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> Fossil chat is not intended as a replacement or competitor for <list of chat platforms> So what is it for? If it's another inbox to check that's a bit of a p

> Fossil chat is not intended as a replacement or competitor for <list of chat platforms> So what is it for? If it's another inbox to check that's a bit of a productivity drain. I could understand if it was explicitly designed to compete with other chat platforms. This would seem to fit with Fossil's mission well.

mgreenleaf 6y ago
I think the idea is so that core developers have a quick way to chat with one another over design ideas w/o needing to register or setup other infrastructure, then move the best over to the permanent forum record or wiki. Then the core members don't need to have a dedicated channel somewhere else. If they did, then that would be another inbox to check; instead they can check the fossil chat when they are on the project site looking over commits or documentation. So it is just another source of information on the main "fossil channel" instead of another channel to check. Viewing it in that way, it is reducing the number of channels by simply inlining it.
- jayd16 6y ago
  >Then the core members don't need to have a dedicated channel somewhere else. But isn't that "a replacement"?
  - mscrnt 6y ago
    Not a replacement inasmuch as it's not a standalone chat client to be used by disparate users for various reasons. It's a chat client for developers of a given project to convene discussion about work going on in that repository at that point in time. So where Discord, for example, is for anyone to setup a server to discuss anything; Fossil chat is for devs working on projects that already use Fossil to convene discussions pertaining to that repository. You won't setup a Fossil instance just to use as a chat client—because it's not intended as a replacement or competitor for <list of chat platforms>—but if your project already uses Fossil, now you can keep your dev-related chat in-house.
Thursday032521 6y ago
> Fossil chat is designed for use by insiders - people with check-in privileges or higher. It is not intended as a general-purpose gathering place for random passers-by on the internet. Fossil chat seeks to provide a communication venue for discussion that does not become part of the permanent record for the project. For persistent and durable discussion, use the Forum. Because the conversation is intended to be ephemeral, the chat messages are local to a single repository. Chat content does not sync.
- butterisgood 6y ago
  Sounds like a privileged "finger" for a collective ".plan" style uh... thingy.
scambier 6y ago
Most Fossil projects are on the smaller (smallest?) side, apart from 2-3 outliers. They certainly don't have a dedicated IM channel, and they certainly don't need it... except when they do. I could see this as a useful feature when you need to chat with contributors once in a while in a less-formal way than issue comments.
- wyoung2 6y ago
  Yes. Developers working independently is best for productivity, but sometimes you need to coordinate something, which then brings up the question: what to use? The last time I tried to list it, I came up with over a dozen options, all of which either require some sort of admin setup hassle or put you into the claws of some megacorp. With Fossil chat, you've already got Fossil set up, so it becomes the low-friction path.
  - NoodleIncident 6y ago
    I forsee an addition to this diagram with "the chat tab of a shared fossil repo", as one of the completely isolated bubbles to the side https://xkcd.com/1810/ https://xkcd.com/1810/
exDM69 6y ago
Fossil is offline. You sync up when connected and then you have code, issues, wiki, chat that work offline, and sync when connected again. It's not an instant messenger, more like a mail box or a bulletin board. Which works when network is down.
- chillfox 6y ago
  The chat does not sync
  - rkeene2 6y ago
    There are Forums within Fossil for this kind of thing, though.
- samatman 6y ago
  Agh this is a weird combination of accurate and not. Fossil works offline! But leaving a local server up is pretty normal, and that way you get new stuff just as soon as other servers publish it. Also, and unique to fossil, the server is just... fossil, same fossil that runs locally. No Gogs, no Gitlab, just your fossil, their fossil, and fossil on the server, maybe with a "real" webserver in front of it, maybe not. The chat room is clearly intended to be run on an always-on server instance, but there's nothing stopping you from setting it up locally and inviting people to jump on your IP. Well, NAT might well be stopping you... but in principle!

mgreenleaf 6y ago

I think the idea is so that core developers have a quick way to chat with one another over design ideas w/o needing to register or setup other infrastructure, then move the best over to the permanent forum record or wiki. Then the core members don't need to have a dedicated channel somewhere else. If they did, then that would be another inbox to check; instead they can check the fossil chat when they are on the project site looking over commits or documentation. So it is just another source of information on the main "fossil channel" instead of another channel to check. Viewing it in that way, it is reducing the number of channels by simply inlining it.

jayd16 6y ago
>Then the core members don't need to have a dedicated channel somewhere else. But isn't that "a replacement"?
- mscrnt 6y ago
  Not a replacement inasmuch as it's not a standalone chat client to be used by disparate users for various reasons. It's a chat client for developers of a given project to convene discussion about work going on in that repository at that point in time. So where Discord, for example, is for anyone to setup a server to discuss anything; Fossil chat is for devs working on projects that already use Fossil to convene discussions pertaining to that repository. You won't setup a Fossil instance just to use as a chat client—because it's not intended as a replacement or competitor for <list of chat platforms>—but if your project already uses Fossil, now you can keep your dev-related chat in-house.

Thursday032521 6y ago

> Fossil chat is designed for use by insiders - people with check-in privileges or higher. It is not intended as a general-purpose gathering place for random passers-by on the internet. Fossil chat seeks to provide a communication venue for discussion that does not become part of the permanent record for the project. For persistent and durable discussion, use the Forum. Because the conversation is intended to be ephemeral, the chat messages are local to a single repository. Chat content does not sync.

butterisgood 6y ago
Sounds like a privileged "finger" for a collective ".plan" style uh... thingy.

scambier 6y ago

Most Fossil projects are on the smaller (smallest?) side, apart from 2-3 outliers. They certainly don't have a dedicated IM channel, and they certainly don't need it... except when they do. I could see this as a useful feature when you need to chat with contributors once in a while in a less-formal way than issue comments.

wyoung2 6y ago
Yes. Developers working independently is best for productivity, but sometimes you need to coordinate something, which then brings up the question: what to use? The last time I tried to list it, I came up with over a dozen options, all of which either require some sort of admin setup hassle or put you into the claws of some megacorp. With Fossil chat, you've already got Fossil set up, so it becomes the low-friction path.
- NoodleIncident 6y ago
  I forsee an addition to this diagram with "the chat tab of a shared fossil repo", as one of the completely isolated bubbles to the side https://xkcd.com/1810/ https://xkcd.com/1810/

exDM69 6y ago

Fossil is offline. You sync up when connected and then you have code, issues, wiki, chat that work offline, and sync when connected again. It's not an instant messenger, more like a mail box or a bulletin board. Which works when network is down.

chillfox 6y ago
The chat does not sync
- rkeene2 6y ago
  There are Forums within Fossil for this kind of thing, though.
samatman 6y ago
Agh this is a weird combination of accurate and not. Fossil works offline! But leaving a local server up is pretty normal, and that way you get new stuff just as soon as other servers publish it. Also, and unique to fossil, the server is just... fossil, same fossil that runs locally. No Gogs, no Gitlab, just your fossil, their fossil, and fossil on the server, maybe with a "real" webserver in front of it, maybe not. The chat room is clearly intended to be run on an always-on server instance, but there's nothing stopping you from setting it up locally and inviting people to jump on your IP. Well, NAT might well be stopping you... but in principle!