**Session Date/Time:** 14 Feb 2023 19:00

# [TOOLS](../wg/tools.html)

## Summary

The TOOLS working group discussed preparation for IETF 116, ongoing infrastructure migrations (DNS to Cloudflare, MySQL to PostgreSQL), and the future of document differentiation tools (ID-diff vs. RFC-diff). Plans for an experimental, announcement-only Mastodon instance were considered. Urgent issues like a BibXML bug blocking RFC publication were highlighted.

## Key Discussion Points

*   **IETF 116 Preparation:**
    *   Focus on clearing meeting-affecting bugs, particularly around scheduling and agenda use, has been a priority.
    *   IETF 116 will be the first draft deadline with the asynchronous submission tool API. Anticipation for its impact and a desire to encourage its use for IETF 117.
*   **DNS Migration to Cloudflare:**
    *   The migration is still planned for the next few weeks but will be postponed if it conflicts with the draft submission crunch period.
    *   The migration path involves a short period where the DNS zone will be unsigned (DS records withdrawn), followed by insertion of new DS records.
    *   A proper in-place signed rollover was deemed impractical due to registrar and cloud service provider limitations and policies.
*   **PostgreSQL Migration and Environment Improvements:**
    *   The PostgreSQL transition was rescheduled due to non-trivial collation differences between PostgreSQL and MySQL.
    *   Progress has been made in understanding and addressing collation issues, with only a few remaining (e.g., Django user usernames to prevent case-folding collisions).
    *   A trial migration of the full production database on a hot standby machine is planned for the coming days to estimate actual downtime.
    *   The PostgreSQL cluster on `ietfa` (the main production machine) is very old and uses outdated defaults. A rebuild of this cluster is planned to use modern UTF-8 character sets and collation rules. This affects only the Wagtail website database, which is small and has low update frequency.
*   **ID-diff / RFC-diff Parity:**
    *   Efforts to bring ID-diff into parity with RFC-diff revealed that the remaining work was not worth the investment.
    *   The decision is to refocus on continuing to support RFC-diff itself, despite its reliance on older technologies like awk and shell scripts.
    *   The main issue with the previous RFC-diff web service implementation was its `pyhd` wrapper (a Python-based rapid deployment tool), which had security issues. The current RFC-diff at authortools does not suffer from these.
    *   The `pyhd` wrapper will be deprecated and its GitHub repository archived.
    *   A suggestion was made to provide an easy UI button on ID-diff output to generate RFC-diff, recognizing that some users are vocal about the differences.
    *   Concern was raised about the long-term maintainability of RFC-diff due to the decreasing number of individuals with deep knowledge of awk, shell, and other legacy technologies.
*   **Mastodon Use:**
    *   A proof of concept exists for running a controlled Mastodon instance.
    *   Discussion focused on whether to move forward with an announcement-only instance, populated by automated posts from the Data Tracker (similar to previous Twitter feeds) and potentially a moderated queue for announcements (like ietf-announce).
    *   Rich Salz advocated for automated, Data Tracker-coupled announcements, including IETF blog posts and meeting announcements, but not for hosting accounts for individuals.
    *   It was suggested to pose this as a low-effort experiment to avoid long-term maintenance of an unused service.
    *   The underlying mechanism would involve adding outgoing event hooks to the Data Tracker.
*   **Tools Help Email Alias:**
    *   Proposal to deprecate old, non-descriptive bug reporting email list names (e.g., `django-project`, `data-tracker-project`) and advertise `tools-help@ietf.org` instead.
    *   Redirects will be put in place for old aliases.
*   **IMR Reports (Information Management Review Reports):**
    *   Work is underway to migrate legacy monthly progress reports (draft actions, group actions, mailing list info) from old Perl and Python scripts.
    *   These reports will be moved into the Data Tracker and mail archive for better maintenance.
*   **Infrastructure Strategy RFI:**
    *   The RFI has been released and closes at the end of the month. Community members were encouraged to ensure relevant parties are aware and provide input.
*   **Wiki Migrations (Trac to Wiki.js):**
    *   Content migration is nearing completion.
    *   Questions regarding licensing and attribution tracking have been raised.
*   **Data Tracker:**
    *   Five releases have occurred since the January meeting, focusing on media-impacting issues.
    *   Upcoming work includes finishing PostgreSQL migration, then moving to Django 4 (which is becoming critical due to loss of dependency support for Django 2).
    *   The GUI draft submission endpoint is planned to be updated to use the new asynchronous backend before the IETF 116 submission crunch.
*   **BibXML Services:**
    *   Issue #339 regarding incorrect `target` URLs for references (pointing to `RFC-vs.info` instead of `info` pages) is currently blocking RFC publication.
    *   An urgent fix is being pursued, initially scoping the change to the `bibxml-rfc` data set where the correct target is known.

## Decisions and Action Items

*   **DNS Migration:** Proceed with the planned migration to Cloudflare, allowing for a short unsigned period, but deferring if it coincides with IETF 116 draft submission crunch.
*   **PostgreSQL Migration:**
    *   Conduct a trial migration of the full production database on a hot standby machine in the next few days.
    *   Rebuild the old PostgreSQL cluster on `ietfa` using modern defaults in the coming weeks.
*   **ID-diff / RFC-diff:**
    *   Refocus efforts on maintaining and supporting RFC-diff, rather than bringing ID-diff to full parity.
    *   Deprecate the `pyhd` wrapper used for previous RFC-diff web services.
    *   Investigate the feasibility of a UI button to provide RFC-diff output from ID-diff.
*   **Mastodon:** Proceed with a low-effort experiment to run an announcement-only Mastodon instance, coupled with Data Tracker outgoing events and a moderated queue.
*   **Tools Help Email Alias:** Proceed with advertising `tools-help@ietf.org` as the primary bug reporting address and implement redirects from older aliases.
*   **IMR Reports:** Continue work to migrate legacy monthly reports to Data Tracker and mail archive.
*   **BibXML Services:** Prioritize fixing Issue #339 to unblock RFC publication, initially focusing on the `bibxml-rfc` data set.

## Next Steps

*   Continue monitoring the asynchronous draft submission tool for IETF 116.
*   Report on the production PostgreSQL database migration trial at the next TOOLS call.
*   Further evaluate the long-term strategy for RFC-diff maintenance given its legacy dependencies.
*   Implement the initial Mastodon experiment.
*   Complete IMR report migration.
*   Address licensing and attribution questions related to Wiki migration.
*   Complete remaining PostgreSQL work for Data Tracker, then initiate the migration to Django 4.
*   Resolve BibXML Issue #339 to unblock RFC publication.