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GitLab has a ton of strengths, but still has large weaknesses in the area: gitlab.com implementation and design. gitlab.com is the public 'demo' version which

GitLab has a ton of strengths, but still has large weaknesses in the area: gitlab.com implementation and design. gitlab.com is the public 'demo' version which people compare to github. It's missing a few key items that would make it appealing to open source developers (and that I'd like to see them prioritize.) E.g.: * Site search. It's been broken for months or possibly years. (Response time > 45 secs., Relevancy is miscalculated: "gitlab" itself does not appear in the search results.) * Repo / project discovery and social features are extremely primitive.

sytse 11y ago
I agree we can do a lot better in project discovery on GitLab.com. I do want to mention that https://gitlab.com/explore?utf8=%E2%9C%93&filter_projects=gitlab https://gitlab.com/explore?utf8=%E2%9C%93&filter_projects=gi... gives results in a few seconds and GitLab itself is the first hit.
- sillysaurus3 11y ago
  Want any help? I don't have any interesting answers for your hiring filters. The culture you've built is very rare. I realized that if I felt that way, then I should try to help it become the norm.
  - sytse 11y ago
    We always want help, you can contribute directly or apply to work via http://doc.gitlab.com/ee/project_services/jira.html http://doc.gitlab.com/ee/project_services/jira.html We take all applications seriously but if you feel you got rejected for a bad reason feel free to contact me directly.
    - Cogito 11y ago
      I think your link may be an errant copy paste :) I guess you meant to paste: https://about.gitlab.com/jobs/ https://about.gitlab.com/jobs/
      - sillysaurus3 11y ago
        Yeah, that was the page that convinced me I should try to join. But, "A note on the technical interview: As part of our interviewing process, you may be asked to pick an issue from the GitLab CE issue tracker, and code ‘live’ with the interviewer there to talk with and collaborate with. We do this because we believe that it is the best way for you to see what the work is really like, and for our interviewer to see how you think, code, and collaborate." Actually, it's the opposite of how to find out how I think and code. Do you have a profile on GitLab.com, GitHub or Bitbucket? No. What (open source) project that you built or contributed to are you particularly proud of / passionate about? None. Were you referred by a current GitLab team member? No. I once discovered that one of the most effective developers in the world would've had similar answers.
        sillysaurus3 11y ago
        Is there an extension to hide downvotes, ungray all comments, and hide karma count? If not, I'm going to write one. I know it's just an errant downvote, and people can feel however they want. But the information is no longer useful.
        hobarrera 11y ago
        Given those answers, you really seem to clash with gitlab's culture, regardless of how good a programmer you may be.
        sytse 11y ago
        We also hire people that never contributed to open source but that are great people and are open to our values https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/#values https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/#values
      - sytse 11y ago
        Yes, thanks for correcting me!
        11y ago
- elygre 11y ago
  For an in-house installation, it would also be useful to have an editable front page of some sort. Here, you could publish notable projects, or perhaps the ones most sought after. It would also be a channel for news, faqs, etc. I created an issue at https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/13239 https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/13239.
  - sytse 11y ago
    Thanks, you can use the branded login page for information in the homepage https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/11489 https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/11489
- gnachman 11y ago
  Issue search has a lot of room for improvement. All terms in the search query must occur consecutively.
  - sytse 11y ago
    Totally agree, I hope it will get better after we enable Elastic Search on GitLab.com in a few days.
dhagz 11y ago
That will definitely hurt the FOSS community adopting them, but they're becoming very appealing for private projects. At work I use BitBucket, but GitLab now has better looking Issues, and with built-in CI it's becoming hard for me to resist switching.
trashhalo 11y ago
Totally agree on the project discovery bit. Noticed the same thing when I played with it. I added a couple tickets to try and encourage them to fix it. * Increase the prominence of gitlab hosted projects on about.gitlab. Project search, trending, curated lists. - https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com/issues/558 https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com/issues/558 * Trending project data by language (js, ruby etc) - https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/13475 https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/13475 * Allow projects to flag themselves as looking for contributors - https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/13502 https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/13502 Give them a +1 maybe they will put resources on making gitlab more oss friendly
- sytse 11y ago
  Thanks you for creating those insightful issues, much appreciated.

sytse 11y ago

I agree we can do a lot better in project discovery on GitLab.com. I do want to mention that https://gitlab.com/explore?utf8=%E2%9C%93&filter_projects=gitlab https://gitlab.com/explore?utf8=%E2%9C%93&filter_projects=gi... gives results in a few seconds and GitLab itself is the first hit.

sillysaurus3 11y ago
Want any help? I don't have any interesting answers for your hiring filters. The culture you've built is very rare. I realized that if I felt that way, then I should try to help it become the norm.
- sytse 11y ago
  We always want help, you can contribute directly or apply to work via http://doc.gitlab.com/ee/project_services/jira.html http://doc.gitlab.com/ee/project_services/jira.html We take all applications seriously but if you feel you got rejected for a bad reason feel free to contact me directly.
  - Cogito 11y ago
    I think your link may be an errant copy paste :) I guess you meant to paste: https://about.gitlab.com/jobs/ https://about.gitlab.com/jobs/
    - sillysaurus3 11y ago
      Yeah, that was the page that convinced me I should try to join. But, "A note on the technical interview: As part of our interviewing process, you may be asked to pick an issue from the GitLab CE issue tracker, and code ‘live’ with the interviewer there to talk with and collaborate with. We do this because we believe that it is the best way for you to see what the work is really like, and for our interviewer to see how you think, code, and collaborate." Actually, it's the opposite of how to find out how I think and code. Do you have a profile on GitLab.com, GitHub or Bitbucket? No. What (open source) project that you built or contributed to are you particularly proud of / passionate about? None. Were you referred by a current GitLab team member? No. I once discovered that one of the most effective developers in the world would've had similar answers.
      - sillysaurus3 11y ago
        Is there an extension to hide downvotes, ungray all comments, and hide karma count? If not, I'm going to write one. I know it's just an errant downvote, and people can feel however they want. But the information is no longer useful.
      - hobarrera 11y ago
        Given those answers, you really seem to clash with gitlab's culture, regardless of how good a programmer you may be.
        sytse 11y ago
        We also hire people that never contributed to open source but that are great people and are open to our values https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/#values https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/#values
    - sytse 11y ago
      Yes, thanks for correcting me!
      - 11y ago
elygre 11y ago
For an in-house installation, it would also be useful to have an editable front page of some sort. Here, you could publish notable projects, or perhaps the ones most sought after. It would also be a channel for news, faqs, etc. I created an issue at https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/13239 https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/13239.
- sytse 11y ago
  Thanks, you can use the branded login page for information in the homepage https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/11489 https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/11489
gnachman 11y ago
Issue search has a lot of room for improvement. All terms in the search query must occur consecutively.
- sytse 11y ago
  Totally agree, I hope it will get better after we enable Elastic Search on GitLab.com in a few days.

dhagz 11y ago

That will definitely hurt the FOSS community adopting them, but they're becoming very appealing for private projects. At work I use BitBucket, but GitLab now has better looking Issues, and with built-in CI it's becoming hard for me to resist switching.

trashhalo 11y ago

Totally agree on the project discovery bit. Noticed the same thing when I played with it. I added a couple tickets to try and encourage them to fix it. * Increase the prominence of gitlab hosted projects on about.gitlab. Project search, trending, curated lists. - https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com/issues/558 https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com/issues/558 * Trending project data by language (js, ruby etc) - https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/13475 https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/13475 * Allow projects to flag themselves as looking for contributors - https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/13502 https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/13502 Give them a +1 maybe they will put resources on making gitlab more oss friendly

sytse 11y ago
Thanks you for creating those insightful issues, much appreciated.