[scripts-announce] Important changes to scripts.mit.edu

[Geoffrey Thomas]

Hello, scripts.mit.edu users,

I'm writing to inform you of various changes the scripts team will be 
making to the service shortly.

--- New web script URLs

First, web script URLs are changing to start with
       http://lockername.scripts.mit.edu/
instead of the current style
       http://scripts.mit.edu/~lockername/

The old URLs will continue to work as usual until the end of fall term, 
but we are recommending that you start using the new URLs when linking to 
your site. After term ends, we will change the URLs with "~" to be 
redirects to the new-style URLs.

This allows for improved security (same-origin policy for code and 
cookies), as well as cleaner URLs. SSL is available with https. If your 
old URLs used scripts-cert for MIT certificate authentication, 
you can use new-style URLs on scripts.mit.edu:444, for example,
       https://geofft.scripts.mit.edu:444/detect.php
You can find more information about using certificates with scripts at
       http://scripts.mit.edu/faq/15/.

If you use a cname.mit.edu URL, it will not be affected by this change. If 
you would like to use SSL on this URL, let us know and we'll request a 
certificate for that hostname.

--- OS upgrade: Fedora 7 to Fedora 9

Second, we're updating to Fedora 9 this week, from Fedora 7. One server 
has been running Fedora 9 since early summer, but was never the primary 
server serving mail, cron, or SSH. We are currently upgrading all of 
the servers.

This change will impact those of you who use compiled code, including 
compiled Perl and other libraries. You can ssh directly to the current 
Fedora 9 server at scripts-test.mit.edu, where you can rebuild libraries. 
We will also be trimming some packages that aren't likely to be used. If 
you find that a package you want isn't on the new servers, e-mail 
scripts at mit.edu, and we'll install it for you if it's reasonable.

--- Announcement list and blog

Finally, we'd like to remind all regular scripts.mit.edu users to 
subscribe to the scripts-announce mailing list. The mailing list is 
extremely low traffic (not even one message per month on average), and 
receives service announcements about scripts.mit.edu. You can sign up at
       http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/scripts-announce

We'd also like to invite you to check out our development blog,
       http://scripts.mit.edu/news
where new features are announced. All announcements to scripts-announce, 
as well as additional notices, will go to the blog.

As always, if you have any questions or comments about these changes or any 
other aspect of the service, please contact us at scripts at mit.edu.

-- 
Geoffrey Thomas, scripts.mit.edu architect
SIPB scripts team
scripts at mit.edu

[This message was BCC'd to all active scripts.mit.edu personal user 
accounts, to announce the URL changes more widely.]