continued maintenance of `xgboostlss`

[fkiraly]

@StatMixedML, it does look like this packages and the other estimators for probabilistic prediction and forecasting are lapsing maintenance. It would be very much a shame if that happened, these are useful probabilistic predictors.

Some indications that soon these packages will not be useable:

• no updates since 2023
• ython 3.12 and 3.13 installations are unreliable or impossible, also see update torch, optuna & scikitlearn install deps #77
• soft dependency management is restrictive, with ranges of dependencies restrictive or lapsing Reducing install_requires to minimum (& expand extras_require) and looser version ranges #56

At the German Center for Open Source AI, we would be happy to take on maintenance of these packages.

We are non-profit and will ensure to keep the packages open and maintained. We are also happy to give continuous credit to you or discuss signing of contracts that may be needed for this.

We have done this previously in high-profile cases such as pytorch-forecasting, see
sktime/pytorch-forecasting#1592

What would be required:

• agreement to mission to keep packages open (permissive license)
• technical hand-over - maintainer access to repo, pypi project
• let us know if you want any contracts signed and we can review

[StatMixedML]

@fkiraly Thanks for raising this important issue! I am open to grant you access as a developer, but want to clarify that I don't see a need to move the repository elsewhere or have it hosted under a different repo or organization.

[fkiraly]

but want to clarify that I don't see a need to move the repository elsewhere or have it hosted under a different repo or organization.

Thanks for your swift response!

Transferring assets or repo is not strictly necessary. In fact, it is discouraged.

If you check the GC.OS conditions, we explicitly say that we do not require irreversible actions, especially none that divest you of your assets. Many umbrellas indeed want the community to surrender their legal or technical assets (GH repos, pypi project, trademarks, etc), usually to a US entity, and we expressly do not ask for that.

We would simply like you to keep the packages open and openly governed - as they currently are - and, in fact, would like to help the community to avoid irreversible/divesting actions like the above.

We also are happy to help setting up your community in a way that results in strong independent governance with robust legal posture.
(where, keeping the repos in your personal account is suboptimal, I would recommend an org with you being an admin - but that is not the same as transferring it to a 3rd party)

See here: https://gc-os-ai.github.io/join

Hope that makes sense?