Cool! Then you may have an opportunity to witness @attah’s 75 thermometers in his kitchen! I may have to travel just to see that! (irc fragment bubbles over into the forum). Good luck with the move!
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Very nice! Welcome!
It’s a big step, not without loss, but wise, good luck in Sweden!
Not going to steal the topic anymore. But yes, all this stuff around moving is expensive a lot. Will make an own topic after i get my stuff back from moving company 
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Linking back here https://forum.sailfishos.org/t/funding-new-development-with-eu-grants-deadlines-soon
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Beside the link to a funding opportunity, Patchmanager web catalog failure: any workaround? - #6 by nerd7473 begs the question if some heavily used projects like Patchmanager need a sustainable infrastructure.
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Maybe the server used for the hosting of web catalogue is still with the moving company…
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Thanks. That was funny. Even after watching: John Oliver marrying a Cabbage.
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I think that a cooperative or a non-profit would make a lot of sense.
Mobile is a critical component of IT infrastructure. Aside from SFOS / Mer / Maemo Leste, and some of the related work done by postmarketOS / Purism, there is no viable independent alternative.
AOSP is there, but it’s too dependent on Google. And if they ever migrate elsewhere, e.g. to Fuchsia, it will collapse.
I agree. The question is ‘where to begin’. I began talking to @rinigus about a framework/company/org to deal with end user licenses for mapping services. That spawned a bunch of essential infrastructure ideas. Now the questions which I’ve partially posed have to be answered.
- Where to found the org/company (luxemburg
- What legal form to give it (limited co., club/non-profit, foundation/stiftung)
- Enumerate the goals.
- Prioritize the goals.
- Recruit people to get behind the effort.
As the linked foundation you provided in your post demonstrates, a VERY broad swath of projects can qualify. What’s also, to a certain extent, the case with those projects, is that they already have some ‘project infrastructure’.
That we lack. I’ve wanted to get some external, professional, advice, but haven’t gotten to it. The next ‘ad-hoc’ effort in my neck of the woods (Berlin) isn’t until November. I’d like to get ‘something’ solid started before then.
So, who’s up for helping (me, whoever) start a legal entity to get the ball rolling
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I can help you. But I’m a bit busy this month. I should find the time for some little task.
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I can certainly lend a hand :). I am a bit busy till the end of the month, but after that I am aiming to spend 1-2 days per week in open source work (perhaps even more!), and infrastructure / organization for the next few years to come.
Maybe one of the NLnet grant applications can be submitted with the objective of bootstrapping the organization and getting some minimal infrastructure. These grants are small and they explicitly state you do not need to have any legal entity to apply:
Do I need to have a legal entity like a company to apply? No, you don’t. You can apply as an individual, or as a formal or informal organisation of any type. Or even a collaboration of the two.
Lots of the current projects that were funded are just small software projects that were created after securing the grant, and the only organization they have is a Git repository. Others have some organization like the one we are discussing.
It’s interesting to note that postmarketOS does not seem to have set up much organization as they are accepting donations through NLnet itself. They do have set up a community inside The Commons Conservacy, which is a non-profit foundation that offers a framework for non-profit software projects.
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My suggestion is to grow in an organic way, i.e. try to identify some areas in Mer / SFOS that require further development and apply for several NLnet grants. (Keep in mind that maybe the funding call is competitive and it’s not guaranteed they will fund all / any. Applying is not too much effort, though).
In parallel, try to set up the organization, perhaps with help from another grant.
Both efforts will hopefully generate a bit of momentum in the community, and this can aid further growth.
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I think the work your doing with bug triage is a HUGE contribution But every bit helps!
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I believe you are right. There is nothing standing in the way of beginning with picking goals that can be achieved piecemeal and building upon that.
So, the question is what projects?
Off the top of my head, difficult ones first
- (thinking of @orangecat and the research oriented, institutional context): dbus interaction between sailjailed apps (or generally, firejailed). This is really tricky terrain which currently creates a lot (perceived by me) friction. We’re in a position where jolla, rightly, has introduced mechanisms to sanbox apps, which we want, thereby rendering them less useful because they can no longer communicate. We need a mechanism to expose permissions for dbus interaction between apps.
- Individuals like @karry currently host, for instance, tile servers on personal hardware and link. Is there a collective effort we could ‘attach’ to? Is this a ‘project’ that can sustainably be financed as you suggest? It’s more infra, and I think less likely to qualify.
- A ‘clearing house’ to bundle the capital of many small projects to pay license fees (still in the mapbox/tile provider domain). I can’t see getting this funded without an org. But the utility to FOSS projects (in the sense of minimal viable) is undeniable. The main issue is to keep api endpoints open without forcing every user into a license agreement and also not burden the developer with undue pain.
- In that vein, patchmanager web catalog. If I remember correctly is a python (django) application. I asked myself, can this be done with ‘less’. Probably. Has the same problems as the tileserver idea in 2.
- @Basil could probably benefit from funding for openrepos?
- XMPP omemo encryption and modern ‘views’ for SFOS (xmpp can do anything that signal can) and/OR
- OS level integration for Matrix. I have to admit I’m old school and don’t like the matrix protocol. But, it’s the way the wind is blowing. Also might be a ‘research org’ @orangecat like project.
- Basic improvements to the Calendar stack. ie. search @dcaliste may have a more concrete suggestion of a milestone on his list that could use some funding?
- Extending the developer documentation so that, for instance, https://forum.sailfishos.org/t/qprocess-and-sailjail , development is not so ‘piecemeal’ and painful. maybe an @orangecat research oriented project. There is ‘more than skeletal’ documentation, but in parts, you need x-ray specks to read between the lines.
- Probably should be prio. #1 Get the browser to 100. cough.
- All my personal goals So, performant media tools for basic and not so basic image/audio/video production. I’m not sure where to start here, and I’m not looking for funding. I’m too tired to think
Ah, the list is endless. I suppose we need a poll with shorter ‘goal’ statements.
As for my time, as of January, I’m likely full time FOSS project guy for at least 5-6 months.
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I personally prefer a goal which benefits other FLOSS projects.
Yes. But which ones, damn it
That’s a great list @poetaster. Personally, I think there are three important things to consider when choosing ideas:
a) What things are urgent for SFOS / Mer / Linux on mobile?
b) What things have individuals interested in implementing them?
c) What things can be funded (in the context of a particular grant call)?
Urgency is important because ideally the community can help implementing as many things as needed to make the platform a viable replacement of iOS and Android for a wider set of users. Otherwise, there is a lot of friction. Personally, I think improving browsing, chat/VoIP and navigation is the most pressing need as that’s the very basic smartphone functionality and it needs to work well. This includes items 11, 7, 8, 2 and 3. Repositories are also pretty basic, so that touches item 5 and maybe 4?
Ultimately, it is also important to pick things that have someone willing to work on them. I think sandboxing and security in general are a good academic topic for @orangecat, which I am also interested in. Better sandboxing might be possible to achieve using eBPF as a gatekeeper. Lots of enterprise container orchestration systems are exploring this area.
I am also willing to implement lots of unit tests in critical components in the mobile stack, and in general work towards making things more robust and secure.
Most of these items should benefit all Linux projects for mobile @pherjung, i.e. Maemo Leste, NemoMobile, etc.
Perhaps we can also ask for other suggestions in the next community meeting.
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https://github.com/netblue30/firejail/issues/3184 related discussion in the firejail context.
https://github.com/netblue30/firejail/pull/3265