Re: Passive resistance [was: Re: Announcing GNOME's official GitHub mirror]

[fr33domlover <fr33domlover mailoo org>]

On ו', 2013-08-16 at 12:00 +0200, Matteo Settenvini wrote:
> Il giorno ven, 16/08/2013 alle 12.22 +0300, fr33domlover ha scritto:
> > This is a great idea, but only if enough maintainers cooperate with it.
> > Otherwise, the "Gnome officially using GitHub" message is stronger than
> > a few small modules having your README.md file, while all other modules
> > have READMEs of the common kind.
> >
> > Judging by replies here, I'm afraid there's no enough interest. All the
> > names I recognized here support the GitHub mirrors, while the voices
> > against them are people whose name I never saw, or are maintainers of
> > less popular modules.
> >
> > Without major modules participating, I'm not sure it will work. We can
> > wait longer and see comments from more people. Right now I think a
> > per-module switch to disable mirroring sounds like better protest (maybe
> > unless I see maintainers of major modules disagree with the GitHub
> > mirroring).
>
> I understand your position, but if you are really concerned about
> freedom and are a module maintainer, you are willing to take action even
> if it is only for your module.

Of course, but I believe not having the GitHub mirror at all may be
better, since it's a bit harder to ignore than a readme file.

> After all, each developer is free to do what they see fit with the code
> they maintain. Nobody can stop a mirror being taken (there's nothing in
> the license of the software preventing it), and forcing a developer to
> forfeit a github mirror is going against freedom 2
> (http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html).

True, I don't suggest to prevent the mirrors: Just not automate. Anyone
can create a mirror manually, and it's their freedom to do so. But I
don't think maintainers should have their modules automatically synced
to GitHub without allowing them to switch it off.

> However, taking action on the code you have the copyright of, and
> protesting about what is not in line with your ideals, sounds a fine
> compromise. It doesn't block other people doing what they want -- be it
> running Firefox with Adobe Flash, using DRM'd software, having a github
> account, or installing Mac OS X/Windows --, but makes them aware of what
> freedoms they give up in the process. Then, it's up to the final user to
> make their decision; which is definitively what free software is really
> about.

Sure, they're all still free to use all these things, including GitHub.
But that doesn't mean a maintainer should have their module officially
mirrored in GitHub, and it doesn't matter how many people use GitHub.

A maintainer can switch on the mirroring and protest through the README,
but I think they should have the right to turn off mirroring for their
module. Let the people decide how they prefer to protest.

> Cheers,