Re: CI as criterion for new FSF forge

[Drew DeVault]

On Fri Jan 8, 2021 at 10:02 AM EST, Zack Weinberg wrote:
> Of the three software packages currently on the short list, I know
> that sourcehut does support CI to some extent. I intend to experiment
> with its CI for Autoconf in the near future, using a mirror repository
> I created on sourcehut's self-hosted instance,
> <https://git.sr.ht/~zackw/mirror-autoconf>. I don't know about either
> of the others.

SourceHut does indeed support CI, and as a matter of fact, SourceHut can
be adapted to provide CI support for the other options on the list
(Pagure and Gitea), albiet with some effort and varying levels of
success given accomodation from the third-party software. The mailing
lists also support running CI for patches out-of-the-box, though note
for that your evaluation purposes, in order to make the forge aware of
the relationship between your git repository and your mailing list, you
will have to create a project here:

https://sr.ht/projects/create

sr.ht also notably supports a wide variety of operating systems, and
could easily be made to provide native CI for Guix, Debian GNU/Hurd,
etc.

The main complaint against SourceHut on GNU terms is that the upstream
hosted instance requires nonfree JavaScript to complete payments.
However, free service is available to users who wish to avoid this on
the basis of a philosophical objection, and in-person payments are
accepted under some circumstances when there isn't a pandemic going on.