Re: git-version-gen not working with Savannah/cgit snapshots

[G. Branden Robinson]

[dropped Bruno and bug-gnulib from distribution, added Werner]

At 2022-06-25T17:45:01-0500, Dave Kemper wrote:
> On 6/19/22, G. Branden Robinson <g.branden.robinson@gmail.com> wrote:
> > I think that if GNU doesn't have the infrastructure or personnel to
> > support these, then, yes, the Savannah administrators should fork (or
> > just patch) cgit to the extent necessary to suppress the exposure of
> > these snapshot download links.  I had no idea they weren't truly
> > supported.  I can't be the only person who assumed that they were.
> 
> In fact, this has caused consternation at least once before for a
> groff user (http://lists.gnu.org/r/groff/2021-05/msg00049.html).
> That's just one recent thread I happened to remember; I didn't search
> to see if there were others.

Yes, I remember that too.

> And we don't know how many people try this, find it broken, and give
> up on it without saying anything.

That worries me.

> Admittedly, part of the problem in that instance is that a groff
> project page recommends these snapshots and links to Savannah's cgit
> interface.  This is something that could be fixed on the groff page,
> though I don't know who has the keys to www.gnu.org/software/groff.

Werner, do you happen to know?  Is that part of Bertrand's bailiwick as
official GNU maintainer for groff?

> I'm not a developer, but I also feel this way -- except that I also
> agree with the point you made in that thread that if Savannah offers
> these download links, we ought to make sure they work.  But it sounds
> like no one wants to support them, and no one seems to be clamoring to
> use them, so Savannah should probably just not have them.  Hopefully
> this entails only a simple patch of cgit.  Or if someone wants to
> lobby upstream, maybe cgit could make this a configuration option.

I am therefore asking for a volunteer to report this as item to
Savannah's own support tracker.

https://savannah.nongnu.org/support/?group=administration

The gist of the issue is that:
1. snapshot archive links are exposed unconditionally for all projects
2. snapshot downloads don't recurse submodules or even include any
   information that submodules are in use
3. gnulib's git-version-gen doesn't work well with snapshot archives
4. we'd like Savannah's cgit to be patched to remove snapshot archive
   links from cgit-generated web pages
5. we're fine if this is an opt-out feature per project, just tell us
   where the knob is

Can someone take this on, please?

Regards,
Branden

signature.asc
Description: PGP signature