[x3d-public] gitlab x3d resources group

[Andreas Plesch]

I would like to get input and feedback on creating a x3d-related group
under a personal gitlab account (perhaps mine).

The background is that I am contemplating using gitlab for static site
hosting, for x3dom related material such as development releases,
documentation, an x3d viewer/in browser editor or a gltf viewer. These
materials are currently hosted under my personal github account at
andreasplesch.github.io but I would like to move away from using that.
Unfortunately, github only allows one account per user or organization
so I cannot in good faith just create another github account (say
x3dom-unoffiicial).

Gitlab is similar to github but has more powerful project management
features even for the free tier. Gitlab also only allows one user per
account (I believe) but each account can have multiple roots or
"groups" which themselves then can contain multiple repos. For
example, I may create an x3dom-unofficial group under my account. If
used for static website hosting, a  corresponding url would be
x3dom-unofficial.gitlab.io from which then x3dom related materials
could be served. "x3dom-resources" could become another group. Gitlab
groups are collaborative with assigned owner, maintainer, developer,
user and other roles for invited collaborators.

It is therefore natural to expand on this idea and think about a
larger "x3d-resources" or similar gitlab group, used as an option for
hosting of any x3d related resource. The main benefit would perhaps be
to have the option to share a common url for diverse resources. I
think this could be seen as complementary to web3d hosted material, so
maybe a "web3d-aux" group may be more appropriate. A
x3d-resources.gitlab.io site could then host x3dom related materials
under x3d-resources.gitlab.io/x3dom, for example. Other materials
could be served from similar urls. gitlab also supports forwarding
from a gitlab url to any other url. All gitlab repos can be automated
using ci runners (on gitlab servers). This is crucial since all
maintenance would need to be largely automatic.

What are your thoughts on "x3d-*" groups on gitlab ? A potential
headache due to a potential for x3d confusion or a valuable option to
perhaps allow for larger participation ?

Thanks for reading and apologies for the longer than anticipated message.

-Andreas

-- 
Andreas Plesch
Waltham, MA 02453