Mastodawn

Codeberg Announcements

Following a decision by the Codeberg e. V.'s Presidium, Codeberg e. V. has joined the ranks of many organizations as a co-signatory of the draft letter of the "Keep Android Open" initiative: https://keepandroidopen.org/draft-letter/

Apart from the impact on the many independent developers hosting their source code on https://codeberg.org, we are concerned by the greater societal implications the Android ecosystem's current trajectory will cause. For more information, see: https://keepandroidopen.org

An Open Letter to Google regarding Mandatory Developer Registration for Android App Distribution

Open Letter to Google Regarding Mandatory Developer Registration for Third-Party App Distribution

Codeberg Announcements Feb 24

Fun fact: Codeberg was born as a direct consequence of a false DMCA takedown (those were very popular a decade ago) against the @gadgetbridge repository—an indie Android app that helps users control their own gadgets (smart wearables). If that didn't happen, we most likely wouldn't exist today.

Gadgetbridge is still hosted on Codeberg to this day and available on alternative app stores such as @fdroidorg and @IzzyOnDroidOrg.

Thank you so much, @Codeberg!

@Codeberg while I applaud the decision and the sentiment, I wonder:

Would it not be a good idea to ask your members about their opinion first?

@tinx @Codeberg Chances are the members of the leading Open-Source code forge would be for having a at-least-sorta-open-OS stay that way.

@alexia I assume they are. My remark was not about the decision itself but about transparency.

@tinx @Codeberg I considered this before casting my vote, but we do ask the general assembly for the following and try to include it whenever we need guidance (e.g. opinions on controversial topics): https://codeberg.org/Codeberg/org/src/branch/main/en/bylaws.md#8-general-assembly

For a matter that is (from my perspective) in line with our non-profit's enshrined mission (see: https://codeberg.org/Codeberg/org/src/branch/main/en/bylaws.md#2-purpose-and-tasks) while representing both users and members, I am not sure why it's bad that we, as appointed representatives, did not (at least this time around).

@tinx @Codeberg It is also possible to raise hell if you think we're not doing our job properly and, as has happened in the past, if you'd like for Codeberg to stand for something but the "presidium isn't listening", it is possible to put a proposal forward and have everyone vote on it (in a more "direct democracy" kind of way).

@n0toose I think this one is not very controversial. However, when I read Codeberg e.V. sign an open letter, in my opinion it could be valuable to inform the members about it before going public. It would at the very least prevent members from being surprised by the action. In more controversial cases, it would give them the opportunity to raise concerns before it goes public. It would also give the statement more power because the members would stand actively behind it.
@Codeberg

@tinx @Codeberg I'll keep that in mind and raise it the next time, maybe we can figure out a quick vibe-check or something without a full-blown vote that would reduce agility, but...

I'm already debating w/ a friend on whether it's really effective to contact your MEPs instead of just the DMA team's e-mail address (and that alone potentially jeopardizing the purpose of a letter - which might or might not be besides the point), let alone given the scale of 1300+ people and 30 day turnover times.

@tinx @Codeberg but to be clear, the case you are mentioning is a hypothetical, and I don't think our process of deciding to stand behind something that we're supposed to represent (whereas otherwise activating as many people as possible makes sense) is much different to that of other orgs (those with assemblies and whatnot) on the list.

@Codeberg For some reason, Bitdefender claims the keepandroidopen[.]org links are suspicious. You might reach out to the KAO folks to have them get to the bottom of that and get them unblocked.

nuclearfog Feb 23

@Codeberg thank you!

𝘋𝘪𝘳𝘬 Feb 23

@Codeberg The thing is ... they KNOW all that. It's just that they don't care, because of money.

Detlef Steuer Feb 24

@Codeberg Happy member here! Good decision!

@Codeberg poke @keepandroidopen

Cassiopeia Mar 1

@Codeberg this open letter (https://keepandroidopen.org/open-letter/) might also be interesting for @digitalcourage

An Open Letter to Google regarding Mandatory Developer Registration for Android App Distribution

Open Letter to Google Regarding Mandatory Developer Registration for Third-Party App Distribution