lawgon

For some time now Raj Mathur has been advertising on ##linux-india that NRC-FOSS is responsible for the vanishing of code.indlinux.net and newsrack. I would like to set the record straight. When I joined NRC-FOSS in June 2006, the Indlinux proposal was already approved in principle, and the financial implications were being examined. The proposal involved setting up a server with 2GB RAM, 500 GB hard disk etc etc. It was proposed to use the services of Raj in setting up the server and he proposed a norwegian server costing around 10K a month. At the same time, I had set up the helpline server with similar configuration from hetzner.de at around 2.5K a month. There was an audit query as to why there was this huge discrepancy in cost. Raj gave a calculation to show that the difference was minor especially as the norwegian server had far more features which were necessary for the indlinux project. And that the hetzner server would not be that reliable and was not up to the mark for hosting mission critical stuff like the indlinux project. So the project was accepted for an initial period of 6 months with the condition that the pricing would be reviewed then.

And after a lot of cutting of red tape, the funds for the first 4 months were released. The server was set up. A little later, just before the PRSG meeting, I checked the server and found nothing was up. I made a huge noise on IRC (and got banned for my pains), and some token stuff was put up. And so the funding went on. One irritant was that release of funds on each renewal was delayed - but this is a given in any situation where government is involved. At each renewal the question of pricing came up and each time gora and raj insisted that the pricing was minimal compared to the magnitude of the work being done. In fact they were asking for an extra 5K a month for administering the server which was turned down because the rules do not permit escalating over the original proposal. There was also a request for separate funding for newsrack which had been moved to this server. We had no objection to the hosting of newsrack, but informed them that for additional funding, a separate proposal had to be put for newsrack - as far as I know, no such proposal has been made.

At one stage I again suggested migrating to a Hetzner server, but gora said that would be extremely difficult as (1) many of those with projects on the server would not want to migrate and (2) migrating is a complex process and raj would charge commercial rates to do so. We did not enquire what the commercial rate was.

The project was periodically extended, and now runs to March 31st. No request for funding beyond March 31st has been received from the Indlinux group. NRC-FOSS is *not* closing down on March 31st.

When I was preparing my final report on the project, I visited the site and found it full of php errors. I also found that there were only a few token files and no real activity there. On investigation I found that there is about 350 MB of Indlinux related stuff (mainly wiki and files for download), and maybe another 100MB of other files. 500 MB of files on a 500 GB server costing 9000 a month. This can be comfortably hosted on a $20 slice on slicehost.

So what is the problem? Basically it is a problem of ego. Maybe at the time of the proposal servers did cost 9000 per month. But at the time of approval of the proposal, hetzner and others were giving servers much cheaper. But then they would have to climb down and change their proposal or, horror of horrors, admit that they did not know about cheaper hosting. Is Hetzner reliable. As far as I know schizoid.in is hosted on hetzner (and adminned by raj) - need I say more?

Rest assured that if a request comes for hosting at a reasonable price, NRC-FOSS will accept it. For that matter I am personally quite willing to spring for a 20 dollar slice at slicehost. We have also made an offer to Karunakar to host indlinux on our helpline server. No reply to that offer.

It will be a shame if code.indlinux.net dies on the 31st. But who will be responsible for that? NRC-FOSS or the ego of one person?

note 1: wrt newsrack - this was never an NRC-FOSS sponsored project, but I am sure another 20 dollar slice would host this comfortably.

note 2: I am *not* implying any financial corruption here. I am quite satisfied that the money has been spent for the norwegian server.