Hi list, tldr; Sourceforge has bundled malware with older Windows binaries for Gimp and apparently moved an old Sourceforge repo for nmap to a mirror where the nmap author does not have access. (Sourceforge claims it never bundles adware with security software, but that isn't at all reassuring.)
Please search the web for "sourceforge and gimp" and "sourceforge and nmap" and read a few of the relevant news items for further detailes.
Three suggestions:
- We should migrate away from Sourceforge.
- We should make sure the current Pd Sourceforge repo doesn't become
inactive. 3) Once safely migrated, we should change to the Sourceforge code and release a Pd-extended binary on Sourceforge whose only function is to display a warning message to the user in the main Pd window. The warning should alert the user that Sourceforge is no longer the repo for any flavor of Pd, and that they should uninstall it and scan for malware. 4) We should maintain active accounts on Sourceforge to make sure the current binaries never become a target for delivering malware.
I contacted the Oregon State University Open Source Labs, and it looks
like they can help us host at least the svn, git repos, and binaries.
It may also be possible to have infrastructure for some nightly builds,
but since Pd-extended's nightly builds aren't operational atm that's not
a priority.
If anyone wants to help, take leadership, or perhaps suggest an alternative plan that'd be great. I contacted OSUOSL because they have a long history hosting free software, are non-commercial, and are student-centric.
If anyone is thinking, "Why not just move to Github?" the answer is that ten years ago Sourceforge _was_ Github. We see how that is turning out.
-Jonathan