Post AdKyXn9rXAYsiYl7wm by kik@techhub.social
(DIR) More posts by kik@techhub.social
(DIR) Post #AdKyXlc9H201vhygl6 by kik@techhub.social
2023-12-30T11:24:28Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
So, how is #ActivityPub implementation in #GitLab going? Steadily, if a bit slowly!In the last four months, we've been working on implementing the first ActivityPub actor, the one allowing to subscribe to projects releases. The ActivityPub part is already written, but there will still be a couple month before it's fully merged. Turns out that the most time consuming part is code review : there is no dedicated team to this (but there is a dedicated developer assisting me, thanks Patrick!), so people reviewing code discover ActivityPub at the time they have to review it (and, by the way, it's incredible how they get out of their way to help a contributor on such a complex subject, they rock). For that reason, we have to make smaller than usual merge requests, splitting the feature as much as possible, and then some again, to make it as easy to understand as possible. And even then it usually takes about a month to get one chunk merged.
(DIR) Post #AdKyXn9rXAYsiYl7wm by kik@techhub.social
2023-12-30T11:25:28Z
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When the ActivityPub part is ready, it will still need the HTTP signature part to implement authorization (otherwise, anyone can subscribe/unsubscribe anyone) which is the next feature I'll work on, and then we still need to implement the WebFinger protocol to be compatible with Mastodon. So yeah, it could easily take 6 more months just to release the first actor.Which does not mean, by the way, that each further ActivityPub feature will take that much time, we're not "just creating the first actor", we're building the architecture all actors will use, so it was expected to be a long one (I did not expect it would take _that_ long, though, but there is some sort of a culture shock, here, I'm not used to work with companies that big 😅).
(DIR) Post #AdKyXomtTXNRlu1oQK by kik@techhub.social
2023-12-30T11:26:27Z
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One other factor that will slow down things is that I'm going to need a new job. I would really have loved to work at GitLab with a team dedicated to ActivityPub, then we could have got things really moving. I offered them, but they were not interested. 🤷 So it means I'm going to have to work on something else and won't be able to work full time on ActivityPub like I was doing so far. That's OK when we're in code review because it's low intensity work, but I won't be able to do serious work on new features outside of week-end. Maybe if I could do part time work, I could keep it going as is. Let me know if you know of an opening for doing that remotely (rails/go/frontend javascript, I can bill anywhere in the world).
(DIR) Post #AdKyXq8CTo0xwH0LGy by kik@techhub.social
2023-12-30T11:27:16Z
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I'm also considering opening a #patreon or something like that (I have yet to research what the best platforms are). I could use it to work mainly on adding ActivityPub to GitLab, but then also make patrons vote on Fediverse/self-hosting projects or contributions I would work on as side projects while waiting for GitLab code reviews. The good news is that I don't need much, I'm used to live on minimum wage and to keep the difference I make with my engineer salary to invest and fund my own projects (that's what allowed me to start working on ActivityPub, btw). Still, I have a feeling that growing a patreon to even make minimum wage could take a long time. I have no experience with such business model, does anyone have some insight to share, here?