Free Software Foundation about the intention to create a new hosting of the code that supports the means for organizing joint development and corresponds to the previously developed free software hosting. The new platform will complement the already existing hosting of the year , maintenance of which will continue without changes. The purpose of creating a new hosting is the desire to solve the problem with the free software development infrastructure. Currently, many free projects depend on collaborative development platforms that do not publish their code and force the use of proprietary software.
The platform is planned to be launched in 2020 and built on the basis of already existing free solutions for organizing work on code, developed by independent communities that are not tied to the interests of individual companies. The decision on the choice of the project has not yet been made, but the main options , ΠΈ , which are actively developed, distributed under free licenses and support two-factor authentication. Solutions focused on the development of projects of individual communities, organizations and companies, such as
, ΠΈ , were not initially considered, since the task is to create a public platform that allows users to create accounts and create their own repositories.
The most likely contender is the Pagure platform, developed by the developers of Fedora Linux. Among the advantages of Pagure is the experience of using the platform for developing open source software, the ability to adapt for use , support for importing and exporting issue reports and merge requests from other systems, the ability to use custom namespaces for projects. Among the shortcomings, there is an excessive dependence on JavaScript and the problematic work without enabling JavaScript in the browser.
The second challenger Gitea is already being used by the European Free Software Foundation in
, and also underpins open source hosting . Of the advantages of Gitea, partial support for LibreJS is called. The disadvantage, as in Pagure, is the dependence on JavaScript, as well as the lack of tools for import / export and project development on the GitHub platform, which requires running non-free JavaScript code.
The Sourcehut platform is good for the ability to fully work without JavaScript, the ease of implementing LibreJS support, the availability of data export tools (import in development), full compliance with category βAβ ethical requirements (see below), the presence of a wiki, a continuous integration system, an email-based discussion system , Mercurial support, and code distribution under the GPLv3 license. The disadvantages are incomplete development (the platform is at the alpha testing stage), complicated navigation through the code and issues, the lack of a web interface for merge requests (a merge request is created by opening a ticket and attaching a link to a branch branch in Git to it).
The GitLab application was immediately rejected. Despite the fact that this platform is very popular, familiar and provides ample opportunities, the project is being developed by a commercial company, to proprietary Google ReCAPTCHA code, doesn't allow LibreJS to be easily supported, has a bad experience collection of telemetry does not comply with the ethical requirements of the Free Software Foundation. When using GitLab, the Free Software Foundation would need to maintain a fork of this platform, but there are no necessary resources for this.
STRs identified by the Foundation requirements for free code hosting (the hosting created by the open source software fund must at least initially correspond to level βBβ, after which it will gradually be brought to level βAβ):
- "C" is the minimum requirements for services that can host GNU projects:
- Availability of all functionality to users of completely free browsers such as IceCat. It is allowed to execute content in other programming languages ββtranslated into JavaScript. The key JavaScript code must either be free or disabled (functionality must be maintained when JavaScript support is disabled in the browser).
- No need to install non-free software to work with the site (for example, Adobe Flash);
- No discrimination depending on the user category and country of residence;
- The ability to work with the service in anonymous mode using the Tor network;
- The terms of work with the service should not contain odious requirements;
- The use of the GPLv3 license should be encouraged and encouraged at least on the same level as other types of licenses;
- Proper HTTPS support, including the use of valid certificates.
- "B" - additional requirements that allow you to recommend the service:
- All JavaScript code sent to the client must be free and tagged for recognition in or explicitly state your license;
- Information about visitors should not be transferred to third parties and third parties. In particular, tags should not be used to track the user's movement between sites, which means avoiding the use of most advertising networks;
- Perverse licensing practices should not be imposed (delivery of code without a license, unclear licensing terms and binding to only one version of the license);
- No recommendation to choose non-free licenses;
- "A" - the highest requirements:
- The site must be fully functional with disabled JavaScript;
- The server components of the service must be distributed as free software;
- The choice of a GPLv3+ license should be offered as a priority for code;
- An AGPLv3+ license must be available as an option;
- Posting products under non-free licenses and without a license should be prohibited;
- Services should not be offered ;
- The term "free software" should be used instead of "open source";
- The ideas of freedom promoted by "β;
- In the context of distributions, the term Linux without the prefix GNU should not be used, i.e. should use GNU/Linux;
- Each non-trivial file in the package must be supplied with information about the license used.
- "A+" - ideal additional wishes:
- Ability to view the site and download without authentication;
- Disabling the saving of information about visitors in the logs;
- Π‘ΠΎΠΎΡΠ²Π΅ΡΡΡΠ²ΠΈΠ΅ on organizing the work of online service providers, developed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation;
- Accessibility of content for people with disabilities, compliance with standards ΠΈ ;
- All data submitted by authors and project participants must be exportable in a machine-readable format.
Source: opennet.ru