why are Canonical projects like the Steam snap using Github and not a inhouse solution like Launchpad. The reason I ask is, that I tried to report bugs for the Steam snap and therefore made a Github account, but Github shadow banned me although I am a completely new user and never been on Github. So to lift the shadow ban I wanted to contact the Github support, but I couldn’t without verifying my Github account with my mobile phone. In my opinion it is a privacy violation to demand a mobile phone verification just so I can report bugs. And btw this is not helping a distribution like Ubuntu, because Ubuntu has a bigger percentage of newbies that probably won’t do the mobile verification stuff just so they can report a bug.
So again, why Github for Canonical projects, and can rules or something like that be made, that future projects won’t end up on Github?
I am also a newbie, so please don’t grill me
It’s an understandable frustration when things like that happen, I’ve had similar experiences with trying to maintain privacy.
But to be quite frank, if the in-house alternative is Launchpad and the goal is to attract newbies, I’d personally say Github is far more approachable. It’s had significantly more investment in UX design and is something that’s far more commonly used in the greater context. Admittedly people’s opinions on centralisation have valid concerns, but personally I can’t expect that the majority of people, given the choice of both, would pick Launchpad.
Which is nothing against Launchpad itself, it runs Ubuntu in the background and is custom fit for the job it has, in it’s niche it’s fantastic, but reporting bugs isn’t a niche and Github does great there too. Snaps are universal, so the benefits of Launchpad with regards to distribution versioning for example don’t apply, so that could also be playing a large factor.
Developers are time-poor, and GitHub has a tremendously high number of existing users. So, while on this occasion you experienced some friction, which is unfortunate, many other users and developers will already have a GitHub account and can contribute without such friction.
Most existing users and developers do not have a LaunchPad account.
In addition, GitHub has a suite of built-in tools and integrations with third-party utilities that make life easier for developers and users, which do not exist on LaunchPad.
We all know there are other choices like GitLab, Codeberg, Forgejo and others, but sometimes you just need to use the right tool for the job, even if that isn’t your own tool.
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate that I can use Ubuntu for free and even I heard, that working in IT is not as good as it used to be, but that still sounds like a developer or organization (Canonical) problem to me.
If you work on something like the Steam snap, which is meant mostly for “normal” people and not only for other developers, you need to try to make it as easy as possible to report bugs. If that means to have another account at a different bug-platform or even just a forum, then make one and offer your help there. Of course it doesn’t have to be 20 different platforms, but also not only Github.
Also for example in my case, I tried everything…made an account at Github, wrote multiple posts on Github, just to find out that nobody can see my posts, because Github shadow banned me. And then I can’t even contact the Github support without a mobile phone verification…I mean why doesn’t Github even have a support e-mail you can write to?
Then I tried the matrix gaming channel, but there the developer just told me, not literally, but effectively the same, either to write about my steam snap bugs on Github or just f… off.
With that attitude the year of desktop Linux won’t come anytime soon, that’s for sure.
And judging by the Github blogposts, the changes with the support tickets and the required 2 factor authentication were announced around 2021-2023 and implemented around 2023-2024. So it is fairly new, I would say. Then I look at the Github Wikipedia page: “it has been a subsidiary of Microsoft since 2018”. Well…better start your departure from Github now, before it gets nasty later.
To be fair, I don’t know how it was before Microsoft owning Github in detail, because that is the first time I (tried to) use Github.
In the meantime…can someone give me an advice on how to report my steam snap bugs without Github, since I definetely won’t do the mobile phone verification?
Thanks in advance
Looks like that’s not going to happen. That’s where the devs are doing the work, so that’s where it will be done.
Now, with my moderator hat on:
Your tone is getting rather hostile, so I’d recommend cooling it. If this was your sole purpose for posting here, then you’re going to be met with push-back with that kind of tone.
To quote the Ubuntu Code of Conduct, which you’re bound to abide by while using this Discourse:
Be respectful
Disagreement is no excuse for poor manners. We work together to resolve conflict, assume good intentions and do our best to act in an empathic fashion. We don’t allow frustration to turn into a personal attack. A community where people feel uncomfortable or threatened is not a productive one.
Whether it be an Ubuntu developer, a developer at Canonical, or even Microsoft, we’re not going to judge people based on where they choose to host their source code or even their past actions (within reason) and give second chances. As far as Microsoft, they’ve been good stewards of Github so far, and we’re not going to debate that here.
That said, it is not your decision where developers of the Steam Snap choose to host their code. However, if you wish to participate by reporting a bug, than the onus is on you to take the necessary steps required to identify yourself properly with the proper two-step authentication required by the host to participate.
(I have enabled slow mode to chill things down here)
You’re keen to get involved and that’s commendable. Welcome! I hope we can work together to understand the specific issue you’re having with the Steam snap, and improve the experience. Because that’s why we’re here, right?
You’re also very new here, that’s clear. I’m not showing off, but some of us have been around for a decade or more. The Internet is a big place, and you’ve stumbled into a place where some established people have rules of engagement. If you break those rules, then that’s on you to moderate your behaviour.
Can we please reset, clear out the stress about unrelated issues, and focus on the issue you have.
My offer to you.
I’m happy to turn your bug report into an issue on GitHub - if I can reproduce it .
Please respond with a specific, detailed response about what the issue is and how you think it should work. Let me know if it’s a specific game, or setup, or hardware component you have a problem with.
I will try and reproduce and help you.
I cannot help you with your connection issues with GitHub. I cannot help you with accessing any service via Tor. I cannot help you with your own behaviour, but I am willing to help you report the issue you came here to talk about.
So, let’s skip everything else and focus on that? Deal?
It goes without saying that there really is one reason for accounts, authentication, and—yes— multi-factor authentication: security. That’s a feature, not a bug. That’s why Steam themselves have them. This forum, too!
That said, I see something @popey sees in your posts: a desire to improve things. You wouldn’t write all that if you didn’t care. I urge you to push through your issues creating accounts and help out with Ubuntu and Steam on Ubuntu. We could always use more excited contributors!
@popey Ok, thanks, I would take up on your offer. If you are interested I can give you my Github account, where my posts are still visible if you log in as me, just not for others, since like you know now, I am shadow banned by Github. There is probably all the information you need and you can post it here, or wherever you like. The (debug) information is just not as fresh, since its about one month old. But the problem is the same. There is only one additional problem that I had since then, which could be a security issue, where the Steam snap opened the Firefox snap (which was closed) when I started the game. But we can first start with the issue on Github, if you want. Can I write you my account details with a PM or do I need special rights to do so?
Ah, I completely misunderstood. From your comments above, I thought you had been blocked from GitHub before reporting the issues. My misunderstanding there.
I am not comfortable using someone else’s GitHub credentials, though. If you log in, you could copy and paste them into a text document and share them with me here or privately if you prefer.
I can then try to reproduce the issues or see if there are other duplicates.
As for a game starting with Firefox, I suspect that’s just the game using the standard xdg-open call, which pops open a tab in your browser if it’s open or opens a new instance if it’s closed. It’s pretty common behaviour and not a security issue.
@popey I write this here just for clarity and to be sure, that nothing gets lost like on Github: I wrote you a PM with all the information. If you want to make it public somewhere, I got no problem with that. If you need additional information, just write me.
