RFC: Move back to GitHub #113

Closed bnjns closed 4 years ago

In GitLab by @bnjns on Jun 6, 2020, 17:10

Request for Comments

Start Date: (2020-06-06)
Target Decision Date: (2020-06-20)
Target Version: N/A

Summary

This RFC proposes moving the website's source code and issue tracker back to GitHub.

Motivation

The Backstage website was moved from GitHub from GitLab at the end of 2018 to take advantage of 2 key features that GitHub did not have:

Free private repositories for Proof-of-Concept or closed-source projects
An integrated CI/CD pipeline for automating the process of deploying changes to the site

Since Microsoft acquired GitHub in 2018 they have poured significant resource into improving the platform and challenging some of the features only available on GitLab and Bitbucket. Today there is very little difference between the 2 platforms, and I feel this merits a discussion on whether we continue with GitLab or move back to GitHub.

Microsoft are now champions of open-source code, and as a result almost all of GitHub's features are free and unlimited for public repositories (which most of our repos are); some of the key features that are unlimited for public repositories are:

Unlimited private and public repositories
GitHub introduced their own CI/CD platform called "Actions" in late 2019 (limited to 2000 minutes/month for private repositories)
Better bot integration for Sonarcloud (code quality tool) and Snyk (package vulnerability tool)
Hosting for packages, including Docker images (500MB limit for private repositories)
Protected branches
Full functionality for code reviews and code owners

There are several other additional benefits for using GitHub rather than GitLab:

Familiarity: GitHub is generally the more popular choice for open-source and personal projects, with mostly Enterprise tending to use GitLab. As a result, people are far more familiar with GitHub and it's UI, as well as more open to creating an account with GitHub (if they haven't got one already). It will be easier for people to report issues or become involved on a platform they are already aware of - a few members have expressed reluctance to create a GitLab account in the past due to unfamiliarity.
Exposure: The BTS site offers an incredible opportunity to showcase your skills to potential employers; this site was actually cited as one of the key reasons I got my first job as a Software Engineer. However, by using GitLab we are limiting this exposure as companies often only look at GitHub for open-source contributions. Moving back to GitHub will allow people to include this in their portfolios more easily.
Community: There is a much larger community around GitHub, including apps and bots for automating some administrative tasks.

Drawbacks

The primary drawback would be the feeling of a "back and forth" between GitHub and GitLab, and the worry that in future there would be another argument for moving back. There's not much to say on this, other than that would again need a discussion that would allow people to express this worry.

Alternatives

N/A

Adoption Strategy

Communicating the move to the membership
Ensure we have a secretary account for ownership
Setting up a team, with myself and the secretary as owners
Create the new Hub, and create all the labels
Moving each repository over

It would be best to keep the Hub in GitLab and just have a link to GitHub in the readme to help with communication over the move
Update any documentation in the Hub and the details of #111

\label ~"type::rfc"

In GitLab by @bnjns on Jun 6, 2020, 17:10

changed due date to June 20, 2020

In GitLab by @bnjns on Jun 6, 2020, 17:11

changed title from RFC: Mov{-ing-} back to GitHub to RFC: Mov{+e+} back to GitHub

In GitLab by @bnjns on Jun 6, 2020, 17:12

changed the description

In GitLab by @bnjns on Jun 6, 2020, 17:15

changed the description

In GitLab by @enygma999 on Jun 8, 2020, 16:03

Is this an either/or choice? Is there a way of having the two repos update from each other, so we just choose which one we're working from and, if we wish to move back to the other service, unlock the alternative and lock the previous one? This is playing devil's advocate over the "back and forth" argument.

I'd prefer GitHub because that's where my personal repos are and the software I'm learning on has explicit GitHub integration, though I'm fairly certain it's generic git integration with a GitHub label. Tbh it probably wouldn't affect me as to which we choose, when I eventually start contributing.

In GitLab by @bnjns on Jun 8, 2020, 18:57

changed the description

In GitLab by @jordanlkirk99 on Jun 8, 2020, 22:14

Personally I have no preference between the 2 platforms.

However it makes sense to be on the more popular platform, members are more likely to know it + better exposure professionally. I know of a non website project that would like to be alongside it but doesn't want move away from GitHub for these reasons.

One feature I think we'll loose is the web IDE. I used it a few times for small changes but I don't think we'll miss it. If you're doing more than small single file edit (which you can do in GitHub), you're better off in a real Dev environment.

In GitLab by @bnjns on Jun 8, 2020, 22:29

GitHub has a web IDE too :smile:

In GitLab by @jordanlkirk99 on Jun 8, 2020, 22:38

I remember GitHub only providing a text editor on a single file, though maybe I'm misremembering / it's another thing that's changed.

In GitLab by @bnjns on Jun 8, 2020, 22:43

Oh no, you're right

In GitLab by @Hypothawits on Jun 9, 2020, 11:56

I'm in favour of the move, obviously jumping back and forth can be confusing, but Github is more well-known (I think) and students are more likely to have their own projects on there already. A few people have told me they didn't bother commenting on things because they didnt want to create another account just for that. I can't comment on it's functionality as I've not used github/gitlab beyond the basic stuff.

In GitLab by @bnjns on Jun 9, 2020, 13:52

A few people have told me they didn't bother commenting on things because they didnt want to create another account just for that

I think this alone is enough of a reason to justify the move - especially as we're really keen to have input from as many people as possible on things.

In GitLab by @bnjns on Jun 9, 2020, 13:52

I think trying to implement some kind of mirroring might just end up being more confusing and I'm not sure whether automating the process is possible without an external tool.

I would be quite prepared to bet that BTS members only have a GitLab account because the BTS site is on GitLab :wink:; out of everyone I think I'm the only one to use it outside of BTS and even I've ditched it for all my personal stuff recently, moving back to GitHub.

In GitLab by @bnjns on Jun 9, 2020, 22:11

I think as everyone is pretty much in favour, we're going to end this early and mark it as approved. We've already started migrating some things across, so stand by for some comms.

In GitLab by @bnjns on Jun 9, 2020, 22:11

closed

In GitLab by @bnjns on Jun 9, 2020, 22:11

locked this issue

backstage-technical-services / hub