Lots of free software projects these days are hosted on version control platforms like github.com for instance. So I believe these platforms have already taken over the role of FSF in being a repository for free software projects.
Following this thread, I want to ask you all if you think FSF is able and of course willing to host such a project. In my opinion FSF maybe have little resources for regaining the marketshare of github.com and other similar systems. Kind regards, Kees Epema On Tue, 4 Apr 2017 12:15:08 +0200 Nicolás A. Ortega <[email protected]> wrote: > I am unsure if this is the correct list to talk about this, but > considering the description it's what made most sense. > > Recently on #gnu (freenode) someone joined the channel looking for > guidance. They were saying that they wanted to start contributing to a > Free Software project, but they were having difficulty thinking of where > to start. Of course, they were given the GNU Savannah 'Help Wanted' > page, and told that they should find a software that they currently use > that they would like to contribute to. > > This kind of question arises every now and then on #fsf (freenode) as > well, and even other channels. Someone is eager to help the community > and contribute to a free software project, but does not know where to > begin. And it's easy for us to say "find something you already use and > contribute to it", however this is not as easy as we make it out to be. > To begin with most people (as we know) run a large variety of software > on their computers, many of which are complex and have a very large code > base. What's more, we must all be familiar (through convincing our peers > to use Free Software) that too many options is just as scary as too few. > And even when they do try to find a project to get involved in the > questions arise of "do I have the skills?", "where exactly do they need > help?", "I don't have the time to contribute a lot, can I be a casual > contributor?", etc. Yes, these are things that they could really just > ask the maintainers of the project and the maintainer would be more than > happy to show them the way, however for someone who is new to > contributing to Free Software projects this isn't as obvious. > > Something that I really liked when considering GNU Savannah for hosting > one of my projects was that it had a 'Help Wanted' page (which I > mentioned above). To me that is a great feature that allows new > contributors to find a project that is looking for help, and it even > answers a lot of the questions that I mentioned above that go through > the newcomer's mind ("do I have the skills?", mostly). However, GNU > Savannah has two flaws in this regard: 1. It's only for projects hosted > on GNU Savannah, other projects hosted elsewhere should also be able to > ask for contributors, 2. A lot of the information on GNU Savannah's > 'Help Wanted' page is outdated. > > Therefore I would suggest creating a site (it would be nice if it were > linked to by the FSF) where any Free Software project can post a notice > asking for help (similar to what GNU Savannah has) and visitors can > respond. However, unlike GNU Savannah there should be two improvements > (at least): 1. To avoid a bunch of outdated information these posts > should be renewed every so often (making it easy, like responding to an > e-mail for renewal, may be a good idea), 2. These posts should contain > visible contact information, the visitor should not need to create an > account in order to see the contact information (believe it or not > creating accounts discourages many people). > > Things like this already exist, I know, however they tend to be tied to > a certain repository host, overflowing with outdated information, or in > general simply not given the attention they need to thrive and be a > hot-spot for contributors to find projects. I think that with the FSF > behind such a project it would help the Free Software community to take > advantage of all of these people who are eager to contribute but trying > to find a good place to start. > > -- > Nicolás A. Ortega (Deathsbreed) > https://themusicinnoise.net/ > http://uk7ewohr7xpjuaca.onion/ > Public PGP Key: > https://themusicinnoise.net/[email protected]_pub.asc > http://uk7ewohr7xpjuaca.onion/[email protected]_pub.asc --- Groet, Kees Epema Rosa Spierweg 20 9408EV Assen T: 06 100 66 878 M: [email protected] Protect your privacy and encrypt your messages. Add my key to your keyring: PGP key: http://osmigratie.nl/keesepema.asc
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