Killing off anoncvs.postgresql.org
Does anybody have any use for this site anymore?
We've kept it in order to make old links work, I think. Beyond the original
"keep it for a few weeks/months after the git migration in case we change
our mind" - and I don't think we'll be going back to cvs :)
The reason I ask is this system is getting hammered by AI bots these days,
and the cvsweb software is incredibly slow and fragile so it goes down very
often, and generates lots of alerts.
Given I haven't seen any reports from actual users about it being down, I
do suspect we have very close to zero real users of it and that the only
access is bots.
Thus, the suggestion is to shut the service down completely. We will of
course keep a tarball of the cvs repository itself around (this is already
on our download site in pub/dev/archive), but would replace the host with a
hard redirect to the root of the git repository site. It would *not* track
the individual files or anything, just send the entire host to the git
server.
Thoughts?
//Magnus
On 2026-Feb-18, Magnus Hagander wrote:
Does anybody have any use for this site anymore?
We've kept it in order to make old links work, I think. Beyond the original
"keep it for a few weeks/months after the git migration in case we change
our mind" - and I don't think we'll be going back to cvs :)The reason I ask is this system is getting hammered by AI bots these days,
and the cvsweb software is incredibly slow and fragile so it goes down very
often, and generates lots of alerts.Given I haven't seen any reports from actual users about it being down, I
do suspect we have very close to zero real users of it and that the only
access is bots.
Another point against spending too much effort keeping it, is that the
pgsql-committers archives URLs are still broken even with the site up.
If you go back to the old archives, the links go to
developer.postgresql.org, not to anoncvs.postgresql.org. For example:
/messages/by-id/20050201211106.023568B9D05@svr1.postgresql.org
If you manually edit the URL and change "developer" to "anoncvs", the
link works.
So, I'm not sure it's terribly valuable.
Thus, the suggestion is to shut the service down completely. We will of
course keep a tarball of the cvs repository itself around (this is already
on our download site in pub/dev/archive), but would replace the host with a
hard redirect to the root of the git repository site. It would *not* track
the individual files or anything, just send the entire host to the git
server.
I guess there's not all that many people interested in following those
old links anymore.
--
Álvaro Herrera Breisgau, Deutschland — https://www.EnterpriseDB.com/
"La rebeldía es la virtud original del hombre" (Arthur Schopenhauer)
On Wed, Feb 18, 2026 at 04:16:59PM +0100, Álvaro Herrera wrote:
On 2026-Feb-18, Magnus Hagander wrote:
Does anybody have any use for this site anymore?
I didn't even know it existed.
We've kept it in order to make old links work, I think. Beyond the original
"keep it for a few weeks/months after the git migration in case we change
our mind"...
I've regularly dug through very old messages in the archives for several
years and I can't recall ever needing to follow such a link. I do see old
mailing list links that seem to redirect, though.
...and I don't think we'll be going back to cvs :)
Really!? :p
Another point against spending too much effort keeping it, is that the
pgsql-committers archives URLs are still broken even with the site up.
If you go back to the old archives, the links go to
developer.postgresql.org, not to anoncvs.postgresql.org. For example:
/messages/by-id/20050201211106.023568B9D05@svr1.postgresql.orgIf you manually edit the URL and change "developer" to "anoncvs", the
link works.So, I'm not sure it's terribly valuable.
Huh, yeah.
Thus, the suggestion is to shut the service down completely. We will of
course keep a tarball of the cvs repository itself around (this is already
on our download site in pub/dev/archive), but would replace the host with a
hard redirect to the root of the git repository site. It would *not* track
the individual files or anything, just send the entire host to the git
server.I guess there's not all that many people interested in following those
old links anymore.
+1
--
nathan
On 18 Feb 2026, at 16:07, Magnus Hagander <magnus@hagander.net> wrote:
Thus, the suggestion is to shut the service down completely.
+1
replace the host with a hard redirect to the root of the git repository site. It would *not* track the individual files or anything, just send the entire host to the git server.
Why redirect it and not just let it join developer.postgresql.org in the
retirement home?
--
Daniel Gustafsson
On Wed, 18 Feb 2026 at 17:21, Daniel Gustafsson <daniel@yesql.se> wrote:
On 18 Feb 2026, at 16:07, Magnus Hagander <magnus@hagander.net> wrote:
Thus, the suggestion is to shut the service down completely.
+1
replace the host with a hard redirect to the root of the git repository
site. It would *not* track the individual files or anything, just send the
entire host to the git server.Why redirect it and not just let it join developer.postgresql.org in the
retirement home?
Fair point. I think I was just thinking "never let a domain name go because
someone will take it", but this is a hostname and not a domainname... So
yeah, that does sound like a better solution.
--
Magnus Hagander
Me: https://www.hagander.net/ <http://www.hagander.net/>
Work: https://www.redpill-linpro.com/ <http://www.redpill-linpro.com/>