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Comment by raverbashing

10 months ago

Try modern/patched versions of Gerrit, I'm sure Linus could tune it to his preference

And I agree, GH has several issues

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raverbashing

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kashyapc  10 months ago

I've used Gerrit myself for nearly 10 years. I recognize it's strengths and like it for what it does. I also am comfortable with mailing lists and Git Hub and Git Lab. I've lived in "both worlds".

IIUC, the Kernel project doesn't want to use it because of the single-point-of-failure argument and other federation issues. Once the "main" Gerrit instance is down, suddenly it's become a massive liability. This[1] is good context from the kernel.org administrator, Konstantin Ryabitsev:

"From my perspective, there are several camps clashing when it comes to the kernel development model. One is people who are (rightfully) pointing out that using the mailing lists was fine 20 years ago, but the world of software development has vastly moved on to forges.

"The other camp is people who (also rightfully) point out that kernel development has always been decentralized and we should resist all attempts to get ourselves into a position where Linux is dependent on any single Benevolent Entity (Github, Gitlab, LF, kernel.org, etc), because this would give that entity too much political or commercial control or, at the very least, introduce SPoFs. [...]"

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/rust-for-linux/20250207-mature-paste...

  • raverbashing  10 months ago

    That's interesting, but I think the preocupation with SPoF to be overblown

    By that measure, kernel.org is a SPoF as well

    Maybe we can figure out a way to archive Gerrit discussions

    (offtopic note - don't upvote the comment you're responding to while you're commenting as you'll lose your comment)

    • kashyapc  10 months ago

      SPoF is not the only concern. Gerrit search is painful. You can't search the internet for a keyword that you wrote in v10 of some Gerrit patch, unlike on list-based workflows. Also, there's too much point-and-click for my taste, but I lived with it, as that's the tool chosen by that community. It's on me to adapt if I want to participate. (There are some ncurses-based tools, such as "gertty"[1]; but it was not reliable for me—the database crashed when I last tried it five years ago.)

      In contrast, I use Mutt for dealing with high-volume email-based projects with thousands of emails. It's blazingly fast, and an absolute delight to use—particularly when you're dealing with lists that run like a fire-hose. It gives a good productivity boost.

      I'm not saying, "don't drag me out of my email cave". I'm totally happy to adapt; I did live in "both worlds" :-)

      [1] https://opendev.org/ttygroup/gertty

    • bonzini  10 months ago

      For what it's worth, I think the main issue is archival. Like it or not, there's nothing that beats email when it comes to preservation.