Netlabs.org on Github

[Martin Iturbide]

Hi

I have several things on my mind that sometimes I don't discuss because I'm scared of getting trolled. But I guess I can no longer live in fear 

One of the things that had been on the drawer is the versioning tool in Netlabs.org (TRAC SVN). Long time ago I had chatted with Adrian (Netlabs) and asked him that we should try to update the trac system. But he told me (not his exact words) that with great free services that are available online like github and others, it does not make sense the efforts to maintain the script, all the updates, upgrades and server maintenance. After thinking about that, I think he is right.

Adrian created a netlabsorg organization in github and he gave me access to create repositories and give access to users. (Also long time ago)

The final word is:

If there is a developer interested on moving from the netlabs SVN, to github, or creating a new OS/2 related open project, and still want his project to be under the Netlabs.org organization, please let me know.

Also, for non open source but collaborative projects for OS/2 drivers, that are sadly govern by the IBM DDK license, I can create private repositories  in github with exclusive access to developers.

Regards

[Andi B.]

In the past I've created some projects at bitbucket.org cause I wanted GIT instead SVN. As you said Adrian made clear years ago that he don't want to add git repositories at his server. My choice for bitbucket was made cause -

- at that time bitbucket was fully functional with our browsers in contrary to github
- I try to avoid MS were I can
- I knew Atlassian before

Maybe today I would take a closer look at sourceforge or gitlab.

Anyway personally I need full control over software repository I participate. We know Adrian has done a tremendous good job with netlabs in the past. But the last years I got the impression he could not spend the time necessary to run netlabs the way it would deserve. Sometimes he answers to emails immediately but sometimes he don't answer at all. So if we start projects at https://github.com/orgs/netlabsorg I think we need more than one admin.

Other thoughts?

[Martin Iturbide]

Hi Andi B.

So if we start projects at https://github.com/orgs/netlabsorg I think we need more than one admin.

Actually on github we have two owners on the Netlabsorg organization, Adrian and myself, so there are some options there. Also the main developer will be the owner of his own repository.

Just in case, I'm only posting the option for the one that still wants to do some projects under the Netlabs umbrella, since everybody can just create repositories at will on github.

Regards

[Dave Yeo]

On the one hand, Github sorta works with our old browsers. On the other hand, it is now owned by Microsoft and a lot of developers don't like it and it seems gitlab is popular.
I started using Bitbucket because I needed something that supported Mercurial, and Bitbucket was one of the very few choices and it worked fine, though slow. Then Atlassian bought it. Things were mostly fine, then I couldn't upload builds of Mozilla anymore, even with Linux or falling back to their API and Curl. Then the worst was, with lots of notice, they not only dropped Mercurial support, but deleted everything. All my Mozilla repositories gone. I moved much of it and converted my Mercurial repositories to Git but it really left a bad taste in my mouth, they could have set everything to read only instead of deleting who knows how many repositories.
I also tried Sourceforge again with a test repository. They insisted on 2 factor login, which was fine, had an app on my phone and just had to copy a 4 digit number. Then I changed phones, didn't think of exporting the stuff from the 2 factor app and lost access to my account. Their response was nothing they could do, no way to reset things and the only way forward was to start over with a new account, which I never got around to.
My takeaway is that hosting services can't be trusted, especially using the free tier and the best thing is to have multiple repositories. One wonderful thing with Git (and Mercurial) is you have a copy of the whole repository locally. Hear of SVN servers going down and all the meta-data is gone. With Git, it is easy to clone everything and have backups.
With that in mind, Github works. Hopefully Martin has copies of all those repositories he has created.

[Andi B.]

I also tried Sourceforge again with a test repository. They insisted on 2 factor login, ...

My old souceforge login works as it did years before. Only email/password from the browser. No app, no sms, no verification code...., as simple as it could be.

Just found in my user preferences 'Multifactor authentication is currently disabled. How to use Multifactor authentication'.

But of course you're right. You can't trust any cloud provider. That's also one of the main reasons why I switched to git (from svn).

[Martin Iturbide]

With that in mind, Github works. Hopefully Martin has copies of all those repositories he has created.

It reminds me that I need to upload a update github backup on Archive.org. I have a backup in my HDD for the projects on OS2World, but I also try to upload a second backup on Archive.org.

Regards

[Martin Iturbide]

Hi

Now that I had uploaded my OS2World Github backup to Archive.org I would like to reply 

My option had been for Github because it's simplicity before it got bought by Microsoft. It was very easy for me to use that git and upload the source code not being a developer. I had only tested it against bitbucket and sourceforge, and I still prefer it. If someday Microsoft starts to cripple the service, delete files or anything funky, that will be mark the time to move on and I also have a backup on my HDD and Archive.org (public).

So this is only an option for any developer that still want to continue the development under the netlabs organization. The developer of the project is the one that has all the power to choose.

Regards