On Tuesday, July 24, 2012, Sumana Harihareswara wrote: > Basically, I'm thinking, let's not put so many of our eggs in the GitHub > basket. GitHub is fine for FLOSS projects with fewer than a hundred > repositories, ones that don't already have several communications > channels, ones where privacy is less of a concern, or ones that don't > run the sixth biggest website in the world practically right off trunk. > But we have and will have so many strange, unforeseen needs that we > should keep certain key operations on servers that we run and can hack > at will. > > We do need a GitHub strategy -- to make our projects more discoverable, > make use of more contributions, and participate in the GitHub > reputational economy. So we must figure out the right ways to mirror > and sync. But I doubt our own long-term needs would work well with > using GitHub as our main platform. > > [0] https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=38196 > [1] https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=35497 > [2] https://github.com/site/terms > [3] http://developer.github.com/ > > > (Thanks to Chad and RobLa for talking through much of this with me.) > > -- > Sumana Harihareswara > Engineering Community Manager > Wikimedia Foundation
But do we have a plan for improving Gerrit in a substantial way? I can get behind the decision to use a currently substandard tool in order to preserve Wikimedia's long term freedom. But to stick with Gerrit, we must have a plan for fixing it that does not simply declare that the ability to make changes means that the magic FOSS fairy will make it so. I don't know what it would take -- maybe a weekend in SF where we invite every Java and Prolog expert we can find? Paying a contractor or two to make the necessary fixes? This isn't just about attracting scores of new volunteers or having a "reputational economy". It's a push for change driven by the fact that Gerrit seriously undercuts developer productivity and happiness. When we've got so many difficult, ambitious projects under way, I think those are two things we should be prioritizing. By that measuring stick, Gerrit fails miserably and GitHub is a winner. Steven > _______________________________________________ > Wikitech-l mailing list > [email protected] <javascript:;> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l > _______________________________________________ Wikitech-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
