gitweb broken?
GCC web infrastructure updates: Anubis upgraded to 1.26.1, nginx proxy added for performance and security.
This email discusses ongoing issues with the GCC web infrastructure, specifically slow connections and errors encountered with gitweb and other site sections. Mark Wielaard reports that upgrading Anubis to 1.26.1 and adding an nginx proxy in front of httpd are intended to improve performance and prioritize authenticated users, mitigating scraperbot attacks.
- proposer
Reports that Anubis was upgraded to 1.26.1 and an nginx proxy was added to improve performance and security, asking if issues persist.
- other
Previously reported extreme slowness and errors with Anubis (1.25.0) and gitweb, and that non-external links were also hanging.
“It is extremely slow. Takes 1 min until Anubis starts (1.25.0). Anubis then takes ca. 2 min and finally denies access with: Berechnungsfehler! Fehler bei der Berechnung der Prfung: undefined https://gcc.gnu.org/git/gitweb.cgi?p=gcc.git The gitweb links hangs forever, doesn't even start to render anything.”
Technical Tradeoffs
- Balancing security against bot attacks with performance for legitimate users.
- Implementing a proxy layer (nginx) to manage traffic and potentially improve response times.
In Details
This thread discusses recent changes to the gcc.gnu.org web infrastructure, primarily involving the Anubis anti-bot/anti-scraping gateway. Issues with performance and accessibility were reported after an Anubis upgrade. Subsequent changes include a new Anubis version (1.26.1) and an nginx proxy layer designed to improve resilience against attacks and speed up access for known users.
- gitweb
- A web-based interface for browsing Git repositories. It allows users to view commit history, file contents, and other repository information through a web browser.
- Anubis
- A security gateway or anti-bot system used on some web servers to filter malicious traffic, particularly from scrapers and bots, before it reaches the main web application.
- nginx
- A high-performance web server and reverse proxy, commonly used for load balancing, HTTP caching, and as a front-end for other web applications to handle traffic efficiently and securely.
- httpd
- The Apache HTTP Server, a widely used open-source web server software.