Update: The centralised Userscript Repository is now here
During yesterday’s weekly meeting, I suggested a centralised place for all musicbrainz userscripts, we discussed it and now I would like the actual userscript-writers to converse about it.
###My original post was:
while trying to find that userscript earlier I thought of this: why can’t we have a musicbrainz.userscripts thingy on github?bitbucket?, and then actually upload everything, then when people make changes to their userscripts, they can PR/pull/whatever those fixes.
like an official userscripts depository with a stationary url so we can point to one place and that’s where it is.
it could have folders, like “importers”, “editing addition” (for scripts in the editing interface) “web interface” (for things that work on search and viewing like bitmap see inside RG and releases tracks)
loujine suggested maybe a repo linking to subrepos.
I think also CallerNo6 will agree with me that it’s basically it’s a serious pita to find anything like this (having found various links but things are “bleh”) (External Resources - MusicBrainz Wiki)
having a centralised place would really benefit us, I can think of very few reasons not to, and I also think the majority of userscript-editors will be ok with it. it would also be really idea because if ever a script is abandoned by its writer, someone else could fork it and continue.
I also volunteer to chase down people and ask them to upload it to the repo/permission to upload it in their stead.
We had some discussions and many people came up with ideas:
CallerNo6 agrees that there should be only one wiki page listing userscripts. whether they need to be in one repo is up to the authors.
[Freso] I think a MB-centric userscripts.org like place might be better, rather than forcing all authors to give write access to each others’ scripts.
[zas] We can use git submodules if people want to keep control
[Leo_Verto] a github repo with buttons in the readme to add the scripts directly should work
[reosarevok] If someone doesn’t want to put them in the same place, their link can always be added to a readme.md file or something
[CatQuest] that was the other idea i had. if all the userscripts are in one place… then maybe it would be easier to find actual code to implement into mb itself
[Gentlecat] if people want a central directory for userscripts, wiki seems fine
[reosarevok] Well, if people want to be able to share code, then the wiki won’t help muchBut still, this is something to be decided by the userscript writers in the end
[SothoTalKer] zas: it might be an idea to take note of what the userscripts do and if it would be feasible to directly integrate those features in the server.
###basically the cons:
[mayhem] hosting more stuff bugs me, honestly.
[mayhem] where would the web site be at?
[Freso] The userscripts aren’t official MetaBrainz resources anyway.
[mayhem] gonna be fun managing the licenses on this.
[mayhem] arguments against us hosting more shit, having to maintain more shit, and be careful with licenses is all I am saying.
[yvanz] Maybe cleaning the existing wiki pages would do?
[Freso] The userscripts should continue to be 100% community provided.
[Gentlecat] then it’s not really up to us, no?
[chirlu] No, it’s up to the authors (who mostly aren’t at the meeting; not even bitmap because sleep).
[Gentlecat] if people want a central directory for userscripts, wiki seems fine
###the pros:
[zas] it may help to reduce code redundancy, and duplicated userscripts
[Leo_Verto] +1 for an official userscript repo, that would also make it easier to contribute
[Quesito] <3 efficiency +1
[SothoTalKer] but a centralized place would be really really nice, indeed
[zas] But MB should help users to find userscripts and use them somehow, using MB without is a bad experience imho
[Gentlecat] zas: perhaps some of them are worth integrating into the actual project?
[mayhem] in fact userscripts are a great guide for where to start.
###Summary:
Essentially, people agreed that a centralised area for mb scripts is a Good Idea, and that the current situation is confusing, cumbersome and unsatisfactionary, that it’s important that the userscript authors have the last say and that wiki should (at least) be updated, that we don’t want to host this on metabrainz itself proper and that we need to be careful with licenses and maintenance.
But that’s now over to you, the actual userscript writers: what are your thoughts?
@jesus2099, @loujin, @murdos, @Bitmap, @VxJasonxV, @th1rtyf0ur, @dufferzafar, @kuno, @kovacsur, @Freso
