[geos-devel] GEOS RFC 10 - Move Project to GitHub

[Howard Butler]

> On Nov 2, 2021, at 5:00 AM, Sandro Santilli <strk at kbt.io> wrote:
> 
> More dependence on single corporation being the only one which can do work on the infrastructure. Anyone can be a contributor on OSGeo
> infrastructure so "only they can do" is a misleading picture, as if "they" would not be all of us...

Things have been broken recently. Broken in a way that hampers activity in a project that doesn’t see tons of it. Certs have needed updating, docker containers aren’t running, ci is not connected, etc. What points where and how it all currently works is super confusing, especially to an outsider. It’s been in a state of flux and there’s no way to self-service it if all you want to do is make commits, get them tested, and close tickets. To say that “anyone” can be a contributor and go stick their arm up the cow and fix it is all well and fine, but in practicality, that’s not true. Only you and Regina know. You aren’t always available, and you shouldn’t have to be either.

Doing the expected thing can provide lots of value. GitHub in 2021 is the expected thing, but GEOS doesn’t do it. It uses the project infrastructure that you and Regina want, and when we wish to move to something expected, we are told we are not volunteering hard enough to fix up the infrastructure you want for political reasons that have nothing to do with the daily activity of making commits, passing tests, and closing GEOS tickets. That GEOS exists and is used everywhere is enough of a political act we have all supported. We don’t need to burden the project with another set of flags that must be waived. 

> On Nov 2, 2021, at 8:12 AM, Regina Obe <lr at pcorp.us> wrote:
> 
> One thing I would never agree to for PostGIS cause it just opens the flood gets for rando people to complain about how some piece doesn't work for them (whether it's packaging, I can't install, please help me do this, blah blah),


Not all of the developers have the contempt for the unwashed masses that you do. The only way a project grows new contributors is to provide a path for them. GEOS using GitHub, which they’re already familiar with, means they won't start at a very bespoke bottom. 

We’ve done it your way for quite a while, and after doing so, we’re asking for GitHub. If GitHub’s so terrible, we can migrate away to something else. 

Howard