Migrating Sailfish OS git repos to Github

Announcements
#1

Update 2: On October 7th we will shut down git.sailfishos.org .
Update: After September, 14th we plan do shut down git.sailfishos.org .

Sailfish source code repositories have been hosted in several locations over the years. This has been causing some confusion. We are now making this simpler by starting a cleanup and concentrating our code trees towards one location: github.com/sailfishos.

We have been making the preparations and are now planning to do the migration in following steps:

  1. Mirror repositories from git.sailfishos.org to github.com/sailfishos - DONE

  2. Take github to use as the main codeline for building Sailfish OS - DONE

  3. Make git.sailfishos.org read-only - DONE

  4. Close git.sailfishos.org - Planned: After 2021-10-07

We are starting this process now and if there are no issues in the new setup we would be ready to close the old service soon afterwards. After the migration we will update the guidance at SailfishOS Source - SailfishOS Documentation

This new, simpler, setup should be a benefit for both Jolla and the Sailfish community. As github is one of the most popular open source hosting service, contributors typically have accounts and are familiar with the workflows leading to a lower barrier to contribute to the software.

Happy Hacking,

Vesku

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#2

What about the mer-hybris repos on github, will they move or stay?

#3

This is an open question to anyone more accustomed than I am with Github : what is the equivalent of this page in Github
https://git.sailfishos.org/groups/mer-core/-/activity

This page is a list of new MRs, comments, reviews done for all projects of the group. Here the whole middleware.

This is ultimately convenient to follow whatā€™s going on and to discover things that happens in project that Iā€™m not actively monitoring. This is very valuable because it helps to do coordinated things by knowing how they may be done in another middleware. You can also learn a lot by reading a review teased on the activity page.

I hope the same mechanism exists in Github.

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#4

Ok, what? Iā€™m sorry, Github is not open-source. It hosts open-source software yes, but is definitely not the place you should choose to do so. Github is proprietary, centralized, and owned by Microsoft. I see no reason whatsoever to move anything to it.

I can understand not wanting to host your own Git infrastructure, but then why not move to Gitlab? No not your own Gitlab instance, Gitlab.com. At least then you run on a FOSS product and have the possibility to migrate to another Gitlab instance when your hoster starts doing weird stuff.

I made various contributions to the SailfishOS stack on https://git.sailfishos.org and I would be sad to see it go. Please reconsider moving to Github, choose something FOSS instead.

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#5

Good point. We have several locations under github that host various Sailfish related repositories. For now these will remain where they are, but itā€™s definitely topic to consider if some further cleanup and reorganization would be worth the effort and trouble.

#6

Pardon my English, didnā€™t mean to imply that the service itself is open source, but it is one of the most commonly used service for hosting open source software.

Weā€™ve been using Github from beginning of Jolla to host various repositories and already have a lot of repositories under github.com/sailfishos. While Gitlab may be nicer service in some ways, using the service we know and already use was considered to be more suitable for us for now.

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#7

Yes and I (and others luckily) hate it. The world should rely on it less.

I guess being and using FOSS isnā€™t high enough on your priority list, too bad. Note that Gitlab offers a very comparable user experience to Github. They call it merge requests rather than pull requests, but the UX is the exact same. And you already know and use Gitlab, youā€™ve used it for the entirety of the Mer stack.

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#8

Hi, let me chip in as well. I donā€™t have strong preference regarding Github vs Gitlab. However, if we forget about open source aspect, there are few advantages for considering moving to Gitlab:

  • @dcaliste has listed one feature that he will be missing. It is handy, indeed, and allows to casual developers to get overview faster of the current development

  • with Gitlab, you could define projects/sub-projects/repo hierarchy. Which would allow you to organize and partitions all repositories a bit better. Such use as you have now: mer-core, ā€¦

  • most of us have accounts on the both services. If you have Github only, you could still get into Gitlab using Github account, if I read login page correctly.

As we donā€™t want to move too frequently, think it through. You probably have +/- sheet somewhere ā€¦

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#9

Itā€™s too bad SailfishOS (still!) isnā€™t fully open source, otherwise Iā€™d suggest using Codeberg instead, a German non-profit, hosted in Europe, free from big tech control collaboration site. But I guess Jolla wants to keep private repositories as well.

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#10

I might have almost 0 contributions to the Sailfish project, but the source code base is total mess and it needs a kind of order/structure and care.
If you want to do it right and to not regret it in the future have a look at open source collaboration platforms.
I also wonder if someone in Jolla has a full copy of the code, because (I am not too paranoid but) it could happen that someone gets upset and your project gets locked.

Another project I am contributing to is using Gitea which is great web service.

And honestly I do not understand why Jolla wants to keep the code somewhere else except on its own servers.

If you can not afford 2-3 servers with a storage to store the code ā€¦ I don not even want to think further.
IMO this should be your primary code base stored on own hardware and then you could use any kind of open/not open free/not free services to keep copies and provide collaboration options.

1 Like
#11

Yes, I have the same concern.

I subscribe via RSS to the mer-core activity feed, and Iā€™ve been trying to find an equivalent for github.com/sailfishos

The closest thing Iā€™ve found is this JSON feed, but itā€™s not RSS :\

 curl -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.v3+json" https://api.github.com/orgs/sailfishos/events
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#12

Seeing as you mention barriers to contribution:

I think there are more people who only have a Gitlab account and would refuse to open a Github account than there are people who have a Github account and would refuse to open a Gitlab account.

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#13

Is it really necessary to be so personal about this?
Canā€™t blame you for not liking Github. Iā€™d prefer GitLab as well.
But my or your preference are not the important matter here.

Again: Is that necessary? From a single decision to host code to a commercial third party that offers professional services youā€™re judging if they care about FOSS as a whole?
You got the explanation for the move to Github right above - nothing to do with being for FOSS or not.

Why not start your comment with something like:
ā€˜I see a few problems with the decision to go for Githubā€¦ā€™.
Cause there are some that deserve to be discussed. In benevolent way though.

We as community and Jolla would both profit immensely if the discourse was more objective and considerate.

Sorry for going a bit OTā€¦

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#14

For me the Gitlab UI/UX is by far inferior to Github. Tons of bloat due to the paid features.

The core might be open source but there will always be severe tensions with the paid features which pay the bill and establish the valuation. Gitlab a.o. is funded by Google VC money and I donā€™t have to tell you about the ad and privacy violation track record of that company, do I?

Gitlab is not bad (especially the CI part) but donā€™t frame it as such a black/white choice :bone:

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#15

No, itā€™s a long series of decisions over the course of multiple years. Donā€™t worry, itā€™s not just personal preference that cause me to dislike this move.

Anyways, my comments are not going to change the course of a company, especially not Jolla, so Iā€™ll leave it hereā€¦

#16

Itā€™s unfortunate that many people today mix Git and GitHub as if itā€™s the same. But GitHub has become a social network for code and developers, and the defacto standard like Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn in their markets.
Many developers use GitHub as a portfolio and a resume, and companies use it to drive interaction because they assume everyone must have an account there.
I guess itā€™s a more reassuring option for Jolla to go for GitHub, also having Microsoft to back the platform up.

Besides this, itā€™s good thing that Jolla is centralizing their git and repos to a single location. Should be simpler and easier to follow whatā€™s happening in source code and development. :+1:

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#17

Gitlab is a company, not FOSS itself. I use both gitlab and github but prefer github by far. And almost all my source is GPL v3.

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#18

Nonsense. The things that I donā€™t want to be reliant on others for, mail server or web server, for instance, I host myself.

I also host darcs repos and my own fossil servers. But still find github to very useful in a global, collaborative context.

You should go find other ways of spending your time than attacking people for sharing their work.

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#19

I only have a gitlab account because of an old friend asking me to collaborate on a project.

I find gitlab less usable than github. I think gitlab sucks, but, thatā€™s not the point.

The question is can we get https://git.sailfishos.org/groups/mer-core/-/activity created or re-created.

I donā€™t think this is sufficient but https://docs.github.com/en/github/setting-up-and-managing-your-github-profile/showing-an-overview-of-your-activity-on-your-profile

It would help to see the activity under the ā€˜profileā€™ but itā€™s not the same as the ā€˜groupā€™ acitivty page at gitlab.What other ā€˜projectā€™, ā€˜profileā€™ or other metaphor setting might get us to the global activity view.

I really like https://api.github.com/orgs/sailfishos/events maybe I should build an app for. that. now.

1 Like
#20

@PureTryOut, I hope you were aware while ranting against Github.com, that the software stack used at Gitlab.com is not Free Software (ā€œOpen Source Softwareā€), either!
Hence your antipathy should hit Gitlab.com, too.
Even more so, because in terms of recording and evaluating user interactions the company Gitlab.com has shown repeatedly to act with a worse (one may call it ā€œevilā€) mindset than Github.com.

So this is IMO a rather bad suggestion.

And running an own instance of the (feature reduced) Gitlab Free Edition is exactly what Jolla wants get away from.
Understandably so, as that generates quite some maintenance work, which ought to be rather directed into enhancing SailfishOS.

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