[ZWeb] FYI: Readying the "Zope Download Center"

[Guido van Rossum]

[Guido]
> >>>Hm.  For python.org, we use something called Webalizer, which scans
> >>>Apache-style log file.  Since Zope wrotes those too, I'm not sure what
> >>>the problem is for a single site.  Integrating the results back into
> >>>Zope?

[Paul]
> >>I did this back in July.  Here's the problems I discovered:
> >>
> >>1) URLs make it hard to accurately say "what is zope".  There's 
> >>different versions of Zope, there's patch files, there are the 
> >>different binaries.

[Guido]
> > I don't understand this.  Where do you need to know "what is Zope"
> > when scanning the log files?  Probably you skipped a step in your
> > reasoning.

[Paul]
> Ok, tell me the regular expression that you would match on in the log 
> file.  I'm not as good as you are at regular expressions.
> 
> I was trying to match on the processed results in webalizer, since I 
> didn't have access.

I don't know enough to answer that question: I don't know what the
existing logs look like, but more importantly I don't know what you're
looking for.  But I'll gladly accept your explanation that it was
simply a lack of regex zen on your part.

> >>2) The log files are currently being munched by webalizer and then 
> >>thrown out.  Thus, if the URL you want isn't in the list of top 20 
> >>hits, you're screwed.  All the information is lost, since the original 
> >>data are deleted.  (This was the problem that blocked me, as I never 
> >>had access to the boxes where the munching was done).
> > 
> > That's an operational problem that can be fixed.
> 
> I was told that as well.  It's been 7 months.  Is the data still being 
> tossed?

I don't dwell in the past.  We have a new sysadmin now (who needs to
get up to speed first).  I've asked what the status is and I'll try to
rectify it.

> Do you think you can tell us how many downloads of Zope were there in 
> 2002?  That would really be helpful marketing information.

That's a concrete question.  I'll try to get it answered.

>  > wait that much longer.  In the mean time, all I'm asking (and have
>  > still not heard) is where on zope.org the pointers to the SF downloads
>  > are.  If there aren't any, how are people going to find these?
> 
> My email at the top of this thread explained this:
> 
> """
> Based on the agreed decision to pursue this, Sidnei and I said we'd do 
> some work and come back with the results.  Well, it looks good and we're 
> ready to take the next step:
> [...snip...]
> The next step is to get this woven into the /Products page, which could 
> also use some sprucing up.  We hope to get this done soon, in advance of 
> the 2.6.1 release.
> """
> 
> Sidnei and I promised on this list to do some investigation and report 
> back.  We did the investigation, we're now reporting back.
> 
> Changing your question to where the links will be, I'll put them on the 
> /Products page this week, along with an improved organization and 
> presentation of the download options.

Great!  Let us know when they are up.

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)