At Wed, 8 Oct 2025 23:46:38 +0000, David Holland <dholland-tech%netbsd.org@localhost> wrote:
Subject: Re: irt: Re: Core statement on version control systems
>
> It's a terrible model for development, and not even a good way to send
> patches upstream to random projects.
Unqualified assertions don't make something so.
Regardless it's not really your's to say -- it's the way "everyone"
expects things to be done these days and if NetBSD wants any hope of
being able to attract new developers with new ideas, well that's what
has got to be done.
On the other hand I would like to understand your complaints on this
issue better.
Perhaps you could expand on how you would like to move from GNATS and
mailing lists to something more modern involving a true distributed
version control system that can give third party contributors better
access to project change history and allow better direct integration and
cooperation with core developers in order to help keep NetBSD up to date
and to support its development.
> Also, realistically, someone who can't manage to figure out a
> different patch submission mechanism probably isn't going to be a very
> successful contributor.
The problem is they're not even going to take a _first_ glance at the
project if it isn't doing the git(hub/forge) dance.
> I remember at one point Joerg was talking about Phabricator except
> that it was php. No idea what such tools are currently available.
Phabricator is dead (though arguably a community fork, Phorge, continues
on, but, yeah, PHP, no):
https://admin.phacility.com/phame/post/view/11/phacility_is_winding_down_operations/
Current open-source "hub/forge" tools are Gitea, Forgejo (codeberg) [a
fork of Gitea], LaunchPad, and SourceHut. And maybe Gitlab and
BitBucket -- they both allow self-hosting, GitLab's FOSS version may be
limited, and I'm not sure if there's a open-source of BitBucket's
software.
Marginally there is Kallithea (a fork of RhodeCode), and of course
the aforementioned Phorge.
Personally I would only consider Forgejo and SourceHut for self-hosting,
though I have zero experience actually running such a service. My
choice is based primarily on implementation language and philosophy.
See also:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaborative_development_environment
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forge_(software)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_source-code-hosting_facilities
--
Greg A. Woods <gwoods%acm.org@localhost>
Kelowna, BC +1 250 762-7675 RoboHack <woods%robohack.ca@localhost>
Planix, Inc. <woods%planix.com@localhost> Avoncote Farms <woods%avoncote.ca@localhost>
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