Hi everyone. I'm the author of the initial stackscript over on Linode.
First, I apologize for not updating everyone sooner, but I've been working two positions at work and have been extraordinarily busy since about December of last year.
I've been aware that the StackScript has been broken (or close to it) for some time now, but the reason has been for the most part due to the huge changes that have been going on within the Mercury project itself. It was pointless to try to put in the effort to fix the script if it was only going to break again within a few weeks.
I bumped into joshk at DrupalCon and quickly asked if he was interested in keeping that maintained. He responded that he was, so the next question was regarding when he hoped things may stabilize to the point where efforts wouldn't be wasted. It's hard to set and keep software deadlines, so treat this a grain of salt, but his goal was by DrupalCon London this year.
Just yesterday I emailed him about some questions, and he pointed out the work that boztek has done. I had been unaware of that up until then, but I'm thrilled he's done it. In the interest of not repeating work, I think I'll make the next version of the StackScript basically get the environment setup to where I can download his repo from GitHub and run the setup program. I should be able to also automate the steps in his readme.
While this certainly makes my job easier, it introduces a dependency. I'm totally fine with this, so long as the software in question works. From what I can gather, it seems to work quite well.
So, as far as timeline, I'm not even offering anything up just yet because I have some logistics to work out before I begin. I just wanted to update everyone with the fact that I am planning on doing it Real Soon Now, and to open up discussion about the new direction the script will take.
Thanks - Justin