[QGIS-Developer] On github, gitlab, and imperialist nations screwing us all over...

[Vincent Picavet (ml)]

Hi Nyall, all,

On 01/08/2019 06:26, Nyall Dawson wrote:
> Well, I've got to say upfront that we WERE warned about the dangers of
> this happening by members of our community, and now the worst IS
> happening and Github has started blocking access to projects from
> certain regions.
> 
> See https://www.linuxinsider.com/story/86154.html, but long story
> short, GitHub is now blocking users in Crimea, Cuba, Iran, North Korea
> and Syria from accessing its services to comply with U.S. trade
> control laws. I'm unsure if we're directly affected yet by this, but
> the wording on Github's notice is very vague: " GitHub MAY allow users
> in or ordinarily resident in countries and territories subject to U.S.
> sanctions to access CERTAIN free GitHub.com services for PERSONAL
> COMMUNICATIONS " (emphasis added by me).
> 
> What can/should we do in response to this?

While the impact of this decision is still very minor for us right now,
as you say it is a very good illustration on how putting us in a vendor
lock-in situation is bad.

I would say that it is not too late to re-work on a self-hosted GitLab
instance, which would be more future-proof. That would need a great deal
of efforts though, and would require specific funding for the
forthcoming non-funny tasks.

At Oslandia, we would be willing to help, if it is the path chosen by
the community.

A Git mirror would be great of course, but does not solve the full problem.

And personally, this kind of attack against free information and
knowledge is a concern, for sure.

Best regards,
Vincent

> 
> Note that it ALSO applies to gitlab.com, who are also subject to the
> same trade laws, so moving to gitlab ISN'T a possible solution (unless
> we self-host).
> 
> I think at the least we could/should endorse an official, read-only
> repo mirror which isn't affected by the trade laws, e.g.
> https://git.osgeo.org/gitea/qgis/QGIS would be a great candidate
> (unless osgeo is also affected by the same ruling, which they could
> easily be, given that they are US based too) . An official mirror
> would at least ensure that users in these regions can access the
> existing source.
> 
> Does this development concern anyone else?
> 
> Nyall
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