Murga-Linux - "Under maintenance" (11th Jul 2020) - Signs of life.....or the beginning of "the end"?

[mikewalsh]

Afternoon, all.

I'm posting this here simply because I don't know whether this shows the Murga-Linux site is still being actively maintained - where are you, John? - or whether the site has finally "gone down".

On the afternoon of the 11th July, 2020, instead of being able to log in to the Puppy Linux Discussion Forum, as usual, I was greeted with the message

"Under maintenance
The site is currently under maintenance.
Sorry for the inconvenience, please retry later."

This is the first time I've ever seen this, in the 6+ years I've been a member. Has anybody else ever seen this? Does the site periodically go into active "maintenance mode", automatically, without human intervention? Or is this a sign that the man of the moment, the guy we've been trying to get hold of - Mr. John Murga - is still about and IS doing some much-needed maintenance on the site?

I sincerely hope it's one of the two above-mentioned reasons. I'd hate to think that message is all we'll see of the Puppy Forums from now on.....


Mike.

[TerryH]

A bit of a shock when you see the message. I'm hopeful it's a positive sign.

[mikewalsh]

A bit of a shock when you see the message. I'm hopeful it's a positive sign.

Me too, mate. Keep your fingers crossed. but if the worst comes to the worst, well.....it's not really "the worst", if you think about it. Here we have a brand-new, up to date modern forum, and good old Ally's saved most of the really important stuff over at archive.org. Those of us with private cloud-hosting a/cs can easily post the links again, as & when they're required, can't we?

All mine is accessible from my siggy, below. ↓

It won't be a complete bust, far from it..! And it may.....just may.....be a chance to cut out a lot of the dead wood & crap that's built up in the Murga-Linux database over time. We all know there's been plenty of long-winded rants over the years that are really not representative of the majority.

Who the hell wants to keep stuff like that around?

On top of everything else, if the rest of you are anything like me, we're a bunch of inveterate hoarders, and tend to hang onto stuff we've downloaded.....especially if it's proven to work OK. I've got somewhere around 80 GB of software, either downloaded, or packaged by me, and around 30 GB of "backups".....not to mention nearly 150 GB of movies. And all of it carefully catalogued & organised, so's I know exactly where to lay my hands on anything at a moment's notice...!

This forum, like any other, will be what we make of it.

(*shrug*)


Mike.

[Wiz57]

I noticed it this morning as well, after I had checked for new posts, there were a few,
then decided to check some of my emails, came back and "Under Maintainence".
Hopefully that's all it is, I don't save everything the way I once did, but do have
backups of some of the more useful items I've ran across, just in case!

[rockedge]

Still at 21:29 UTC the murga forum is still in maintenance mode. I think the PHP is running though since the url http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/index.php will result in the Under maintenance message. Looking at the page source it is html and css but that it is being presented when trying to get a response from index.php is good sign that the system isn't crashed.

When was the last time someone was able to login to the murga forum?

[taersh]

The last time I was logged into murga forum was Yesterday at 22:26 Germany Time. I copied some instructions from FossaPup64 Topic wrote by rerwin to make some testings on pgprs 2.0.4. I stored the instructions into a text file at: 22:26:47 Juli 2020.

So, I hope after murga forum returns it will kick the asses of all those major distro forums to give Puppy Linux the attention that Puppy deserves.

[Wiz57]

"When was the last time someone was able to login to the murga forum?"

Not sure of exact time (my local time, that is) but must have been around 7 am this morning,
July 11, 2020...it is now a bit after 5 pm. That's an unusually long time for typical site
maintenance. However, the main page at murga-linux.com has been under construction for
some 14 years!
Someone should have left a sticky on the forum yesterday, or even earlier, warning of the
downtime, if this is due to intentional methods. If not intentional, just judging from what
I remember reading, it may be a long time before the site admin gives any word as to
when the site will be back up and running.

[darry19662018]

Removed.

[mikewalsh]

I could be way "off-base" here, but I have a funny feeling about this. I'm half-expecting to see the "under maintenance" message still showing in a week's time....

When was the last time someone was able to login to the murga forum?

Can't be certain, but I think I last 'looked-in' around 2-2.30 pm yesterday afternoon. That's over 11 hours ago. Intentional or not, if this does last for a while, I expect to see many more Puppians find their way here over the next several days; it may be just the impetus needed to get things going at last. But SEO will play a big part in that, given that many Puppians only get on the Forum occasionally; if they can't access Murga-Linux, then a web-search will be the first port of call for a lot of 'em.

(*shrug*)

Rockedge, what are your SEO ratings like? We'll need to up the site's "ranking" so it shows up better in the major search engines...

https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/what-is-seo/


Mike.

[ozsouth]

In 15 years around original board, have not seen this before. Have a few been short outages. No idea if related to last week's discussion, but hopefully will result in a positive outcome for all.

EDIT:
Vale John de Murga, the self-described 'man of mystery', whose
benevolence oversaw the making of the Puppy Linux Community.

[darry19662018]

I could be way "off-base" here, but I have a funny feeling about this. I'm half-expecting to see the "under maintenance" message still showing in a week's time....

When was the last time someone was able to login to the murga forum?

Can't be certain, but I think I last 'looked-in' around 2-2.30 pm yesterday afternoon. That's over 11 hours ago. Intentional or not, if this does last for a while, I expect to see many more Puppians find their way here over the next several days; it may be just the impetus needed to get things going at last. But SEO will play a big part in that, given that many Puppians only get on the Forum occasionally; if they can't access Murga-Linux, then a web-search will be the first port of call for a lot of 'em.

(*shrug*)

Rockedge, what are your SEO ratings like? We'll need to up the site's "ranking" so it shows up better in the major search engines...

https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/what-is-seo/


Mike.

Yep this site is a big improvement - hope some of imformational threads can be saved and linked here.

[MochiMoppel]








[wiak]

I think it was yesterday I posted on Murga forum giving the reason why activation emails were not being accepted by some mail hosts, such as Gmail.

As I said, the activation email from Murga forum did not contain a valid SPF or DKIM. Nor did it supply DMARC info. Without SPF and DKIM, at the very best, gmail would send such emails to spam.

If John Murga is now adding SPF and DKIM (at his domain name host) you can expect it to take up to 24 hours or maybe more to propagate these changes through the Internet (in addition to the time he takes to implement SPF and DKIM correctly - so if at first anything wrong, whole procedure needs done again with another 24 hours possible wait... - that's the problem with DNS mods).

I'm assuming that is what is happening and not actually the end of Murga forum.

wiak

[d4rkn1ght]

I think it was yesterday I posted on Murga forum giving the reason why activation emails were not being accepted by some mail hosts, such as Gmail.

As I said, the activation email from Murga forum did not contain a valid SPF or DKIM. Nor did it supply DMARC info. Without SPF and DKIM, at the very best, gmail would send such emails to spam.

If John Murga is now adding SPF and DKIM (at his domain name host) you can expect it to take up to 24 hours or maybe more to propagate these changes through the Internet (in addition to the time he takes to implement SPF and DKIM correctly - so if at first anything wrong, whole procedure needs done again with another 24 hours possible wait... - that's the problem with DNS mods).

I'm assuming that is what is happening and not actually the end of Murga forum.

wiak

What gets me is that it was done without any warning. Hopefully we'll get some kind of communication soon.

[Wiz57]

Wiak,
While I respect your knowledge in the area of adding the needed modules re: SSL to the Murga site,
I've come to suspect something far worse than trial and error at adding those modules. IF (big IF)
it were being done by John Murga, WHY did he not at least post a warning message, or better yet,
send a PM to members emails? We have ZERO evidence of John even visiting the forum in some
2 years or so, and from what I remember reading even emails sent by other members have gone
without any response. This COULD be the result of some nefarious actor somewhere who somehow
gained access and shunted HTTP requests/responses, OR, more likely, some sort of limitation in
the phpBB software has been reached and has triggered some automatic maintenance mode that
was never updated, resulting in a looping death spiral???
I've been through "site upgrades" at other sites, and when humans are in charge of the process,
even in worst case scenarios, someone communicates with members to at least let them know
they are aware of the problem, working on solutions, appreciate your patience, etc etc.
I really think the site has been left unattended for so long, with the site owner/admin not in
contact, that it is in death throes.
WIz

[mikewalsh]

What gets me is that it was done without any warning. Hopefully we'll get some kind of communication soon.

Unhh.....you know, that's not really a fair statement. You make it sound almost as though JM planned to piss everybody off..!

The fact of the matter is, nobody yet knows what is happening. It could all be back to "business as usual" very soon. It may NEVER return to the old forum, and this will evolve into the new Puppy global forum. We may never discover what's happened.....or if everything returns to "normal", there may well be an announcement to that effect.

When JM performed the server upgrade about 4 years ago, he didn't make a prior announcement then. It was performed one Sunday afternoon, and I think the site was down for like 4 or 5 hours. He announced what had happened after the fact.

All we can do is wait & see. It'll develop one way or the other pretty soon....

----------------------------------

@ Wiz57:-

You could be right, mate; I'm half suspecting something along those lines myself. I hope he's OK, as I'm sure we all do, but it's entirely possible JM may have fallen victim to the pandemic. None of us would be any the wiser, would we?

Given that the hardware was upgraded recently (in terms of the Forum's age), I doubt it's summat like the drives having filled up. It's more likely the software, given how old it is.

Let's see what happens. We do have this modern forum in the meantime, after all.... This is going to be a bit like the early days of the old Forum, when the original members list was starting to grow.....it'll take time for people to find it.

----------------------------------

Just as an aside, has anybody else noticed that tuxtoo's re-worked wellminded.net has also gone off the rails?

Does anyone happen to have the URL of the alternate mirror? I never made a note of that one, for some reason....


Mike.

[darry19662018]

Here is a good start.... appears to work

http://wikka.puppylinux.com/PuppyLinuxSearchEngine

[darry19662018]

I think it was yesterday I posted on Murga forum giving the reason why activation emails were not being accepted by some mail hosts, such as Gmail.

As I said, the activation email from Murga forum did not contain a valid SPF or DKIM. Nor did it supply DMARC info. Without SPF and DKIM, at the very best, gmail would send such emails to spam.

If John Murga is now adding SPF and DKIM (at his domain name host) you can expect it to take up to 24 hours or maybe more to propagate these changes through the Internet (in addition to the time he takes to implement SPF and DKIM correctly - so if at first anything wrong, whole procedure needs done again with another 24 hours possible wait... - that's the problem with DNS mods).

I'm assuming that is what is happening and not actually the end of Murga forum.

wiak

What gets me is that it was done without any warning. Hopefully we'll get some kind of communication soon.

We have been very blessed to have had Murga Forums for so long without cost so I am sad at the prospect of what has been lost but I think we should sit tight, develop this site and if does come back make the move and save what we can here if that can be done. So saying about the warning thing is a bit rich,

[d4rkn1ght]

Assuming that if JM was updating the forum as wiak comments, some kind of warning it's expected. I'm not saying that's is what is happening here. We all were surprised to find the forum under maintenance.

Sorry it's my fault, I didn't write that correctly.

If John Murga is now adding SPF and DKIM (at his domain name host) you can expect it to take up to 24 hours or maybe more to propagate these changes through the Internet (in addition to the time he takes to implement SPF and DKIM correctly - so if at first anything wrong, whole procedure needs done again with another 24 hours possible wait... - that's the problem with DNS mods)

[Trobin]

"Wake & Memorial Service for John De Murga
It is with deep regret and sadness that we have to share the tragic news of the passing of our beloved colleague and friend John De Murga on Friday 22nd of May 2020."

Found the above on the facebook puppy forum

[smokey01]

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIp ... A/viewform

[fredx181]

Mmm.. sad.
But can we know for sure that this is about "THE" John Murga from murga-linux.com ?

Fred

[d4rkn1ght]

I am so sorry to hear this. My condolences goes to his family. Hopefully we can find more news about this.

[vovchik]

I also hope it is not the same John Murga. John has not only hosted the forum all these years but also contributed code (murgaLua). I do hope he is OK.

[wiak]

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIp ... A/viewform

yes... also the Facebook page Trobin mentions is same photo, and photo at https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnmurga/ and John's CV at murga.org

So I'm feeling depressed about it. Don't know why forum would suddenly go into maintenance mode though.

If this is the sad case, I'm surprised no-one knew about it earlier. I've always thought it was normal practice that a system must have at least two main admins in case of some tragedy or other. What a shame for the man and his family indeed. His last remarks I remember were how happy his life had become.

wiak

[mikewalsh]

Mm.

Sad news indeed.....condolences to his family & loved ones.

While "John Murga" is far more generic, the fact this this obituary/wake refers to "John de Murga" - which we know was his full name, though he didn't often use it - leaves far less room for doubt.

If we correlate Grant's link:-

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIp ... A/viewform

.....with this web-page:-

https://rocketreach.co/john-de-murga-email_37360278

.....there seems little doubt this is the same individual. Further correlation with the "front-page" of

www.murga.org

.....gives access to John's CV, which I know has also been mentioned in recent months. Viewing said document shows a career as an analyst/programmer in the banking sector; CreditSuisse, DeutscheBank AG, MorganStanley, to name but a few.

I said I had a nasty feeling about this. There's little doubt in my mind now that our revered host, John de Murga, passed away on the 22nd May this year.....whether as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, or for other, unrelated reasons, remains unclear.

But it's definitely the "end of an era". This being the case, I feel it's beholden to all Puppians concerned to make this new forum a fitting tribute to the man.

Rest in peace, John.....wherever you are.


Mike.

[TerryH]

Thanks Mike, the second link seems to confirm it. The pictures in both links appear to be the same person, also the second link also references murga.org.

RIP John Murga

[darry19662018]

Yes RIP John Murga and thank you for the forum we had a lot was learned and ideas shared.

Rest in Peace.

[wiak]

I note that BarryK has restarted forum for EasyOS: https://easyos.org/forum/ per blog/news comments at https://bkhome.org/news/

[01micko]

I expect Barry to make an announcement soon about John on his blog.