Build time ETA is unreliable about crowbot HOT 7 CLOSED

This leads to fun messages like: <crowbot> servo-mac1 is overdue! (build started in 16 minutes)

from crowbot.

That is sure a fun message!

Could we make a combination of both ETA and start time? Only check ETA > .5 after 90 minutes have passed.

from crowbot.

We could, but it's not clear to me whether that would be a meaningful improvement. I was watching the ETA data shift wildly over the course of an unexceptional run, so I don't really know what it's actually supposed to tell us.

from crowbot.

Additionally, http://trac.buildbot.net/ticket/540 says that the ETA is "badly inaccurate" in the 0.8.x versions, and we're using 0.8.12 according to https://github.com/servo/saltfs/blob/master/buildbot/master/init.sls#L9.

from crowbot.

Thank you for the comprehensive explanation on why ETA is not working out. I will be sticking to start times for the patch.

from crowbot.

Since we will be comparing UNIX timestamps, there will be no need to implement timezones. Please correct me if I am wrong.

There are no running builds now in the dead of the night, so I will be testing this tomorrow before doing the pull request.

from crowbot.

Let's see if the results make sense without any timezone logic.

from crowbot.