Re: "ago" times on buildfarm status page

Magnus Hagander <magnus(at)hagander(dot)net> writes:
> On Wed, Aug 21, 2019 at 9:40 AM Peter Eisentraut <
> peter(dot)eisentraut(at)2ndquadrant(dot)com> wrote:
>> I find the time displays like
>> 01:03 ago
>> on the buildfarm status page unhelpful.
>>
>> I notice that the page source actually includes absolute times that are
>> then converted to relative using some JavaScript. Could we perhaps just
>> turn that off?

> It used to be that the "ago" part was generated on the server, but Andrew
> changed that to the fixed timestamp + javascript to improve cachability and
> thus performance. Perhaps now that it's that it could be as easy as adding
> a checkbox to the page (which could remember your preference in a cookie)
> that switches between the two modes?

FWIW, I'm used to the way it's shown and would not like a change, so
if this can be made user-settable as Magnus suggests, that would be
better IMO.

The real problem with that column though is that it relies on run start
times that are self-reported by the buildfarm clients, and some of them
have system clocks that are many hours off reality. What *I'd* like to
see is for the column to contain time of receipt of the buildfarm report
at the server, less the measured runtime of the test.

regards, tom lane