[Bioperl-l] Possible migration to git/github

[D. Joe Anderson]

On Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 02:24:22PM +0100, Peter wrote:
> On Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 11:20 AM, D. Joe Anderson wrote:
> > On Sat, Apr 17, 2010 at 11:18:13AM -0500, Chris Fields wrote:
> >
> >> I wanted to get the BioPerl community's general input on a
> >> possible Subversion to git/github migration for the BioPerl
> >> repository.
> >
> > Moving to git seems like a great good thing with few downsides.

> > Moving to github, however, brings up all the usual concerns with
> > getting locked-in to a proprietary application, since the github
> > software is not open source.

> Using git does not in anyway tie us to github.com - we could
> in theory host the "official" repository on the OBF servers or
> anywhere else (such as gitorious as you mentioned), and
> from a technical perspective this is easy. 

Fair enough.  One sometimes sees git and github discussed almost
as if they are inseparable, when, as you point out, they are
not.

> The authorship metadata would also be preserved (I don't
> understand your concern here).

I meant this sort of thing, really:

> You are right there is a potential concern if the project comes
> depend on any of github's additions like the network diagram
> or commenting features, 

Given that the github additions are usually cited in favor of
putting a project into github, I would say that such concerns
are likely to be realized.

> I have no concerns over using git hosted on github from a
> vendor lock in point of view.

Right.

> Don't forget that BioRuby has been using github for even longer,
> as I pointed out near the start of this thread:
> 
> http://lists.open-bio.org/pipermail/bioperl-l/2010-February/032353.html
> http://github.com/bioruby/bioruby

Sorry, this is a new thread that Chris started.  I'd missed the
earlier one.  Thanks for pointing it out.

> Also Chris mentioned (off list) that Biolib is using github too:
> http://github.com/pjotrp/biolib/
> 
> This does seem to confirm your observation of the popularity
> of github ;)

And of the momentum towards its adoption. 

In any case, those are my concerns.  Again, thanks for pointing
out the earlier thread, and for giving me the opportunity to
clarify my point about the added features of github.

-- 
Joe
man screen | grep -A2 weird
  A weird imagination is most useful to gain full advantage of
  all the features.