This file is unlikely to have anything of general interest. It was created by the administrator to track any and all changes to the original installation files. Understanding the process may help us manage it better in the future.
First step was to create the directory /jazzpoll/25/, consistent with past naming conventions. The new directory is initially populated with files from a previous directory. There were two options: last year's annual poll (24/) and this year's mid-year poll (25my). I rather arbitrarily decided to start with last year's annual poll, so the initial set up was (starting in the jazzpoll directory):
$ mkdir 25/
$ cp 25/* 25/
I then changed to the 25/ directory, and proceeded to edit or delete files according to instructions in HOWTO, making notes there, then eventually deciding to create this notes file for tracking more detailed (and in many cases one-time) changes. The files are noted here in the order they appear in HOWTO.
index.php: Minimal edits were to change the date to 2025 and remove obsolete links (e.g., ArtsFuse links).
critics.php: Changes:
Makefile: Has rules for making targets: all; clean; clean-temps. Defined $TFILES macro for clean-temps. List there is partial, and should be updated.
mkball.sh: Shell script used to make ballot and totals pages. After examining diffs, substituted 25my file for 24. Main reason was that we changed the sort rule for the mid-year poll to sort by voters first, then points. Since we want to continue with that rule, the edits remain valid. Beyond that, the only change (so far) is the year.
mkcrit.sh: Shell script, run from make after mkball.sh, which generates a set of data files relating to critics: critics.out, critics.count, critics.menu, and critics.urls. No changes (so far). Output files can be deleted.
mkdiff.sh: Utility script compares data from albums.out with albums. Little used, unclear why. No changes.
mksub.sh: Utility script, "depends on totals-new being up to date." Little used, unclear why. No changes. Outputs mksub.out. No such file in old directory, suggesting this hasn't been used (at least in 2024).
NOTES.php: File was used many years ago for TH to note any discrepancies and inconsistencies in data provided by FD. This became unnecessary once TH started counting ballots. (There were still errors, but they were visible in the outputs, could be examined there, and corrected as needed.) File has some info (commented out) on configuration of the Mailman list.) Marked this as "obsolete" in HOWTO.
std.inc: Common PHP code includes in every web page. Change current year ($PYear) and annual year ($AYear) variables. Most other places pick these value up from here (and those that don't should). Other changes:
std.css: Style sheet used by all pages, loaded first from code in std.inc. Adopted 25my version. No further changes (for now). Later:
std-ballots.inc: Extra functions formatting ballot array pages. Adopted change from 25my of "NEW JAZZ ALBUMS" for "NEW ALBUMS."
std-ballots.css: Extra CSS for formatting ballot array pages. No changes (for now).
std-ext.inc: No changes (or now). Where is this used?
std-vl.inc: No changes (for now). Where is this used?
totals-debut.php: Commented out notes (will update when done). Note that this (and similar files) have a comment about not implemented links to voters. I should look into this.
totals-latin.php: Commented out notes (will update when done).
totals-new.php: Commented out notes (will update when done).
totals-old.php: Commented out notes (will update when done).
totals-vocal.php: Commented out notes (will update when done).
alist.php: Replaced with 25my file.
album.php: Changed "New Releases" to "New Jazz Releases" (per 25my).
voter-notes.php: This presumably will need a fair bit of editing, but not yet.
admin-notes.php: This presumably will need a fair bit of editing, but not yet.
install-notes.php: New file this time. Working on it.
invite.php: For reference, has been edited to reflect year change, and various other matters.
invite2.php: For reference, needs edit to update.
faq.php: File exists, but contents already commented out.
rip.php: Copy old file to rip-old. [PS: I later deleted rip-old, as the previous year's list is readily available in that directory, and not needed here.]
albums: Old file had album ids up to 1196. Delete them, and replace with file from 25my, then comment out all of the lines. This saves input work when albums that received mid-year votes appear on ballots. It also preserves id numbers, but that is unlikely to have any value.
ballots-in: Empty file, to start over.
critics: We preserve critic ids from year to year, so replace with 25my file (which has everyone from 24 plus new voters). Comment out all lines. When critics vote, uncomment the line, and edit as needed.
footnotes: Empty file.
oldvotes: Empty file.
log-ballots: Not an input, but used to keep a plaintext log of incoming ballots. Empty file, then insert the critics list. Use replace-regexp ^[#]* #C| to edit the critics lines. When we receive a ballot, the critic line is uncommented, and the ballot is cut-and-pasted under the critic name. Tags are then applied to the beginning of each album vote line. (This is useful if the numbering doesn't come through the cut-and-paste, and provides a consistent formatting when looking through the file. The rest of the line is verbatim, which saves having to look back into the original email messages and attachments.) Some text may be preserved as text (e.g., notes flagging unranked albums), and other comments may be added, especially when later mail amends the ballot.
t: Template for entry in ballots-in. No change.
excludes: List of files (patterns) to be excluded when creating an archive of the directory. This is referenced when run from the superior directiors: make 25.dist. No change, although the "email-*" pattern is no longer needed.
Deleted all files generated by programs. To create new ones, run make.
Deleted additional files that are not of current relevance: comments; debut-list; email-addrs; email-merewitz; rip-old.