[TAG] Changes

[Ben Okopnik]

Well. In theory, at least, TAG should be up and working again. LG
certainly is; so is lists.linuxgazette.net overall; so is my own domain,
http://okopnik.com/. The reason I'm mentioning all these in one breath
is that I've finally done the sensible thing and got a VPS with root
access to host all of the above, which means that we can determine the
services that we're going to run (e.g., rsync) without some hosting
company setting that kind of policy for us. To be perfectly candid, this
was triggered by the previous hosting arrangement coming to an end - but
I'm very, very glad that it did; sticking with the status quo is always
the default, and it always makes me happy when I've taken effective
action to eliminate an annoyance or resolve a long-standing problem.

It's quite nice to be able to just say 'apt-get install $FOO', and have 
$FOO running at LG; after years of doing this on my own home systems,
experiencing the frustration of _not_ being able to do this at LG was...
an odd sort of disconsonance. Particularly because LG is *about* Linux,
not having the full power of Linux in handling everything concerning it
just seemed _wrong._

On the other hand, setting up - from scratch! - an Internet-resolvable
domain with Apache2 (and the entire cast of supporting characters such
as PHP, etc.), SMTP, POP/IMAP, DNS, FTP, SVN, rsync, mailing lists - and
what's more than that, having to configure and remember/re-learn the
details for implementing each and every one of the above, as well as
having to do it all with a very short deadline (the above-mentioned
hosting arrangement expires in another 3 days) was... one hell of a wild
ride. To quote myself from years ago,

   I hatehate*hate* juggling flasks of nitro while rollerskating toward a
   cliff at high speed down a greased 60-degree decline with a razorwire fence
   on either side and maddened wolverines just beyond.

It was pretty much like that. :) Thanks HUGE loads to René Pfeiffer and
Joey Prestia, whose patience I must have tried sorely with my craziness
in trying to rush this through under pressure. Guys, your help has been
invaluable, and is really appreciated.


(rDNS. Did I mention rDNS? I'd never even heard of it until now, much
less configured it)

-- 
* Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *