Deprecate exiv2.org and binary builds for v1.00

[clanmills]

I've decided to deprecate exiv2.org with v1.00 and move those resources to the GitHub wiki for the following reasons:

1 Having our own web-site is a 20 year old idea. The GitHub Wiki is a viable alternative.
2 I pay the hosting build. I doubt if anybody will pay this.

I think we should discontinue publishing binary builds of Exiv2 for the following reasons:

1 Platform package managers can build on demand.
2 Providing the builds It takes effort without adding value.
3 Exiv2 is an open-source project. It's not an end-user application like darktable.

[prokoudine]

Relying on 3rd party infrastructure for everything opens the gates for all sorts of crazy.

https://www.gimp.org/news/2015/05/27/sourceforge-what-the/

You can run a small static website without downloads on render.org with a free account.

You can talk to Pixls.us team about hosting exiv2.org.

But it is ultimately your decision. No pushing.

[clanmills]

@prokoudine Thanks for your input/feed-back.

I will admit that my primary reason to discontinue exiv2.org was to stop paying the bill! I hope to finally retire and get out of Exiv2 and I was thinking "Who's going to pay for this?". Since I wrote this issue report, the folks at discuss.pixls.us have offered to host exiv2.org (for which I am the registered owner in whois).

So, maybe everything will simply continue into the future with no change being visible to Exiv2 users.

There was a discussion on the Exiv2 chatserver about publishing binary builds. The discussion was inconclusive. At least one participant was totally opposed to providing binary builds.

Currently, I build the release bundles on a Mac Mini at home. I do this to be confident about the pedigree of the build machine. I'm pleased to say that in the last 9 months there has been a surge of new contributors. I'd like to see somebody else take on the chore of release engineer. So, although this issue will remain open as we move towards the v1.00 milestone (scheduled for 2021-12-15), it could well be resolved as "Withdrawn".

[imsodin]

The move to KDE (#1494) can also help with this: They do provide hosting. They also have infrastructure to build and distribute binaries.

[clanmills]

That's good to know. I'm very tempted by Pat David's offer to host exiv2.org. I think Nehal can do that for us with very little effort (by Nehal) and very little pain (for anybody). And my wife will stop complaining about the bill (she deals with our finances, I do intellectual property).

At the moment, I think we're going to reach v1.00 on 2021-12-15. I hope one of the new contributors will offer to take "Release Engineering" off my back. I will of course mentor/coach. However, once somebody owns that, I can finally escape from Exiv2.

One of the wins that KDE offered was to take care of localisation. Let's see how Leonardo/Crowdin works out in 2021.

Next year (2022), I think Exiv2 will join KDE. KDE will not accept Exiv2 being hosted on GitHub. So, some disruption will be involved. We can reach v1.00 in 2021 and then join KDE. I feel that is much better that joining KDE in 2021 and probably never reaching v1.00.