[Unison-hackers] Move Unison to Git

[Benjamin C. Pierce]

> Currently it is hard to see what the current issues are especially if
> you are new to the mailing list. And its not always clear what got
> fixed an what issues are still open. One example is that there are
> patches in the debian packages which are not specific to the debian
> packages and that should have been included in the upstream version of
> unison.

How would an issue tracker have helped with this example?  Seems like the problem there is that the debian packager needs to have an easier path to committing changes to the upstream version.

> So I think an issue tracker would make it easier to get an
> overview of all the issues and better track them.

I remain to be convinced of this.  However...

> I agree and I think the mailing list will still be an important
> communication and support channel. And I think we should make a clear
> separation between usage problems and bugs/issues/requests. This means
> if something gets discussed on the mailing list and it becomes clear
> there is a bug involved someone should open a ticket in the
> bugtracker. The same thing the other way around, if someone comes up
> with a question on the bugtracker he should be directed towards the
> mailing list and the bug should be closed. This would give us a clean
> separation.

I'm wondering whether we could introduce the bug tracker while keeping more or less the same social structure that we have now.  Specifically, we'd:
  - create a LaunchPad project for Unison
  - set up a bug tracker for it
  - subscribe unison-users as a "project supervisor" so that people on the list hear about all bug-related traffic
  - encourage people to submit bug reports via the tracker rather than directly to the list

Clearly, this organization has the disadvantage that it might generate a lot more traffic to the wide-readership list.  If this turns out to be the case, we can switch the subscription to unison-hackers only.  The advantage is that it more or less replicates the communication pattern that we have now, with the extra structure of the issue tracker for helping keep track of what's happened.

> I could take care of the bug tracker and do the bug triage.

This would be great!

I've created a project "unisonbugs" at launchpad.net ("unison" was already taken, unfortunately, by the ubuntu packagers for Unison; maybe we should merge the two?).  

Now I need to know how to add you as an administrator.  Then we should be set to go (if you think my proposal above is reasonable).

   - Benjamin