#mastodon#fediverse implementation question: would it be possible to use the protocol for carrying issue tracking & discussion, e.g. to make #distributed version of #github or #gitlab issue trackers?
I thought that technically these aren't that different from the usual discussion threads here, except maybe for some governance steps like deciding if the issue is closed etc... Perhaps someone already investigated?
@ChrSt@exa Yup, we're working on it! (I'm not a GitLab employee, but I'm the main contributor for it). Right now we're implementing following project releases from the Fediverse (subscribe to your favorite repos in your Mastodon interface, get notified when that project makes a new release). Cross-instance discussions, merge requests are the ultimate goal. It will take quite some time to get there, though. 😅
@forgejo is also working on it, hopefully both will be interoperable through #forgeFed (not entirely my call to make, but so far there has been no objection formulated)
@kik@exa awesome!
I’m so much looking forward to the future, where we have the flexibility and distributedness of mailing lists, combined mit modern amenities of tools like Gitlab/Forgejo. Fedi is already so much an improvement other the zentralized monoliths – despite its flaws…
@ChrSt@exa Indeed! My dream is to see happening a "fediverse of code", where individuals or small groups can self-host their projects, and still collaborate with each others, while still being beginner friendly (I think collaborating by email is underrated, that's the easy way to decentralize collaboration, but it's also a big barrier of entry for junior devs who have a lot already to figure out ; plus, I really don't want to wonder about "patches deliverability" 😅).
+100000 points for collaborating by just the git-format-patch and git-am combo... perhaps just 2 fediverse/mastodon buttons + a little support from the platforms would do it. The rest (fixing patches, reviews, ....) might be just renderers.
Anyway thanks for thinking about this & hope it eventually takes off!
And why -- there's plenty of software for having small self-hosted github-like repositories (e.g. #gitea or #forgejo) and for sending the code around, but self-hosting the discussion&tracking platforms still comes with quite a management cost (you need to drag&re-register all the users there, issue linking to other platforms ain't super good, there's centralization-based privacy issues...)
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