I'm starting a draft mail to Zigo from Infomaniak (he is a Debian Developer and helped us get this sponsorship). Please review/comment.

Draft,

Hi Zigo,

Thanks for sponsoring git.fosscommunity.in (available earlier as gitlab.debian.net) which offers git hosting for the public and is powered by the gitlab package from fasttrack.debian.net (another service also sponsored by Infomaniak).

The 1000 Euro hosting credits for Public Cloud offered earlier is almost exhausted, only 58.61 Euro is left which can cover us roughly 2.6 months more at 22.66 Euro monthly bill. We already ran this service for 43 months with this credit.

We would like to request Infomaniak to continue this sponsorship as many people benefit from this service.

Some statistics: 741 projects, 4,617 users (some of them are spam sign ups - so we do manual sign ups now).

Since debian gitlab package is no longer maintained after Gitlab Inc stopped sponsoring the packaging work, we are considering to migrate to another Free Software like ForgeJo.

More volunteers are joining the team to continue maintaining it.

Looking forward to a positive reply.

Thanks

Praveen

I'm sending it now.

Sent mail to Zigo.

@Athul @Hari Govind S @Aji Ahamed @sudo_medark @Badri Sunderarajan thanks for volunteering. Lets plan a meeting soon? How about 23 or 24 June? 7pm or 8pm?

@Pirate Praveen would 6:30 work? I'll be at home, so we'll have dinner at 7:30 and people will be going to sleep after that.

(If it's difficult I can try to adjust)

@Badri Sunderarajan ok I will adjust the time poll. We also have xmpp:git.fosscommunity.in@muc.tchncs.de?join

@Pirate Praveen maybe you should add a few more timeslot options for people to state their preferences

@Badri Sunderarajan we can consider more options from next time I guess. As a new option now might not get enough votes as people will have to vote again.

@Pirate Praveen okay. Anyway the given time is the best for me so I'm happy even if it's the only one 🙃

I would also like to join the initial meeting

We are waiting at https://meet.fsci.in/git_fsci

I have given ssh access to @Badri Sunderarajan to the server and I will share access with Vishal later. Vishal will also make a proposal to migrate all repos to the forgejo instance that he maintains.

The forgejo instance run by Vishal is https://git.flossboxin.org.in

I'd recommend a top level domain so it has its own independent identity like gitlab.com, codeberg.org or codema.in I checked and found sourcebox dot in is still available. A sub domain makes the project in highlight and mainly from the maintainers point of view of providing many services, but I think a top level domain gives its own identity for people who want to use only one service instead of the full bundle. But the new volunteers can make a call on this, if they prefer this or not.

Sorry I couldn't join but FbIN (Vishal) informed me that my server could be used as a backup and this was discussed in the call. If you could provide the specifications I could create a fresh one on Azure, I am not sure if the hosting provider is acceptable or not. Currently I just use the server for personal purposes (it's from my student credits on azure), so the specs are as follows,

```
System RAM: total: 974 MiB available: 846.9 MiB used: 488.6 MiB (57.7%)
           CPU:
             Info: model: AMD EPYC 7763 bits: 64 type: MT arch: Zen 3 gen: 4 level: v3 note: check
               built: 2021-22 process: TSMC n7 (7nm) family: 0x19 (25) model-id: 1 stepping: 1
               microcode: 0xFFFFFFFF
             Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 1 tpc: 2 threads: 2 smt: enabled cache: L1: 64 KiB
               desc: d-1x32 KiB; i-1x32 KiB L2: 512 KiB desc: 1x512 KiB L3: 32 MiB desc: 1x32 MiB
             Speed (MHz): avg: 2928 high: 3261 min/max: N/A cores: 1: 3261 2: 2596 bogomips: 9781

Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/root        61G   12G   50G  19% /
```

@pun Thanks for the offer. Lets first see if @FbIN (VB) wants us to migrate to their instance. Consolidating maintenance efforts is a good thing when we don't get enough volunteers.

Thanks @pun for updating your details. @Pirate Praveen OOC, I see git currently as 20GB space, and 5GB used till now (including any spam, where applicable). @Badri Sunderarajan since you have admin account, can you see and delete/kill the spam stuff to release further and tone down?

@FbIN (VB) I don't think cleaning up spam at this point is useful work if we are selectively moving good projects only. That is too much work to manually clean up spam.

@Pirate Praveen I agree. I should have stated that as a suggestion.

Meanwhile, here is what I was suggesting on the call yesterday.

I have 2 domains. fbin.in - runs yunohost which already has forgejo, gogs & gitea packages.

The other one is flossboxin.org.in - where I already run forgejo git.flossboxin.org.in, open to public. However, I believe the best proposal I can give is, to help run and migrate the fsci git to either of the 2 places.

@FbIN (VB) would you be open to have a top level alias like source box dot in? If we decide to use it. Also use Start a Vote option next to comment and make a proposal to do this so people can vote on it (Usually we take consensus poll).

@Pirate Praveen Sounds about right. I also want to put in on a small server where I already have one myself. That is a next level step anyway.

@Akshay whether we migrate the existing projects is part of the question. In case we decide to move the projects, this continue to be maintained by these volunteers under a new identity. We could also have a redirect at domain level to not break at least project level links. Full backward compatibility for all links would be more complex, but could be done if needed.

@Pirate Praveen The proposal you're referring to has not been made correctly/fully yet. I see at least two different comments with two different ideas. Someone is saying they can offer a server (to move gitlab to that?). Someone is saying migrate to forgejo. But what does that contain? Do the user accounts move? What about passwords? If FSCI is not maintaining a git service, then shouldn't people feel free to move their git repo to whichever git service they like (gitlab.com / codeberg . org ) etc... If FSCI is indeed maintaining a git service, then who are the volunteers doing so? Who is raising funds for it? I don't see any of the questions you raised in the beginning of this whole discussion answered in this proposal. If it was discussed in the meeting, that needs to translate into the proposal.

@Akshay I agree there are many possibilities and we need to clarify the details. So I will try to clarify what I have understood the proposal will do - including the inputs from the last meeting.

1. We will use the existing ForgeJo instance run by @FbIN (VB) (this clarifies the payment point as they are already paying for it).

2. We will use a simpler top level domain - currently proposed option sourcebox.in. We could consider other options too if the domain is available.

3. We will keep domain aliases/cname/tls certificates so both git.fosscommunity.in and git.flossboxin.org.in links will continue to work. Since gitlab to forgejo urls won't be a 1 to 1 match, possibly only the url to the project home might be working. If we can figure out a pattern to map, we could redirect other links too.

4. Vishal will provide access to trusted fsci community members to jointly maintain the service. It will be maintained by the people who already volunteered in the previous poll - if this proposal passes.

5. Repos will be migrated manually - project by project, either by the owners themselves or if they make a request we move it for them. They could also choose to move to any other service if they wish.

6. They will need to create an account themselves.

7. FSCI specific repos will be moved to this instance by the volunteers.

8. When current infomaniak credentials run out, we will shut down current git.fosscommunity.in server.

Hope this clarifies, let me know if you have more questions.

I have also updated the proposal

@Badri Sunderarajan we don't have many domain name options - the domain name has to be available too. If you find any other available and simple domains, then you can suggest it.

@Pirate Praveen or we could use *.fsci.in if people decide to go with that.

My point is, let us leave it open for people to suggest rather than combining it with this proposal itself. (I see the updated version specifies that, so that is fine)

@Badri Sunderarajan I support this, using *.fsci.in.

@Derpitron yes, I think that is the plan: to reach out to the owners once the decision is finalised.

For the domain, I was thinking we should collect suggestions and have a separate vote. A subdomain sounds good to me, though if people strongly prefer a separate domain I am open to that too. Depending on the concrete suggestions!

@badrihippo @derpitron the sub domain vs top level domain is mainly about projecting what is the primary identity. For a git hosting service or something that is useful to people outside fsci community and independent name makes better sense. Something that can directly challenge the likes of github.com or gitlab.com and complement codeberg.org. With sub domains, we focus more on sys admins and having a feeling we provide many services, but not all users may be interested in all the services we offer. So I think a top level domain fits the best, but the people who actually volunteer to maintain this should make this decision than people who just want to comment.

@FbIN (VB) and @Pirate Praveen, I think there is confusion about what exactly is being agreed to in this proposal and what is to be discussed in a future proposal.

Since most of the comments are about domain, I think it would be better to make a fresh proposal about the server/management only, and let the community decide on a domain after the poll is concluded. Otherwise, it ends up becoming a distraction from the main point which is about using @FbIN (VB)'s existing instance and server.

Further, the original proposal was initially not clear and only edited after @Akshay pointed it out, so people may have skipped voting or abstained on the older version and not seen the newer edited version. Now, they will get a chance to see the proper version from the beginning itself.

Here is an edited version that we could vote on. If needed, we can even leave out those points related to domain entirely and discuss that later, as the main point is about adopting @FbIN (VB)'s server.

• We will adopt the existing Forgejo instance operated by community member @FbIN (VB) as our "official" server, so that we can pool resources instead of trying to run two independent operations

• The server is currently @FbIN (VB)'s personal server, but since the community is adopting it, access will now be provided to other trusted community members (starting with those who volunteered for maintenance in the previous poll)

• @FbIN (VB) is already paying for the server; once it is adopted by the community FSCI will help with fundraising for that server

• We will keep the existing git.fosscommunity.in server running until Infomaniak credits run out, so that people have a chance to migrate. Once the credits run out, we will shut down the current git.fosscommunity.in server.

• The new server is currently running under a flossbox.in subdomain. Since it will now be maintained by FSCI, we will select a new domain (either under FSCI or as its own TLD). This is to be decided once the current poll concludes, but people are welcome to start commenting with suggestions below.

• We will reach out to users of the existing instance informing them of the move. They will have to create an account the new server, but we can help with migrating the repos (see next point)

• Repo migration will happen manually. FSCI specific repos will be moved to this instance by the volunteers. For other repos, the repo owners can request us to do it or perform the migration themselves. Of course, they are also free to migrate to some other server if they so wish

Thanks Badri. I think this version is much clearer.

I do have one concern though. While I'm happy to contribute infrastructure, the current server is still my personal server and it hosts a number of other unrelated public services. Because of that, I'm not sure I'm comfortable giving administrative access to multiple people on the same machine, since it would also mean exposing infrastructure that has nothing to do with the community Forgejo instance.

I wonder if it would make more sense to instead set up a small VPS dedicated to the community Forgejo instance. It wouldn't need to be anything expensive, and it would make it much easier to give admin access to trusted volunteers without having to worry about unrelated services on my personal server. If the community grows or the requirements increase, we can always scale it up or migrate later.

Netcup (where I host), for example, has some very affordable options. Their VPS Lite plans start at under €2 / €3 per month and are intended for smaller workloads, while their regular VPS plans provide more resources and flexibility if we outgrow the initial setup. I think even a small dedicated VPS would be more than enough for Forgejo to begin with.

VPS Lite: https://www.netcup.com/en/server/vps-lite

Regular VPS (x86): https://www.netcup.com/en/server/vps

I think having a dedicated server would also make the separation between personal and community infrastructure much cleaner, while still allowing everyone to collaborate on running and maintaining the service.

@dev I met Zigo from Infomaniak at DebConf26 and asked him about extending credits. He has asked a colleague for the same, I will update if we get more hosting credits. I think we have a good chance. He somehow missed the email I sent earlier.

@Pirate Praveen Sorry, I have been stuck with a lot of work, and did not get time to check it here. This sounds good. If that works, we can continue with it. We also have auto reboot cron as well. :).