From jeroen.ticheler at geocat.com Thu Jul 2 12:36:00 2026 From: jeroen.ticheler at geocat.com (Jeroen Ticheler) Date: Thu, 2 Jul 2026 22:36:00 +0300 Subject: [OSGeo-Discuss] How OSGeo can work better with government policy (and as a foundation) Message-ID: Dear all, At FOSS4G Europe 2026 in Timisoara we held a Birds of a Feather session on how OSGeo can improve its structure to benefit from, and contribute to policies at national and European level. We started with money. OSGeo?s funding needs to change if the foundation is to stay healthy, both as a community and financially. Much of the talk was about the need for a clear membership and sponsorship plan that sets out the options for individuals, organisations, and businesses. They need different ways to give back or contribute. Sponsoring works well for a business, while membership fits a university, an NGO, a city, or another government body better. This matters, because staying stable over time will likely need paid staff, and staff need steady income. Now that OSGeo establishes a legal entity in Europe, we can also join funding calls as a partner. One example is the call ?A services and business incubator for geospatial open-source developments ?, which we applied to last April and are still waiting to hear back on. The group also saw a need for a clear framework on how you work with the foundation. Conference organisers should know what OSGeo expects and what it gives back, whether they run a global, regional, or local FOSS4G event. We intend to write memorandum of understanding templates, so that running a FOSS4G becomes a better established link with OSGeo rather than an open ended one. There was a call for the board to be clear about its priorities and about how community members can take part. The call was also for the board to lead and take decisions; that?s why we were elected. This is taken to heart. One suggestion is to set up a project board on a git repository. Community members can then pick up work in the open, with the priorities visible to all. I?ll make sure to follow up on that. Better funding connects these points. With a stronger budget, OSGeo could bring in paid staff for policy work (e.g. CRA, AI act), relations, community support, and outreach, including running and coordinating conferences. People strongly asked to simplify OSGeo?s systems. There are too many places where information lives, and it is hard to find the right one. The room welcomed the board?s work to bring this together into one new website, built on a git repository the community can help maintain. The move to a single sign-on system was welcomed too. Social media still needs the same cleanup, since it is spread across too many channels. If you want to help with the funding plan, the conference rules, or the cleanup, watch for this space, and join in when we shares next steps. If you want to read more on The future of OSGeo, check the discussion paper . Thanks for reading! Jeroen Ticheler President of the board of directors of OSGeo -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jeroen.ticheler at geocat.com Thu Jul 2 12:32:37 2026 From: jeroen.ticheler at geocat.com (Jeroen Ticheler) Date: Thu, 2 Jul 2026 22:32:37 +0300 Subject: [OSGeo-Discuss] Using AI in OSGeo projects - Notes from the Timisoara BoF Message-ID: <0BC21A88-FA65-4A2D-B288-23A6C44DC1F7@geocat.com> Dear all, At FOSS4G Europe 2026 in Timisoara (Romania) we held a Birds of a Feather session on the use of AI in OSGeo projects. Around 25 to 30 people joined, including many core developers who are well respected in our community. Opinions in the room were strong and differed a lot, which was the point. We wanted to hear from people who use AI in their work and from people who have concerns or bad experiences, and would rather block AI contributions completely. The problem is clear. Some projects now get many AI-generated pull requests that land on the desks of a few core reviewers. They cannot keep up. A lot of these PRs are long and give no useful reason for the change. The tone can be pushy and cold. On top of that, there is little human to human discussion behind these PRs, which makes the whole process feel inhuman from the start. When this keeps happening, trust drops, people feel worn down, and conflict becomes more likely, because they hold different technical and ethical standards. People shared their own stories We heard what it is like to get an anonymous PR with no real person behind it, where the sender seems to have done little more than press submit. We also heard positive experiences, where developers have taught AI tools their own coding style and review habits, then used those tools in two ways. One is to write new code that is hard to tell apart from your own. The other is to fight fire with fire: let AI check incoming PR?s and reject the ones that ignore the project rules, so those never reach a human. We also talked about newcomers. Many students and young developers learned to code with AI from the start. Do they know enough to contribute well, and how will they learn to write the kind of code an OSGeo project needs? The room saw a link with earlier changes, like the move to new programming languages. Each time the needed skills changed, and each time people adapted. A call on tone and community The first outcome was a call to be careful with the way we talk to each other. If we lose respect and stop being a welcoming community, the harm lasts longer than any single PR. *We are in this together.* AI-assisted coding is here to stay, and it also opens doors, for example for people who do not code but want to help once good guardrails exist. The room agreed on this and backed it. A call to build shared AI practices The second outcome was a call to start a new OSGeo effort where developers build shared skills, agents, and contribution practices that any project can use. This is not about copying one person?s style. We have not yet decided if this should sit at OSGeo level or inside each project. If you code with AI or review PRs, we want you involved and I invite you to start the conversation here on our discuss list or on our Discourse General channel. Thanks for reading! Jeroen Ticheler President of the board of directors of OSGeo From even.rouault at spatialys.com Sat Jul 4 12:03:54 2026 From: even.rouault at spatialys.com (Even Rouault) Date: Sat, 4 Jul 2026 21:03:54 +0200 Subject: [OSGeo-Discuss] Using AI in OSGeo projects - Notes from the Timisoara BoF In-Reply-To: <0BC21A88-FA65-4A2D-B288-23A6C44DC1F7@geocat.com> References: <0BC21A88-FA65-4A2D-B288-23A6C44DC1F7@geocat.com> Message-ID: Hi, At the conference I've also noticed one side effect of LLMs on community building. I've discovered a new team of developers creating a new project around one of our historic project, sometimes working around its behavior instead of trying to improve it at the source, and living in their own bubble with little incentive to participate to the main project since their oracle apparently saves them from human interactions. That kind of situation of course could have happened before, but use of LLM technologies is likely to favor that type of community split. There's some parallel to draw with what happened with Tailwind (https://www.businessinsider.com/tailwind-engineer-layoffs-ai-github-2026-1) that has been cut off from most of its users because of LLM interposition. Even Le 02/07/2026 ? 21:32, Jeroen Ticheler via Discuss a ?crit?: > Dear all, > > At FOSS4G Europe 2026 in Timisoara (Romania) we held a Birds of a Feather session on the use of AI in OSGeo projects. Around 25 to 30 people joined, including many core developers who are well respected in our community. > > Opinions in the room were strong and differed a lot, which was the point. We wanted to hear from people who use AI in their work and from people who have concerns or bad experiences, and would rather block AI contributions completely. > > The problem is clear. Some projects now get many AI-generated pull requests that land on the desks of a few core reviewers. They cannot keep up. A lot of these PRs are long and give no useful reason for the change. The tone can be pushy and cold. On top of that, there is little human to human discussion behind these PRs, which makes the whole process feel inhuman from the start. When this keeps happening, trust drops, people feel worn down, and conflict becomes more likely, because they hold different technical and ethical standards. > > People shared their own stories > > We heard what it is like to get an anonymous PR with no real person behind it, where the sender seems to have done little more than press submit. > > We also heard positive experiences, where developers have taught AI tools their own coding style and review habits, then used those tools in two ways. One is to write new code that is hard to tell apart from your own. The other is to fight fire with fire: let AI check incoming PR?s and reject the ones that ignore the project rules, so those never reach a human. > > We also talked about newcomers. Many students and young developers learned to code with AI from the start. Do they know enough to contribute well, and how will they learn to write the kind of code an OSGeo project needs? The room saw a link with earlier changes, like the move to new programming languages. Each time the needed skills changed, and each time people adapted. > > A call on tone and community > > The first outcome was a call to be careful with the way we talk to each other. If we lose respect and stop being a welcoming community, the harm lasts longer than any single PR. *We are in this together.* AI-assisted coding is here to stay, and it also opens doors, for example for people who do not code but want to help once good guardrails exist. The room agreed on this and backed it. > > A call to build shared AI practices > > The second outcome was a call to start a new OSGeo effort where developers build shared skills, agents, and contribution practices that any project can use. This is not about copying one person?s style. We have not yet decided if this should sit at OSGeo level or inside each project. > > If you code with AI or review PRs, we want you involved and I invite you to start the conversation here on our discuss list or on our Discourse General channel. > > Thanks for reading! > > Jeroen Ticheler > > President of the board of directors of OSGeo > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > Discuss at lists.osgeo.org > https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss -- http://www.spatialys.com My software is free, but my time generally not. LLMs contribute to global warming and brain rot From even.rouault at spatialys.com Sun Jul 5 14:33:18 2026 From: even.rouault at spatialys.com (Even Rouault) Date: Sun, 5 Jul 2026 23:33:18 +0200 Subject: [OSGeo-Discuss] Using AI in OSGeo projects - Notes from the Timisoara BoF In-Reply-To: References: <0BC21A88-FA65-4A2D-B288-23A6C44DC1F7@geocat.com> Message-ID: And sorry but "AI-assisted coding is here to stay" deeply goes into my throat. That might be the actual outcome, but it fucking sucks. I hope open source communities could resist more to that foolish trend that has so many adversarial consequences on the whole society. Making coding easier seems to be really futile. Le 04/07/2026 ? 21:03, Even Rouault via Discuss a ?crit?: > Hi, > > At the conference I've also noticed one side effect of LLMs on > community building. I've discovered a new team of developers creating > a new project around one of our historic project, sometimes working > around its behavior instead of trying to improve it at the source, and > living in their own bubble with little incentive to participate to the > main project since their oracle apparently saves them from human > interactions. That kind of situation of course could have happened > before, but use of LLM technologies is likely to favor that type of > community split. > > There's some parallel to draw with what happened with Tailwind > (https://www.businessinsider.com/tailwind-engineer-layoffs-ai-github-2026-1) > that has been cut off from most of its users because of LLM > interposition. > > Even > > Le 02/07/2026 ? 21:32, Jeroen Ticheler via Discuss a ?crit?: >> Dear all, >> >> At FOSS4G Europe 2026 in Timisoara (Romania) we held a Birds of a >> Feather session on the use of AI in OSGeo projects. Around 25 to 30 >> people joined, including many core developers who are well respected >> in our community. >> >> Opinions in the room were strong and differed a lot, which was the >> point. We wanted to hear from people who use AI in their work and >> from people who have concerns or bad experiences, and would rather >> block AI contributions completely. >> >> The problem is clear. Some projects now get many AI-generated pull >> requests that land on the desks of a few core reviewers. They cannot >> keep up. A lot of these PRs are long and give no useful reason for >> the change. The tone can be pushy and cold. On top of that, there is >> little human to human discussion behind these PRs, which makes the >> whole process feel inhuman from the start. When this keeps happening, >> trust drops, people feel worn down, and conflict becomes more likely, >> because they hold different technical and ethical standards. >> >> People shared their own stories >> >> We heard what it is like to get an anonymous PR with no real person >> behind it, where the sender seems to have done little more than press >> submit. >> >> We also heard positive experiences, where developers have taught AI >> tools their own coding style and review habits, then used those tools >> in two ways. One is to write new code that is hard to tell apart from >> your own. The other is to fight fire with fire: let AI check incoming >> PR?s and reject the ones that ignore the project rules, so those >> never reach a human. >> >> We also talked about newcomers. Many students and young developers >> learned to code with AI from the start. Do they know enough to >> contribute well, and how will they learn to write the kind of code an >> OSGeo project needs? The room saw a link with earlier changes, like >> the move to new programming languages. Each time the needed skills >> changed, and each time people adapted. >> >> A call on tone and community >> >> The first outcome was a call to be careful with the way we talk to >> each other. If we lose respect and stop being a welcoming community, >> the harm lasts longer than any single PR. *We are in this together.* >> AI-assisted coding is here to stay, and it also opens doors, for >> example for people who do not code but want to help once good >> guardrails exist. The room agreed on this and backed it. >> >> A call to build shared AI practices >> >> The second outcome was a call to start a new OSGeo effort where >> developers build shared skills, agents, and contribution practices >> that any project can use. This is not about copying one person?s >> style. We have not yet decided if this should sit at OSGeo level or >> inside each project. >> >> If you code with AI or review PRs, we want you involved and I invite >> you to start the conversation here on our discuss list or on our >> Discourse General channel. >> >> Thanks for reading! >> >> Jeroen Ticheler >> >> President of the board of directors of OSGeo >> _______________________________________________ >> Discuss mailing list >> Discuss at lists.osgeo.org >> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss > -- http://www.spatialys.com My software is free, but my time generally not. LLMs contribute to global warming and brain rot From jeroen.ticheler at geocat.com Sun Jul 5 15:52:48 2026 From: jeroen.ticheler at geocat.com (Jeroen Ticheler) Date: Mon, 6 Jul 2026 00:52:48 +0200 Subject: [OSGeo-Discuss] Using AI in OSGeo projects - Notes from the Timisoara BoF In-Reply-To: References: <0BC21A88-FA65-4A2D-B288-23A6C44DC1F7@geocat.com> Message-ID: Hi Even, I get that feeling. Facing what is happening convinces me that we should now focus on keeping relationships between community members healthy. That needs an open discussion about the challenges and opportunities faced, with respect for the different opinions. We are in this together. Thanks, Jeroen > On 5 Jul 2026, at 23:33, Even Rouault wrote: > > And sorry but "AI-assisted coding is here to stay" deeply goes into my throat. That might be the actual outcome, but it fucking sucks. I hope open source communities could resist more to that foolish trend that has so many adversarial consequences on the whole society. Making coding easier seems to be really futile. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: