Re: [Xenomai] [RFC] Service hosting for Xenomai

[Henning Schild <henning.schild@siemens.com>]

Am Thu, 23 Nov 2017 12:42:08 +0100
schrieb Philippe Gerum <rpm@xenomai.org>:

> On 11/22/2017 09:27 PM, Jan Kiszka wrote:
> > On 2017-11-22 16:32, Philippe Gerum wrote:  
> >>
> >> Hi Kendall,
> >>
> >> On 11/21/2017 08:27 PM, Auel, Kendall wrote:  
> >>> Hi Philippe,
> >>>
> >>> Is there an online bug tracking and feature request database?
> >>> This would be a useful way to distribute work and to sync up
> >>> contributors. I think the kernel uses Bugzilla, and Ubuntu has
> >>> Launchpad. No doubt there are many others.
> >>>
> >>> I'd like to contribute in some way. I've been having a lot of fun
> >>> as a Xenomai user. 
> >> We don't have that unfortunately. As suggested by several posters,
> >> moving to a git-based, integrated development framework such as
> >> gitlab or github would bring in that feature, and others we need
> >> too (CI).
> >>
> >> I have no issue moving the project from the current git server at
> >> xenomai.org to any of these environments.
> >>  
> > 
> > If it helps the community to grow, I would not refuse such a move.
> > But I would like to raise some concerns about platforms like github
> > or gitlab that we must be aware of:
> > 
> > - lacking integration with email-based workflows (while kernel
> >   development tends to be based on that...)
> > 
> > - risk of decoupling communities when parts of the discussions
> > happen on tickets or PRs and parts in mailing list threads
> > 
> > Therefore, most projects I manage on github and in our internal
> > gitlab have clear policies like "no emails, only tickets and PRs"
> > or "no PRs, only patches on the mailing list". Even just using the
> > issue tracker to keep some to-do list requires discipline to direct
> > discussions consequently to a mailing list if that exists as well
> > (and that usually does not work very well).
> > 
> > IOW: we need to be clear in what we want a platform for - and what
> > not. 
> 
> Forking the original thread to get input from the list specifically
> regarding the idea of moving GIT services from xenomai.org to a public
> software development platform.
> 
> As Jan mentioned, there is more than having GIT underneath, there are
> deep implications on the workflow, and it really depends on what we'd
> want from such platform. If you have any thought, recommendation,
> experience with those platforms in your daily work, it would be great
> to know your views.

Jan is absolutely right here. Before moving to github (or something
alike) you need to set groundrules for how to deal with PRs, issues and
all the stuff that you suddenly gain.

I think Xenomai could benefit from issue tracking and CI, not sure
whether we need github for that. The CI they offer is docker-based and
we would likely want something more powerful. But i guess you could
always use docker to remote control AWS or real hardware.

github sucks at routing mails. My github account is shared between my
work and personal stuff but i do not star/watch any work related
projects because i do not want the notifications in my personal inbox.

commitment to github etc. is likely to cause sort of a vendor lock-in.
I am sure the APIs can be used to extract some information, but will you
get something that you can import into your own gitlab or track later
on? As long as we only use git-hosting and CI from them that would not
be too much of a problem.

Henning

> Thanks,
>