[POLL] Which collaboration tools should we use?

This forum is dedicated to feedback, discussions about ongoing or future developments, ideas and suggestions regarding the ChibiOS projects are welcome. This forum is NOT for support.

Which environment should we use for collaborative development?

Poll ended at Thu Oct 07, 2021 6:06 am

Gitter/Matrix
3
27%
Discord
7
64%
Others
1
9%
 
Total votes: 11

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Giovanni
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[POLL] Which collaboration tools should we use?

Postby Giovanni » Wed Sep 22, 2021 6:06 am

Hi,

The Telegram channel worked pretty well and it really helped progress work quickly (WL port, WB ports, MP1 port, improved VTs, bug fixes, new CI server etc). The single-channel approach also proved to be too restrictive now that the number of users is increasing.

I was very surprised about how many different opinions there are about this topic, better make a public poll for the final selection, only the most voiced options are in the poll but feel free to select "Others" and explain your preferences.

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Re: [POLL] Which collaboration tools should we use?

Postby tridge » Wed Sep 22, 2021 6:30 am

we used to use a combination of gitter and mumble for ArduPilot. Our gitter channel is still here, but deprecated:
https://gitter.im/ArduPilot
we've now switched to discord, and it has been great! Our discord server is here:
https://ardupilot.org/discord

The key things about discord for the ArduPilot project are:

- can have a flexible mix of private and public channels. For example, we have some private channels for discussing things like financing of the project (we're a non-profit), and public channels for lots of different topics. We also have a dev-team channel that is readable by everyone and writeable only by the core development team.
- we have several voice channels, one general one for open chat, plus a channel for our two weekly development calls.
- you can open a video call with screen share with a user whenever you want to (they need to accept)
- file upload works pretty well

Cheers, Tridge

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Re: [POLL] Which collaboration tools should we use?

Postby electronic_eel » Fri Sep 24, 2021 5:39 pm

I would prefer to use something with a completely open protocol and open source server & client implementations. This would not necessarily mean that ChibiOS needs to self host this right now. I have no problem with using some service provider for it.

But the option of moving to a totally self hosted service should be there. Just that the option exists keeps the service providers honest and prevents them from implementing restraints on their service (like blocking some clients or gateways, forcing bad advertising on you, neglecting user privacy,...). Because then there is no vendor lock-in and you can move on if you don't like their service anymore.

Using Matrix would check all the boxes and I have good experience with it.

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Re: [POLL] Which collaboration tools should we use?

Postby faisal » Sat Sep 25, 2021 6:19 am

tridge wrote:we used to use a combination of gitter and mumble for ArduPilot. Our gitter channel is still here, but deprecated:
https://gitter.im/ArduPilot
we've now switched to discord, and it has been great! Our discord server is here:
https://ardupilot.org/discord

The key things about discord for the ArduPilot project are:

- can have a flexible mix of private and public channels. For example, we have some private channels for discussing things like financing of the project (we're a non-profit), and public channels for lots of different topics. We also have a dev-team channel that is readable by everyone and writeable only by the core development team.
- we have several voice channels, one general one for open chat, plus a channel for our two weekly development calls.
- you can open a video call with screen share with a user whenever you want to (they need to accept)
- file upload works pretty well

Cheers, Tridge


Discord is indeed cool. However, it's completely closed. Unfortunately, it is one of the best solutions out there for voice channels. However, Matrix spaces is a pretty good alternative to the non-voice aspect of Discord and Slack. And, it's an open standard, is decentralized, and self-hostable. I would encourage the ardupilot project to move towards it. I mean, jeez, you guys are a GPLv3 project - openness should be pretty high up there as a value when choosing tooling :) (especially when it is quite comparable to proprietary solutions).

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Re: [POLL] Which collaboration tools should we use?

Postby tridge » Sun Sep 26, 2021 2:32 am

audio is important for the ArduPilot project. We used to use mumble for audio and gitter for chat, but we really want them both in one tool. We do two weekly dev calls on discord audio, plus have other meetings on discord many times a week. The audio rooms plus screen sharing is critical.
If Matrix gets good audio and screen sharing then it would become a nice option.

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Re: [POLL] Which collaboration tools should we use?

Postby Giovanni » Thu Oct 07, 2021 6:07 pm

Hi,

Poll time is over, we are testing Discord for a while before making it "official", please feel free to join at https://discord.gg/BY8Xs5nf

I want to make sure it covers all use cases, it is still a bit too gaming-oriented for my taste but OK... at least I tamed the default colours.

Giovanni


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