Bzr is pretty straightforward, especially if you ever used svn, but it might be a little weird from a git background. The first thing to know coming from git is that bzr encourages one directory per branch instead of checking out one at a time in a single shared directory. Then to compare things between branches, use the same regular filesystem-based tools as you’d use for anything else. There is no need to use a vcs-specific tool like one does with git.
The other main difference is it heavily encourages a feature branch workflow. Branch, hack, merge… instead of git’s typical branch, hack, rewrite history, fast-forward. This difference is illustrated in the article I linked earlier, including the commands used. If you’d like to get started, simply install bzr then run “bzr branch lp:flashlight-firmware”.
Finding a curator for circuit designs is a social problem, not a technical one. Is there anyone willing to maintain it, and to actively work toward building the repository? Would you?
As for github organizations, the equivalent in launchpad is groups or teams. Same concept, and it’s easy to set up… but it’s less necessary because Launchpad is organized around projects instead of users. It does a lot of “organization” stuff by default, so groups are only necessary if you want to add a mailing list or assign bugs to an entire team or give multiple people direct write access to trunk. Instead of having people write to trunk, it’s generally recommended to use a merge bot instead, which bases its actions on the results of the built-in code review system. And bugs are an artifact of projects, not users, so there is no need to set aside a special user or organization to act as the center of the branch network. It does the right thing by default.
Despite having quite a few big differences, the two sites are similar enough that either one would probably work fine for BLF purposes. If there is a community consensus to move, it can move. If not, moving would be a lot of effort for very little gain.
About licenses, it is the responsibility of the repository maintainers to respect the wishes of the code authors. Code cannot be added unless it has a compatible license, which is why most of DrJones’ work is not included. Beyond that, it’s mostly a social effort to reach out and ask for permission, and help people understand what the licenses do and why they’re worthwhile, since most people generally would rather not have to care. Adding a strict up-front requirement to use license X to get in the door seems counter-productive, and several large projects have found it slowed development and reduced participation. So I prefer to be as lenient about it as possible.
So, I think there are two open questions:
- Does the code repository need to move to github? Yes, no, and/or don’t care?
- Do we have a volunteer to build and maintain a driver circuit repository?