Problem 1857

Summary:	Official git (or svn) repository?
Product:	Geant4	Reporter:	whit
Component:	cmake	Assignee:	Ben Morgan <Ben.Morgan>
Status:	CLOSED WORKSFORME
Severity:	normal
Priority:	P5
Version:	10.2
Hardware:	All
OS:	All

Description whit 2016-05-08 05:17:32 CEST

Hi Everyone,

Is there a public repository for geant4 yet?

It would be *awesome* if there was an "official" git repository.

I think this would be great for the community because...

0. Debugging is way easier...
user: "I have this bug..."
developer: "pull this branch with some debugging output and tell me the result"
user: "OK, here is the out put..."
developer: <thinking> "Ah. The problem was... It is fixed in the branch... which will be in the next release."
user: "Great, I'll use this fixed version in the meantime!"

1. Users can (trivially) provide bug fixes. (What are the proper channels these days?)

2. Users can add features, and trivially pull the most recent release without having to reapply their changes to the latest sources every release.

3. Users can share these features with you (the developers), who might quickly provide feedback for improvement of said feature.

4. Almost everyone agrees that git is a wonderful tool that makes their lives easier.

Some other thoughts.

This bugzilla is really unwieldy. Also, the user forum was nice but it is now outdated and needs revamped.

Running any of the numerous git hosting platforms would solve all these problems. Aside from hosting it yourself, an easy solution is to use github, gitlab, or any other free service. They all have bug-reporting and forum features (and much more).

I understand the hesitation and headache associated with migrating to something new. However, even an "offical" git repository with just a new commit for every release/patch would go a long way and take almost zero extra effort.

Anyway, thanks for putting up with this rant. Keep up the good work.

Cheers,
Whit

Comment 1 Gabriele Cosmo 2016-05-09 10:28:49 CEST

Thanks for the suggestions. Please, note the following:
- The official -development- code repository of  Geant4 is currently SVN. The development code repository is not public by choice, for various reasons which goes from preserving intellectual copyright of physics code which gets developed (also by students and post-docs), which cannot be put public before eventually a scientific publication is made.
- We are planning to provide public Git service for the released code.
- We are internally discussing if to migrate the development code repository from SVN to Git (still preserving access restrictions). This is however matter of discussion for the Geant4 Collaboration, as it also implies a non trivial adaptation of the whole development process.