[Python-Dev] robots exclusion file on the buildbot pages?

["Martin v. Löwis"]

>> Hmm. Before doing any modifications, I'd rather have a definite analysis
>> on this. Are you absolutely certain that, when that happened, the
>> individual builds that caused this svn exception where actually
>> triggered over the web, rather than by checkin?
> 
> How can I be "absolutely certain"?

In the example you gave, the build log says

"The web-page 'force build' button was pressed by '<unknown>': <no
reason specified> "

So ISTM that it's indeed certain that the build was triggered over the
web, rather than by a checkin.

> http://www.python.org/dev/buildbot/builders/sparc%20Ubuntu%20trunk/builds/175

AFAICT from the twistd logs, the user agent triggering this build was
"Mozilla/4.7 [ja] (Win98; I)". It still may have been a bot; it was
using a GET request, even though the form asks for a POST.

The IP address points to some Japanese dialup network (reverse lookup
reports address.dy.bbexcite.jp.)

The bot probably has malicious intent: it has been using about 10
different user-agent strings, on various parts of the site. I have
now blackholed this IP address (although it stopped contacting
python.org around 8 hours ago, anyway).

If desired, we could password-protect the "force build" forms. If that
is to be done, some help from a buildbot expert on what to change
specifically would be appreciated.

Regards,
Martin