Releasing the PyPi package name and transferring it to Funkwhale's actively maintained ActivityPub library

[almereyda]

Half a decade after the last commit here, ActivityPub is still gaining traction and continues to build the foundation for another social web. To support the Python ecosystem with a generic ActivityPub library, which e.g. could be shared across projects, the Funkwhale project used its grant funding to start a new effort.

Unfortunately the name of the library clashes with another project already present on PyPi and completely unrelated:

• https://pypi.org/project/pyfed/
• https://dev.funkwhale.audio/funkwhale/pyfed/-/blob/main/pyproject.toml?#L6

@dsblank Would you be open to releasing the name of this package to Funkwhale, in so we can rename to activitypub and release to PyPi? https://nlnet.nl/project/Funkwhale-AP/ comes with dedicated energy to continue the work begun earlier.

I'm assuming there are not many downstream or active uses of the activitypub library as currently pushed to PyPi, but that assumption might be wrong.

Many thanks for any ideas.

[dsblank]

Hello! Yes, I am open to the idea to make better use of this name. What is the idea that pyfed would be? Is it specifically audio-based? I would think that a name like "activitypub" should be used in for a general project.

[jameswynn]

My understanding is that Funkwhale's "pyfed" project is indeed intended to be a general purpose and extensible activitypub library. The AP ecosystem definitely needs more support on the Python front.

[almereyda]

Glad you like the idea. Let's wait for a voice of the Funkwhale and library maintainers.

[dsblank]

Do the funkwhale maintainers know about this? Are they interested?

[almereyda]

Yes, we are discussing this internally. Due to summer holidays and the global spread of the small group across continents this coordination takes some time. In other words: the group is not opposed, but we couldn't get the original author of the library to weigh in their word, yet. Maybe we need to make a collective decision without their consent.

[almereyda]

The original author has reappeared and is settling into a new home after a move. News due soon, I guess.

[almereyda]

So the author also would like to publish their library to PyPi under the activitypub name.

While Funkwhale maintains its own ActivityPub code and does not use the library, somewhat the package remains under its (fiscal) umbrella (for now) and we also have resources assigned to continuing its development within the next funding round.

[dsblank]

I'll need someone from the organization that can accept the transfer (I think it goes to the associated email address of the account).

[almereyda]

I'm in course of requesting an organisation at PyPi that holds shared assets for the associated community.

To do that I have registered as user jonr, which was still free. https://pypi.org/user/jonr/ You will recognise me by my avatar. Would that information be sufficient to already add me as a second user to your project, before it could be moved into the organisation?

Else for privacy concerns I'll send you the associated email address privately via your @gmail.com inbox published on your GitHub profile, if you don't mind.

[dsblank]

So the author also would like to publish their library to PyPi under the activitypub name.

Can you point to any public discussion with the pyfed owners/authors regarding this?

Why don't they just make the transfer request directly?

[almereyda]

The conversation is happening in a Mattermost channel that is also bridged to Matrix at #funkwhale-dev:matrix.org, if I may point you there. Yet it seems the bridge was not running due to the time that conversation went by.

Maybe @petitminion can confirm the shared maintenance on Funkwhale and of the pyfed library? I'm also part of the group, if there was a confusion, but I wasn't involved with pyfed directly. I'm personally just trying to sustainably maintain the resources under our shared umbrella und giving exposure to work that produces recurring interest in the community is one way for me to do it.

Else I could restage the conversation on the public https://forum.funkwhale.audio/ and have it run through the community again, if you like.

PS: We also have an interest publishing our application through PyPi, why the new namespace will only slowly grow to be used when we manage to package and release our project there.

[almereyda]

@dsblank I'm now owner of the Funkwhale organisation, which was approved yesterday.

For this to move along, we need to increase privilege at one point.

We could invite your user https://pypi.org/user/dsblank/ into the new Funkwhale organisation and give it sufficient (ownership) privilege, in so you can pass on the PyPi package by yourself.

Or you add my account https://pypi.org/user/jonr/ to the project https://pypi.org/project/activitypub/ and I move it over, as far as I can tell. https://docs.pypi.org/organization-accounts/actions/project-actions/ lists some steps that can be taken, but I don't find the documentation piece anymore, which said to add a collaborator as Owner to an organisation and let them transfer the project ownership on their own.

Which course of action do you prefer?

Edit: I've asked the other developers again to chime in here and have also started a public forum discussion, so you can see we're really Funkwhale and no scammers. https://forum.funkwhale.audio/d/673-slowly-continuing-the-pyfed-development-as-community-projects

[supersonicwisd1]

Hi everyone, I’m Kenechukwu, one of the original authors of PyFed, I’ve been away for a bit, which is why I haven’t replied earlier.
The original goal behind pyfed was to provide a general-purpose ActivityPub library in Python, so I’m fully aligned with the idea of continuing that vision within a community-maintained context. Bringing it under the Funkwhale organization and having shared stewardship makes a lot of sense to ensure long-term maintenance and collaboration across projects.

I’m completely supportive of this direction and happy to assist with any transition or coordination needed to make it happen. Thanks @almereyda and @dsblank for keeping this alive and coordinating things.