Clarify source code repo and branch on website

[Beep6581]

Hey

Currently it is not at all clear where to find FreeCol's official source code repository and which branch is the main branch.

Specifically:

1. You do have a GitHub account and several GitHub projects, and your GitHub account is what appears first in my Google and DuckDuckGo searches when I use the search terms "freecol source code" or even just "freecol".
2. https://www.freecol.org/how-to-contribute.html

• This page links to various mailing lists. Are you really using mailing lists in 2025? Fine if you are, but as a programmer who lands on this page in 2025 my default reaction is to be doubtful that this info is still valid.
• There is no mention of GitHub anywhere on that page.

3. https://www.freecol.org/community.html

• That page takes me to your FreeCol GitHub account, which lists several projects: the FreeCol game, the website, etc. But it also links to the SourceForge tracker, with no explanation of why there are two sources and what each is for. You must be aware of what SourceForge did starting 2013. Even though they claim to have cleaned up their act in 2016, there is still a very foul taste in the mouth. If a project uses both GitHub and SF, anyone who is aware of SF's decline will by default start with looking at GitHub.

4. https://www.freecol.org/documentation/git.html

• This page states, "We are sometimes developing two versions of FreeCol at the same time: the master version and a stable branch." It does not actually name the branches, implying one is called master and the other stable.
• https://github.com/FreeCol/freecol
• The default branch is not master but sf-auto-merge.
• There is also a branch called master, with no indication of why it is not the default or how it differs from sf-auto-merge.

5. The website's footer shows, "© 2002-2022 FreeCol". Based on experience with many other projects, this is another hint that development has moved to a more modern platform (GitHub, which you have) but the website has not been updated in years.
6. The end of each page includes a SourceForge logo which leads to the SF main page. Not to your project on SF, just to their main page. That seems pointless.

This all leads to confusion.

To remedy the situation, I suggest:

• To clarify where to find the official source code repository and where to file bug reports. This should be clear in the website's menu, e.g. under a new menu item labelled "Development" or "Code" or "Contribute".
• Prune the menu structure. Related topics are currently spread out between "About FreeCol", "Documentation" and "Community". Less is more.
• Which branch in which repo is the main branch. Link to it. Yes, I know there is a link to it somewhere on the website, but it's not clear that this is still valid as explained in the rest of this report.
• Consider maintaining only one repo and one place for bugs/feature requests. Less maintenance overhead, clearer to users and potential contributors.
• Update the date in the footer.

Food for thought: I understand that some developers who have been using SourceForge for many years without issue want to keep using it. Keep in mind that for many other informed developers and users, SF conjures a bad taste in the mouth. Furthermore, as of 2025 there are over 150 million users on GitHub, while SF has only under 3 million. If you were to pick just one, it is clear which is the right choice to maximize the chance of interacting with new developers who are not yet involved with the project.