[general] Arabeyes SVN-to-Git transition finished

[Anas El Husseini <linux dot anas at gmail dot com>]

Salam,

The transition from svn to git is now completed. You can find below some
information regarding the transition, plus few brief answers to some of the
issues raised in the mailing list in the last 2 days.

1. Git web interface
-----------------------------
Git web interface is powered by Gitlab Community Edition, and can be
accessed on: https://git.arabeyes.org (http access will be auto-redirected
to https)

2. Repo re-structuring
--------------------------------
Since git does not support subdirectory cloning like svn do, the
subdirectories inside "art/", "translate/" and "projects/" were transformed
into individual git repos. It is also more practical since those repos are
independent from each other.

3. Github repo mirroring
----------------------------------
The ITL repos that were recently moved to github.com will remain hosted
there, but it will be also mirrored and periodically synced under
git.arabeyes.org.

4. Current git namespaces
---------------------------------------
Arabeyes git repos are now divided into 5 namespaces (aka groups):
- arabeyes-general: contains www, doc, ae_admin, tools, scripts repos.
- arabeyes-art: contains khotot and ae_logos repos.
- arabeyes-i18n: contains all translation repos, that were under
"translate/".
- arabeyes-dev: contains all development projects, that were under
"projects/", except ITL.
- arabeyes-github: contains the github-mirrored repos (currently: ITL,
ITL-programs and ITL-ports).

Accessing a repo can be achieved by two ways:
HTTP/HTTPS: https://git.arabeyes.org/namespace/repo.git
SSH: git at git dot arabeyes dot org:namespace/repo.git

5. Signing up and Authentication
-----------------------------------------------
You can sign up with a normal account, or by using your
google/twitter/github account. You can also sign up with a normal account
then link your google, twitter and/or github account later. By signing up,
you will have access to fork any of arabeyes existing repos, and to make
your own repos as well.

For https write access, you may need to add a password to your account if
you signed up through one of the OAuth methods.
For ssh write access, you will need to create an ssh key pair, and add the
public key in your account settings.

The old svn accounts were not kept back, so you have to sign-up at
git.arabeyes.org to get write access.

5.a. Project admins and old contributors
----------------------------------------------------------
Please sign-up at git.arabeyes.org (signing up is just 2-clicks if you use
your google/twitter/github account to authenticate), then email me your
account name and the repo you're admin/contributor at, so I can give write
access.

5.b. New contributors
-------------------------------
Feel free to sign-up, fork any repo, commit your changes, and make "merge
requests" (aka pull requests). If you feel you need a write access on
certain repo(s), or want to add your own project to Arabeyes repos, please
contact us on the appropriate mailing lists with the details.

6. Why Gitlab and self hosting?
----------------------------------------------
It was the opinion of many Arabeyes members that we better stick with open
source solutions. Although Github is a huge hub for open source projects of
all kinds, the Github platform itself is not open-source. One of the best
open-source alternative to Github is Gitlab, so we used Gitlab. We
preferred self hosting over gitlab.com hosting since it gives us more
freedom and control over our projects, and allow us remove any limitations
endorsed by a third-party hosting.

Nevertheless, we are not completely against Github hosting. As a matter of
fact, three of Arabeyes projects (the ITL* repos) are currently hosted and
receive active contributions at github.com/arabeyes-org. So feel free to
link your github-existing projects and have them mirrored on
git.arabeyes.org, or vice versa.

7. I hate you for changing the repo structure!
----------------------------------------------------------------
You can use the following script to auto-clone all Arabeyes repos in the
same old structure of the svn repos:
https://git.arabeyes.org/arabeyes-general/scripts/blob/master/git/git_clone_all.sh

8. Questions? Issues? Hate messages?
----------------------------------------------------------
Please report any issue you find regarding the git repositories or the
gitlab interface to me (in email or irc) or as a reply to his email message.

You are uncomfortable around git or gitlab interface and need assistance?
Please come around at #arabeyes at irc.freenode.net so we can help.

As for hate messages, please send them to chahibi [at] gmail [dot] com. He
is very patient and will tolerate them (hopefully).


Best Regards,
Anas