Why are we using email patch review instead of GitLab merge requests?

[Laurent Pinchart]

On Sun, Jul 28, 2024 at 03:17:18PM +0000, Barnabás Pőcze wrote:
> 2024. július 28., vasárnap 17:07 keltezéssel, Neal Gompa írta:
> 
> > Hey folks,
> > 
> > I just found out today that libcamera exists on FDO GitLab[1], so I'm
> > wondering why we aren't just using merge requests over there instead?
> > Among other things, it makes it much easier for people to track what's
> > going on with proposed changes, simplifies the process for new
> > contributors, enables immediate feedback on the viability of
> > contributions, and allows the mailing list discussions to be more
> > focused on higher level things.
> > 
> > [1]: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/camera/libcamera
> 
> I have already asked about this. As far as I recall the TLDR is that the people
> in charge like the mailing list + patchwork + bugzilla + etc. workflow better,
> and GitLab is only used for CI.

The main issue with gitlab is the awful patch review and discussion UI,
couple with the fact that it's quite difficult to customize workflows
given the limited number of available tools compared to mailing list
workflows.

Merge requests themselves are fine I think. I have it somewhere on a
TODO list to experiment with bridging them to e-mail. That would be a
one-way bridge though, a merge request would be translated to a set of
patches sent to the mailing list, and reviewed there. I'm not sure when
I could find time to work on this.

-- 
Regards,

Laurent Pinchart