forge vs gitolite (Re: CTI - Making a decision for glibc.)

[Alexandre Oliva]

On Feb  9, 2026, "Frank Ch. Eigler" <fche@elastic.org> wrote:

> Hi -
>> [...]  Whereas if the community computing takes place under control
>> of the community, so that its autonomy is not curtailed by the
>> person who carries out the computing on our behalf, then it is not
>> SaaSS. [...]

> I am skeptical that a concept such as "community computing" is
> coherent, especially when it is applied to someone running testsuites
> and reporting results.  Putting such activities under "control of the
> community" appears a literal violation of FSD Freedom #0.  Let's stay
> on topic.

Yeah, let's.  There's clearly some mental model mismatch here.  I can't
quite make sense of what you're trying to get at, there seems to be a
deep disconnect.  Can we please dig deeper so as to increase our common,
shared understanding, instead of leaving it alone, pretending it's not
there and reinforcing the miscommunication?


When I speak of "community computing" in the context of running
testsuites and reporting results, I'm speaking of those testsuite runs
and reported results that are made by decision of the community
governance.

I am *not* speaking of third party test runs done independently.

I'm *not* speaking of test runs done independently even by community
members.

Anyone is still free to run the tests however they wish: it is their own
computing, after all, so they should be sovereign and autonomous WRT to
them.


What I'm speaking of is the runs done on behalf of our collective
organization, GNU libc, in response to collective decision taken by its
governance structure.

We shouldn't run those as SaaSS, but that's not because our freedom is
curtailed (the supposed freedom #0 violation you mentioned), but rather
to stop it from being curtailed.  We should refrain from entering SaaSS
arrangements not because someone prohibits us from doing so, but because
it is foolish and self-defeating to give up our freedom.  That should be
avoided out of our own volition, out of our alignment with free software
values and principles, and out of our alignment with the GNU Project's
goals and example-setting.

-- 
Alexandre Oliva, happy hacker            https://blog.lx.oliva.nom.br/
Free Software Activist     FSFLA co-founder     GNU Toolchain Engineer
Learn the truth about Richard Stallman at https://stallmansupport.org/