Issue trackers, review management systems, etc. change so much over decades that not all data can be kept around forever in a meaningful way. In contrast, source code history is simple and migrations between source code management systems are expected to be lossless.
Therefore, I would propose a very simple solution: store all information that we really care about in the git repository. The full VTK revision history is replicated on computers of tens of thousands of people throughout the world, so it should survive unprecedented disasters. All the rest is just nice to have.
We migrated from Mantis to GitLab with preserved issue numbers. The issues linked to Mantis and we copied contents over as needed (e.g., the issue got relevant activity). We have many references to issues and MRs in the history, so keeping those around would be very useful.
Oh do I disagree. Merge requests with the discussions and reviews around design decisions are just as important as the code itself. Issues debating architectures are incredibly important in understanding why a specific architecture is in place in the code. I could write a manifesto on this but will spare you all… though it does raise a concern for me:
A lot of VTK was paid for by the public, through NSF grants, SBIR awards, and national lab contracts, and those awards come with strings.
Under 2 CFR 200.315(b) the funding agency reserves a royalty-free, nonexclusive, irrevocable right to reproduce, publish, or otherwise use work developed under an award and to authorize others to do so, including the right to require that it be made available through an agency-designated public access repository.FAR 52.227-14 gives the government unlimited rights in “data first produced in the performance of the contract,” and data there means recorded information in any form, not only source code.2 CFR 200.337 gives the agency and its Inspector General access to any records pertinent to the award, for as long as those records are retained.
Merge request reviews, issue threads, and design discussions read to me like records pertinent to those tax-payer funded awards.
This is truly an impressive accomplishment!! Let us not gloss over that! And I’m proud to have had the opportunity to work at Kitware with the brilliant people and rich history influencing how Open Source is done around the world!
