The next GPL: Why it's being shaped on GitHub (InfoWorld)

Posted Jul 6, 2012 16:44 UTC (Fri) by rfontana (subscriber, #52677)
In reply to: The next GPL: Why it's being shaped on GitHub (InfoWorld) by rahulsundaram
Parent article: The next GPL: Why it's being shaped on GitHub (InfoWorld)

The timeline of the project is uncertain, but let's just say there's no rush.

The immediate roadmap is to somehow convince Bradley Kuhn to get involved even though he is morally opposed to Github. At the moment there is no other roadmap.

The eventual goal of the project is to produce a free, strong copyleft license, suitable for software and, perhaps, non-software works.

The next GPL: Why it's being shaped on GitHub (InfoWorld)

Posted Jul 6, 2012 16:46 UTC (Fri) by hadess (subscriber, #24252) [Link] (12 responses)

Wouldn't the easy fix to move to gitorious? Similar functionality, but "Free Software".

The next GPL: Why it's being shaped on GitHub (InfoWorld)

Posted Jul 6, 2012 17:01 UTC (Fri) by rahulsundaram (subscriber, #21946) [Link] (1 responses)

Yes, indeed. Setting up a gitorious mirror for the project or even making it the primary instance with a github mirror is easy enough and if it gets more people involved, especially those who have a keen interest and experience in Free software licensing like bkuhn, then it makes it worth the effort.

The next GPL: Why it's being shaped on GitHub (InfoWorld)

Posted Jul 7, 2012 15:25 UTC (Sat) by rfontana (subscriber, #52677) [Link]

I plan to follow Rahul's suggestion (which I believe will be agreeable to bkuhn) of making Gitorious the primary public instance with a GitHub mirror. See: https://github.com/richardfontana/GPL.next/issues/6#issue...

The next GPL: Why it's being shaped on GitHub (InfoWorld)

Posted Jul 6, 2012 17:36 UTC (Fri) by webmink (guest, #47180) [Link] (8 responses)

Does Gitorious have an integrated issue tracker? I didn't see one instantly, and for a non-code project, that's a key element as it allows focussed discussion rather than the free-ranging meta-trolling that arises in discussion venues for contentious topics.

The next GPL: Why it's being shaped on GitHub (InfoWorld)

Posted Jul 6, 2012 18:01 UTC (Fri) by michel (subscriber, #10186) [Link]

free-ranging meta-trolling: I very much like that description.

standing up for one's own software freedom is "free range meta-trolling"?

Posted Jul 6, 2012 18:24 UTC (Fri) by bkuhn (subscriber, #58642) [Link] (4 responses)

webmink, are you seriously arguing that if someone says: I don't want to have to use proprietary software just to participate in this community, that they are free-range meta-trolling?

What if you invited me to speak at a conference and said I had to give my presentation using a Mac running OSX? I know that's your preferred laptop, but would you call me a free-range meta-troll for criticizing that requirement?

BTW, Fontana has admitted that the issue tracker on GitHub is inadequate for the needs of issue tracking for a license, so even your expedient “prefer proprietary software when it's technically better” argument fails here, at least according to Fontana.

Fontana and I would probably both agree that the right issue tracker for a license doesn't clearly exist yet. Orion and I designed stet for texts that are “like legislation”: a document already nearly complete that needed public input. Co-Ment is stet's AGPL'd intellectual heir, but it isn't the right fit for a license text in high flux.

I've asked Fontana to draw up a feature set for what an issue tracker needs to have for license development. I'm happy to be part of the solution and help create one. But in the meantime while that doesn't exist, why is a proprietary solution substandard for the task being used?

standing up for one's own software freedom is "free range meta-trolling"?

Posted Jul 6, 2012 19:18 UTC (Fri) by k8to (guest, #15413) [Link]

That's not at all what he's saying. He's saying that unfocused venues lead to nonsense.

standing up for one's own software freedom is "free range meta-trolling"?

Posted Jul 6, 2012 20:54 UTC (Fri) by webmink (guest, #47180) [Link] (1 responses)

What k8to said. Cool it. I was not talking about you at all.

standing up for one's own software freedom is "free range meta-trolling"?

Posted Jul 7, 2012 1:28 UTC (Sat) by bkuhn (subscriber, #58642) [Link]

Sorry if I misunderstood; since I'm the one who suggested switching to Gitorious, I wasn't sure who else you could mean.

But, regardless, that still leaves the question: is a known-to-be-inadequate proprietary issue tracker solving any problems here? We don't have what's needed, that's clear, so we just use inadequate proprietary software? This seems deeply wrong-headed to me for a project that seeks to write a license to uphold software freedom.

standing up for one's own software freedom is "free range meta-trolling"?

Posted Jul 8, 2012 5:02 UTC (Sun) by jra (subscriber, #55261) [Link]

> What if you invited me to speak at a conference and said I had to give my presentation using a Mac running OSX?

I was faced with that very dilemma. I told them (Apple) to bugger off :-).

http://www.samba.org/samba/news/articles/low_point/column...

The next GPL: Why it's being shaped on GitHub (InfoWorld)

Posted Jul 7, 2012 1:25 UTC (Sat) by lkundrak (subscriber, #43452) [Link] (1 responses)

Is there anything in the world that sucks more than the GitHub bug tracker?

GitHub Issue Tracker

Posted Jul 7, 2012 12:53 UTC (Sat) by man_ls (guest, #15091) [Link]

Plenty of things suck more. Github's tracker is minimalistic but it has three good features:

it does not speak about "bugs" but about "issues";
issues can be closed and reopened effortlessly;
comments can be added keeping the whole history.

But alas, it is not practical for any kind of software, so no wonder it is useless for license discussions.

The next GPL: Why it's being shaped on GitHub (InfoWorld)

Posted Jul 7, 2012 14:39 UTC (Sat) by liw (subscriber, #6379) [Link]

Blatant advertising follows.

Instead of a pure git hosting site, you might also consider a git-based wiki, such as one hosted by Branchable (http://www.branchable.com/), which additionally runs purely on free software (some of it AGPL licensed, too).

The wiki software, Ikiwiki (http://ikiwiki.info/) is powerful, and while it is not a full issue tracker, it provides tools to have a reasonable one; see http://ikiwiki.info/bugs/ for an example.

(I am partly responsible for Branchable; the software is by Joey Hess.)