sburns
Well-known member
Apparently this bug is quite serious. Just getting up to speed on it, need to check my own stuff and make sure the patches are applied.
So it's that time again....winter pasttimes?
- Thread starter mimico_polak
- Start date
Rob manages to patch and get back online within the day. Meanwhile federal and provincial government websites with millions of dollars of staff remain offline.
sburns
Well-known member
Gov
sounds about right.But if they are using older versions of PHP they then are chit out of luck, only the latest version is being patched.
Which could be good, and move people to update, since 8.x has been out for some time.
Could be tricky if they have lots of code in older versions.
But now Rogers switched up my IP address and I'm in the process of updating the SSL certificate
They almost certainly are. My old server was running something like PHP 7.5 and a gallery app that hadn't been updated in something like 10 years. I just had one of those weird feelings like the ones that made people on group rides think I could see the future, when a cop came around the corner. Lucky me.Gov
But if they are using older versions of PHP they then are chit out of luck, only the latest version is being patched.
Which could be good, and move people to update, since 8.x has been out for some time.
Could be tricky if they have lots of code in older versions.
Shaman
Well-known member
I know a bunch of these people. Some of them are ... mostly ... competent. But they don't care. At all. They're coin-operated, in a union and waiting for retirement. Original thought of any kind is punished by their environs.
I’m in the OPS and it drives me bananas to see such … laziness / indifference / incompetence that is tolerated within the service.
I’m not the best, def not the worst, but I still give a
to do my damn best for the projects I’m involved in.I’m actually shocked I haven’t been fired / reprimanded for telling people they’re useless twats on some of the other teams.
Happy to see that today I got my hands on the org chart for the next job and I’m on the list. I’ll take that as a silent compliment.
I know the type. They won't do anything until directly told to, then complain about it and drag their feet. Have to work with a couple of them.
By way of contrast I advised everyone as soon as I woke up and say the notice, the following morning (first to report it), then got my own server patched within an hour of it being available. My server was offline from 6:00am until around noon. And I could retire with full pension now, working in higher ed
Oh, and the SSL cert is updated now too.
POWERMAN
Well-known member
I heard the CA/Browser forum is mandating that eventually all website certs will have to be renewed every 47 days (by 2029 I think?).
Do you have an automated process/solution to do so?
Not yet, but
I've already researched it. Once implemented I'll even be able to stop paying for an annual cert and can use a free provider. The 47 day thing isn't coming soon, either. The maximum duration is being reduced in stages.
Shaman
Well-known member
Since the government made so much of their IT infrastructure into a consultant position, it should be expected. They literally set themselves up to fail at being an IT force, with everyone charging 3x what they'd work for normally and jamming as many mandatory software subscriptions into every corner as possible. For a time, every time Microsoft released a new version license, it was mandatory to update every system to that version, whether it tracked or not. You had people in the government forced to learn new versions of things every few years at least. Total anarchy, and all by design. They even did this in the military and friends of mine quit when it first came into effect and more still have quit since, stating that their existing UNIX-based systems worked and were stable, while none of what replaced it was or would ever be (they were right). So, we're talking more than 20 years ago this started.
And that doesn't even address the quality of the people involved, none of which have any loyalty and not much seniority.
Relax
Well-known member
I'm not in the government, but we have the same problem with legacy software in the financial industry. It is absolutely NOT due to laziness regardless of whether the people are contrators or full-timers. Contractors get paid by the hour and love to work. Full-timers want to do the right thing because it actually makes their lives easier. It's management penny pinching - thinking regular upgrades are an unnecessary expense (just like they think all IT costs are - to which I tell them we can save millions by turning everything off and oing home). They think if something is working fine now, it should continue to work fine forever, then they're surprised when something happens and can't be quickly/easily fixed. Kind of like never changing your engine oil because you don't want to spend the time/money to do it because the bike is still running fine.
Shaman
Well-known member
Where you're making your mistake is in thinking that we're talking about small contractors or individuals. We are not talking about that, we are talking about software / IT houses with employees that have virtually no seniority, they have moderate pay, and they have neither autonomy nor unions, typically. What's more, they're working in a government place where everyone around them has premium pay, premium privileges, premium retirement plans and premium mobility within the biggest employer in Canada. It's demoralising and sometimes, upsetting.
Not every contractor is the one that did Arrive(scam)Can but a lot of them are, too.
I also call nonsense on this. Full-timers in government are the ones that find a way to do the least amount possible and take the path of least resistance whenever possible. That's why the government has such rotten IT.
For the most part, they're right. That's why I related the story about people I know leaving the government (including the DND) when they were forced to switch over to Windows. Because it's been in Microsoft's and their partner's interests to put their customers on a constantly changing upgrade path where forklift upgrades become mandatory - and I mean mandatory, because the IT consultants wrote it into the contracts. This wouldn't happen if we hadn't standardised on the path of least resistance and decided to fund Bill Gates' companies. That bird has flown, however.
But in many cases, this is true. Not *forever* perhaps, but for long periods of time. I've advocated many times for a dedicated programming staff that standardised on *nix, which is VERY stable from the standpoint of OS capabilities and tools, and perhaps built their applications in the 'web. They would have been 20 years ahead of where they are now and had a BOATLOAD less problems with compatibility, updates, etc. had they done this. But being right doesn't pay the bills of the friends and families contracting for government... good old nepotism is still alive and well.
Not really. There's plenty of software out there that is ancient but still relevant. It all depends on what you pick and who built it. We've been at the stage where most software updates/upgrades are just variations of Teal Blue and re-designed buttons for decades now. A lot of software is very stable and isn't really changing enough to bother upgrading - even accounting software usually only needs tax table changes and otherwise remains the same.
