The GitLab for Open Source program was created because GitLab believes in a world where everyone can contribute and we like to support those who share our mission.
Public open source projects requiring GitLab Ultimate features will need to be part of the GitLab for Open Source program as a result of changes to our free tier. Those changes include:
Free tier public projects will no longer receive Ultimate by default and must apply for Open Source program to continue benefits.
Public projects will be included in the CI/CD minutes quotas of 400 minutes for free users.
A detailed frequently asked questions document outlines the upcoming changes and how you can manage the changes to your free GitLab SaaS account.
In order to publish your feedback regarding this change, please add a reply to this thread.
Thank you very much for taking the time to provide us with your perspective. Please allow our Product Team some time to review the input you add here.
@sugaroverflow How does one chase up an application to the GitLab for Open Source program? I completed the process (on behalf of our community organisation) a number of weeks back but still havenât received a response.
Hello @myii - Thanks for reaching out. I just replied to your email as well. Your application was marked as expired in our queue (not entirely sure why yet). Weâll take a look at it today! Thanks for your patience and interest in joining the GitLab for Open Source Program.
Thanks, @chupy. I did get an e-mail, which I responded to last Friday. I havenât received a response since then, so Iâd appreciate it if you could have another look.
Reading the FAQ, I would ask for clarity on the following point
Q. I am an active contributor to GitLab. Will the same limits be applicable to me as well?
A. All free tier users receive 50,000 CI/CD minutes for running pipelines on public forks of public open source projects, like GitLab. Contributions to all other projects by free tier users are subject to the new limits
When this refers to âopen source projectsâ, is this meaning all public projects under an open source license, or is it only meaning those subset of open source projects who have chosen to join the âGitLab for Open Source Programâ ?
Iâm hoping it refers to the former, because I suspect many (possibly even most) smaller scale OSS projects arenât going to jump through the hoops to join the special Program.
Iâm pretty sure it means you would have to be registered with the Open Source program. Otherwise everyone could claim open source and abuse all the minutes and Gitlabâs platform - just like when people were crypto mining and killing all the shared runners.
I have a couple of questions before I apply to the program on behalf of our community.
1- One of our projects has a dual license Apache 2.0 AND BDS-3-Clause (both OSI approved),
with 2 license files, GitLan shows âOtherâ in the overview.
I unsuccessfully tried different things to make GitLab identify both licenses, so I can take the first screenshot of the project overview, the only workaround I found was to concatenate both files in one LICENSE file but GitLab only identify the Apache 2.0 license, itâs that ok?
2- Also a project in the same namespace, is the website HTML code of the project (using a GitLab Page), its license is CC-BY-SA-4.0, which is not listed as OSI approved.
Could this be a problem when applying for the Open Source program?
Thanks for sending along your questions. I am happy to help. Iâll address each one below.
1- One of our projects has a dual license Apache 2.0 AND BDS-3-Clause (both OSI approved), with 2 license files, GitLan shows âOtherâ in the overview. I unsuccessfully tried different things to make GitLab identify both licenses, so I can take the first screenshot of the project overview, the only workaround I found was to concatenate both files in one LICENSE file but GitLab only identify the Apache 2.0 license, itâs that ok?
Thanks for bringing this to our attention, and for your kind offer to concatenate the files. But that wonât be necessary. When you apply, simply choose either license to screenshot and weâll take it from there.
2- Also a project in the same namespace, is the website HTML code of the project (using a GitLab Page), its license is CC-BY-SA-4.0, which is not listed as OSI approved.
Youâre correct that Creative Commons licenses arenât OSI-approved; however, as the CC-licensed project is among many other projects in your namespace that are carrying OSI-approved licenses, I feel confident saying this wonât be an issue for your enrollment in the GItLab for Open Source Program. Weâll know for sure when weâre able to review your application.
I hope that helps! Looking forward to seeing your application.
I applied for the program, and Iâve been verified for the open source program (thanks ),
when I try to register in the gitlab customer portal, I need to complete the: Company / Organization Name, Total number of employees, etc.
But, I applied on behalf of our community (virtio-fs), what should I put as organization and num employees? (as an oss project, we donât have any employee). Also, I assume the City, Postal Code, Country and State is where I live, am I rigth?
Also, not sure about the VAT
Thanks for checking in, @germag, and welcome to the program!
Donât sweat these details too much. You can list your open source projectâs name as the organization. As for employees, you can simply input the number of contributors you believe your project has (an estimate is fine, as we know this number can be difficult for some projects to calculate). Using your own address for contact details is fine. And I donât believe youâll need to worry about VAT.
Give it a try with those details and let us know if you encounter any issues. Weâre here to help.
Hello,
we have a Creative Commons (Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0) project that we would like to enroll in the GitLab for Open Source Program, but unfortunately CC is not on the list.
However, since this is a website with a content CC is a way more suitable license for our case.
I tried applying this project nonetheless as I felt I was out of options but have not hear back for a very long time so I expect it has just been silently rejected.
I understand this is a long shot, but would it be possible either to extend the list of approved licenses to include CC or perhaps add an option to grant some projects an exception?
PS. I can see it being touched above already ^ - so I wonder if our request just got lost somehow.
Hi @zubozrout! Thanks for reaching out. Iâm happy to have a look into your application. Do you happen to have your request ID handy? I can use that to review your application. We experienced some issues with our submission form (now resolved) that resulted in a few applications getting lost. Perhaps yours was one of them. If so, I apologize. But weâll do what we can to make it right.
Never a long shot to suggest changes to the program or its requirements! Weâre always looking for ways we can modify and improve. Iâll be sure to note and pass along your suggestion. Meanwhile, you and I can work together on your particular case to see what weâre able to accommodate
Hi @bbehr, thank you very much for your reply. I wish I had the ID - I didnât receive any email. I did try to make a new application today but all I got is a confirmation and info it could take 3-5 business days or 10 if things are busy. I can give you this project url if that can help filter things out: https://gitlab.com/OpenAlt/UbuntuCZ/ubuntu-cz
Benefits of the GitLab for Open Source Program apply to an entire namespace, and to qualify a namespace must contain projects that carry OSI-approved open source licenses. This means that your application would apply to https://gitlab.com/OpenAlt.
But when I review the space I see many projects containing code that doesnât meet this requirement (most of the projects have no specific licenses appended to them, which means theyâre conventionally copyrighted by default). While a Creative Commons license may apply to a websiteâs âcontentâ or other creative material, the code serving this material should be openly licensed.
In the case of https://gitlab.com/OpenAlt, this would mean clarifying the license(s) each of the projects in the namespace is intended to carry and updating them accordingly. Alternatively, you can move an openly licensed project to its own namespace and submit a program application for that new namespace.
Thank you very much again @bbehr. This is very useful info and something we can work with. But your suggestion makes me wonder, can we somehow have two licenses at the same time as part of one project the way it would work in this case? Because what we are having here is a website with only a few scripts to support it. And while CC may not be ideal for the code itself, it now targets everything that is in the repository including those scripts. Or is it ok to keep as is in this particular instance, all just under CC?
It is not possible to have two GitLab Ultimate subscriptions tied to the same namespace as you describe here. The subscription covers an entire namespace and all the projects contained within it. Individual projects canât have their own subscriptions.
Creative Commons licenses are really meant to cover creative works that arenât software; they apply to things like written texts, musical recordings, images, and the like. These would govern the written content of the material on your website(s), but thatâs not really whatâs at issue in this case.
Whatâs at issue here is the software youâre hosting in your various projects and the way itâs licensed, even if itâs âonly a few scriptsâ . Those scripts are the software an OSI-approved open source software license would cover, and they are the components that need to bear open source licenses in order for your entire namespace to qualify for the program.
If one or two projects in a namespace donât meet program requirements, then thatâs okay. For example, perhaps one or two might carry a Creative Commons license, or one contains personal data or sensitive information may and is therefore non-public. We make certain exceptions in these cases. On the whole, however, to receive a GitLab Ultimate subscription as part of the GitLab for Open Source Program, an applying namespace must house only projects licensed with OSI-approved open source software licenses.
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),
. Those scripts are the software an OSI-approved open source software license would cover, and they are the components that need to bear open source licenses in order for your entire namespace to qualify for the program.