Re: Gnus backend for GitHub/GitLab?

[Eric Abrahamsen <eric@ericabrahamsen.net>]

Adam Sjøgren <asjo@koldfront.dk> writes:

> Watching this video about Magit Forge:
>
>  · https://cestlaz.github.io/post/using-emacs-62-magit-forge/
>
> It hit me that accessing comments on GitHub/GitLab seems like an obvious
> candidate for a Gnus backend.
>
>   * GitHub/GitLab-instance: a Gnus server
>   * Each project you're interested in: a subscribed group
>   * Each issue: a top-level article
>   * Each comment: replies to issues/other comments
>   * Label, State ...: headers that can be edited
>
> I guess Pull/Merge Requests could also be articles in the group, only
> with other default headers shown.
>
> So what I am thinking of is, say, nntp+gitlab.com:bashrc2.epicyon as the
> group, for instance, with articles:
>
>  [Klaus Alexander Seistrup] User and status links: reorganisation?
>  [Alex Schroeder          ] System load
>      [Bob Mottram            ]
>          [Alex Schroeder         ]
>              [Bob Mottram            ]
>                  [Bob Mottram            ]
>                     [Bob Mottram            ]
>                         [Alex Schroeder         ]
>                             [Bob Mottram            ]
>                                [Bob Mottram            ]
>
> (Mapped from https://gitlab.com/bashrc2/epicyon/issues)
>
> Something like that.
>
> Closing an issue could be editing the root-article and updating a
> "Status:" header from "open" to "closed". Changing labels would be
> editing the "Keywords:" header. Deleting would be cancelling the
> article. Creating a new issue: posting a new article. Commenting
> following up.
>
> For public projects you could use scoring to ignore comments from
> trolls. Or bulk delete spam.
>
> I think Gnus would be better suited to this than Magit Forge. Well, if
> you're using Gnus anyway, anyway.
>
> If I had a backend like this, I could turn off notification emails from
> GitLab at work, and I would never have to use the web-interface.
>
> (Well, Gnus would have to support Kerberos in web-requests, so I could
> see the images in the issues, but except for that.)
>
> The more I think about this, the more I like it. Gnus all the things!
>
> What do you think?

I think it's exhausting just to imagine the amount of work that would
take :)

But in principle I think it's a great idea, and I definitely think we
should be pushing the boundaries of what counts as a Gnus server. So many
things could be thought of as groups of sequential messages.

I look forward to your code!

Eric