Re: [arch-general] Replace dcron once again?
Hi all, I'm the dcron maintainer. I've replied to a few users who emailed me privately, but I wasn't aware of this thread until now. I agree it's ridiculous to have a cron daemon that can't keep time! I'm sorry I haven't been able to keep up maintenance properly. I'm a chronically over-committed university prof who only gets sporadic windows of time to give to each commitment. I think I know where the scheduling problems are coming from, and I will fix them as soon as I can. Part of the reason this hasn't happened earlier is that I started a large code review early this summer, and was interrupted by the press of other duties. Not a rewrite, just a thorough cleanup, but my private git repo is well ahead of the public one. I now have a queue of fixes and tweaks that users sent me (I think one of them is even the very scheduling fix that's needed), but the hood is open and some changes are only half-installed, so I really do need to take a few days to sort everything out. The problem has been finding the time to do that amidst all my other responsibilities. I would certainly understand and could not reasonably object to any distro's demoting dcron to an unofficial package. But as I said, I I will fix dcron anyway, I hope within the very near future. I'll announce here when I believe the git version has the necessary fixes, and if feedback sounds good, will make a new official release. Extra hands might not help right at this particular moment, but they would help the package be more reliably maintained going forward. I'd be glad to give other interested developers git-push privileges. -- Jim Pryor profjim@jimpryor.net
On 11/14/10 09:32, Jim Pryor wrote:
...
I would certainly understand and could not reasonably object to any distro's demoting dcron to an unofficial package. But as I said, I I will fix dcron anyway, I hope within the very near future. I'll announce here when I believe the git version has the necessary fixes, and if feedback sounds good, will make a new official release.
Extra hands might not help right at this particular moment, but they would help the package be more reliably maintained going forward. I'd be glad to give other interested developers git-push privileges.
Thank you for your efforts! I am sure it is a service to many people to have a dcron that works well. Even if Arch devs decide a different default cron daemon for Arch some day.
On (11/14/10 14:05), Isaac Dupree wrote: -~> On 11/14/10 09:32, Jim Pryor wrote: -~> >... -~> > -~> >I would certainly understand and could not reasonably object to any -~> >distro's demoting dcron to an unofficial package. But as I said, I I -~> >will fix dcron anyway, I hope within the very near future. I'll announce -~> >here when I believe the git version has the necessary fixes, and if -~> >feedback sounds good, will make a new official release. -~> > -~> >Extra hands might not help right at this particular moment, but they -~> >would help the package be more reliably maintained going forward. I'd be -~> >glad to give other interested developers git-push privileges. -~> -~> Thank you for your efforts! I am sure it is a service to many -~> people to have a dcron that works well. Even if Arch devs decide -~> a different default cron daemon for Arch some day. Yeah, I double that. Especially considering what a nightmare teaching can be close to the end of a semester... -- lisaev@svibor
On Sun, 2010-11-14 at 14:39 -0500, Leonid Isaev wrote:
On (11/14/10 14:05), Isaac Dupree wrote: -~> On 11/14/10 09:32, Jim Pryor wrote: -~> >... -~> > -~> >I would certainly understand and could not reasonably object to any -~> >distro's demoting dcron to an unofficial package. But as I said, I I -~> >will fix dcron anyway, I hope within the very near future. I'll announce -~> >here when I believe the git version has the necessary fixes, and if -~> >feedback sounds good, will make a new official release. -~> > -~> >Extra hands might not help right at this particular moment, but they -~> >would help the package be more reliably maintained going forward. I'd be -~> >glad to give other interested developers git-push privileges. -~> -~> Thank you for your efforts! I am sure it is a service to many -~> people to have a dcron that works well. Even if Arch devs decide -~> a different default cron daemon for Arch some day.
Yeah, I double that. Especially considering what a nightmare teaching can be close to the end of a semester...
Teaching as a nightmare? What's marking, then?
On (11/15/10 09:05), Ng Oon-Ee wrote: -~> On Sun, 2010-11-14 at 14:39 -0500, Leonid Isaev wrote: -~> > On (11/14/10 14:05), Isaac Dupree wrote: -~> > -~> On 11/14/10 09:32, Jim Pryor wrote: -~> > -~> >... -~> > -~> > -~> > -~> >I would certainly understand and could not reasonably object to any -~> > -~> >distro's demoting dcron to an unofficial package. But as I said, I I -~> > -~> >will fix dcron anyway, I hope within the very near future. I'll announce -~> > -~> >here when I believe the git version has the necessary fixes, and if -~> > -~> >feedback sounds good, will make a new official release. -~> > -~> > -~> > -~> >Extra hands might not help right at this particular moment, but they -~> > -~> >would help the package be more reliably maintained going forward. I'd be -~> > -~> >glad to give other interested developers git-push privileges. -~> > -~> -~> > -~> Thank you for your efforts! I am sure it is a service to many -~> > -~> people to have a dcron that works well. Even if Arch devs decide -~> > -~> a different default cron daemon for Arch some day. -~> > -~> > Yeah, I double that. Especially considering what a nightmare teaching can be -~> > close to the end of a semester... -~> > -~> Teaching as a nightmare? What's marking, then? Easy. It's like measurement. If you know an average grade for the class and the spread (e.g. based on past experience), just distribute true grades according to an appropriate probability distribution... All you need is a good random number generator. If done properly, takes ~20 min/30 people, including checking + bookkeeping. Then, back to research! -- lisaev@svibor
On Mon, 2010-11-15 at 00:08 -0500, Leonid Isaev wrote:
On (11/15/10 09:05), Ng Oon-Ee wrote: -~> On Sun, 2010-11-14 at 14:39 -0500, Leonid Isaev wrote: -~> > On (11/14/10 14:05), Isaac Dupree wrote: -~> > -~> On 11/14/10 09:32, Jim Pryor wrote: -~> > -~> >... -~> > -~> > -~> > -~> >I would certainly understand and could not reasonably object to any -~> > -~> >distro's demoting dcron to an unofficial package. But as I said, I I -~> > -~> >will fix dcron anyway, I hope within the very near future. I'll announce -~> > -~> >here when I believe the git version has the necessary fixes, and if -~> > -~> >feedback sounds good, will make a new official release. -~> > -~> > -~> > -~> >Extra hands might not help right at this particular moment, but they -~> > -~> >would help the package be more reliably maintained going forward. I'd be -~> > -~> >glad to give other interested developers git-push privileges. -~> > -~> -~> > -~> Thank you for your efforts! I am sure it is a service to many -~> > -~> people to have a dcron that works well. Even if Arch devs decide -~> > -~> a different default cron daemon for Arch some day. -~> > -~> > Yeah, I double that. Especially considering what a nightmare teaching can be -~> > close to the end of a semester... -~> > -~> Teaching as a nightmare? What's marking, then?
Easy. It's like measurement. If you know an average grade for the class and the spread (e.g. based on past experience), just distribute true grades according to an appropriate probability distribution... All you need is a good random number generator. If done properly, takes ~20 min/30 people, including checking + bookkeeping. Then, back to research!
Now I understand why my marks never seemed to correlate with effort back during my degree years.... I must remember this trick for the next time I mark 80+ scripts.
participants (4)
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Isaac Dupree
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Jim Pryor
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Leonid Isaev
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Ng Oon-Ee