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

[Nyall Dawson]

Hi list,

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?

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