[Dune-devel] DOS attacks and the dev meeting

Thu Sep 17 11:28:54 CEST 2026

Dear all, 

I recall that we discussed with the CIT in Münster about hosting/merging the dune services to/with the systems in Münster a few years ago. 

At that time the outcome was similar to Peters experience. Moving the infrastructure was not an option, using uni Münster Services posed significant challenges adding new users. 

By now also NRW has a joint gitlab instance ... <https://git.nrw/de/>

We should try to outsource three services, the important question will be, how will certain administrative processes work, what happens when active members change. We should all try to figure out the findings for any such service we find out about. 

Best Christian 

Am 17. September 2026 11:16:36 MESZ schrieb Peter Bastian <peter.bastian at iwr.uni-heidelberg.de>:
>Hi Bernd,
>
>this sounds interesting, I did not know that. We talked for years with URZ and it did not materialize and that was actually the reason to move our gitlab to Dresden. If it works now, it is fine.
>
>However, what happens of there is no Dune related group in Heidelberg anymore (... I have less than 5 years to go...)?
>
>Best,
>
>Peter
>
>Am 17.09.26 um 11:11 schrieb Flemisch, Bernd:
>> 
>> Dear Dune developers,
>> 
>> 
>> Maybe you're already considering this option, I'd anyway would like to point you to https://bwgit.de <https://bwgit.de>. This aims to be a permanent service, I think staffed with 1-2 full-time equivalents, hosted in Heidelberg and administrated jointly by Heidelberg and KIT. They run a GitLab Enterprise instance.
>> 
>> 
>> The groups on the top level https://bwgit.de/explore/groups/active <https://bwgit.de/explore/groups/active> are structured by location, but there would also be a cross-cutting group "Hubs".
>> 
>> 
>> If someone from a bwGit-participating institution (like Heidelberg) becomes owner of a Dune group, they can invite anybody that can authenticate via Helmholtz ID, including GitHub, Google and ORCID.
>> 
>> 
>> For the reasons mentioned by Christoph, we aim to move Dumux to there from our local GitLab instance. The first contact with the Heidelberg admin was very positive.
>> 
>> 
>> In my understanding, they offer everything that would be required. So far, I only have small-scale experience with two teaching projects with a little bit of CI including pages, https://bwgit.de/st/iws/lh2-lehre <https://bwgit.de/st/iws/lh2-lehre>. Up to now, everything worked.
>> 
>> 
>> You could just contact gitlab-support at urz.uni-heidelberg.de to find out if moving there appears to be promising.
>> 
>> 
>> Kind regards
>> 
>> Bernd
>> 
>> 
>> --
>> _________________________________________________________________
>> 
>> Bernd Flemisch
>> IWS, Universität Stuttgart               phone: +49 711 685 69162
>> Pfaffenwaldring 61              email: bernd at iws.uni-stuttgart.de
>> D-70569 Stuttgart           url: www.iws.uni-stuttgart.de/en/lh2/ <http://www.iws.uni-stuttgart.de/en/lh2/>
>> _________________________________________________________________
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> *Von:* Dune-devel <dune-devel-bounces at lists.dune-project.org> im Auftrag von Christoph Grüninger <foss at grueninger.de>
>> *Gesendet:* Dienstag, 25. August 2026 11:13:08
>> *An:* Robert Klöfkorn
>> *Cc:* dune-devel at lists.dune-project.org
>> *Betreff:* Re: [Dune-devel] DOS attacks and the dev meeting
>> Hi Robert,
>> hi Oliver,
>> 
>> I think Dune as a project does not have the manpower to take care of their own instance of GitLab. Updates, bots, CI issues are all time killers that are not improving our code. On the other hand, what do we gain from hosting it ourselves?
>> I would move to GitLab. Either we pay or we use the open source plan from GitLab [1]. I use it for Alberta-FEM and the yearly process of renewal is okay so far. This would give us access to macOS runners and we can still have CI resources where they are today.
>> Other options like Codeberg or GitHub are possible. I don’t see any advantages, but I might be missing good arguments.
>> 
>> Bye
>> Christoph
>> 
>> [1] https://about.gitlab.com/solutions/open-source/join/
>> 
>>> Am 25.08.2026 um 10:41 schrieb Robert Klöfkorn <robert.klofkorn at math.lu.se>:
>>> 
>>> Hi Oliver,
>>> 
>>> I agree, we need to do something.
>>> 
>>> One option might be to move the public part of our code, i.e. core and
>>> extension and other modules to github (or the like). Then the source
>>> code is publicly available and we can do with our gitlab server as we
>>> please.
>>> 
>>> Regards,
>>> 
>>> Robert
>>> 
>>> On 8/25/26 9:32 AM, Oliver Sander wrote:
>>>> Dear Dune developers,
>>>> 
>>>> the DOS attacks on our GitLab server seem to persist; at least for me
>>>> the server remains largely unusable. Given the origin of these attacks
>>>> we cannot assume that the problem will fix itself automagically at some
>>>> point. We will have to do something.
>>>> 
>>>> And this "something" will need to appear soon. A dev meeting without
>>>> GitLab will be no fun, but even if we fudge access for the registered
>>>> developers that still means that the Dune source code effectively
>>>> disappears for all others. Not good if we want to keep our market share.
>>>> 
>>>> Can I therefore please encourage those with the necessary technical
>>>> skills to form an action group and implement an actual solution to the
>>>> problem (like maybe an Anubis gate)? I don't see any way around doing
>>>> something like that, and then we may as well do it now. Officially
>>>> forming an admin team can then be discussed at the meeting.
>>>> 
>>>> Thank you,
>>>> Oliver
>>>> [who unfortunately does not have the required skills]
>>>> 
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Dune-devel mailing list
>>>> Dune-devel at lists.dune-project.org
>>>> https://lists.dune-project.org/mailman/listinfo/dune-devel
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
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>> 
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