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

[Ian Turton]

I would suspect that switching to gitlab would not be sufficient as it is
still with in the USA and would be subject to the same restrictions. Also
if self-hosting we will need to make sure it outside the USA.

There is also a suggestion that China could be added to the list of
"banned" countries too.
https://www.abacusnews.com/digital-life/chinese-developers-fear-losing-open-source-tech-trade-war/article/3011463
 While
this article suggests that no open source code is affected
https://www.abacusnews.com/digital-life/github-says-chinese-developers-are-safe-export-restrictions/article/3012452

Ian

On Thu, 1 Aug 2019 at 09:35, Andreas Neumann <a.neumann at carto.net> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Thanks for bringing up this discussion.
>
> My personal opinion is that we should be worried by such development and
> should have a plan B for hosting our code.
>
> We certainly want QGIS and its source code to be available world wide,
> not just to parts of the world at the mercy of some governments and
> corporations.
>
> But the decision to move away from github should be discussed and voted
> on by the core devs and voting members because apparently it has a lot
> of implications and a lot of work went into the CI integration
> (according to some devs).
>
> We already have 10k € in the 2019 budget for github to gitlab (hosted or
> self hosted?) migration. This money would already be available this
> year, but first we need to have a plan and the support of the developer
> community to do this step. If this isn't enough, we can have additional
> budget in 2020.
>
> Greetings,
>
> Andreas
>
>
> Am 01.08.19 um 09:37 schrieb 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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-- 
Ian Turton
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