
is a spyware of a sort.

[2]  "You can have your system anonymously e-mail the Debian developers
with statistics about your most used Debian packages.  This information
influences decisions such as which packages should go on the first
Debian CD."