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Soft launch of open-source code platform for government
71–80 of 143 posts
Re: Soft launch of open-source code platform for government
#72> https://code.overheid.nl/RegelRecht/regelrecht > Machine-readable Dutch law execution. regelrecht takes legal texts, encodes them as structured YAML, and runs them as deterministic decision logic. The engine takes a regulation and a set of inputs, evaluates the decision logic, and returns a result with a full explanation trail Can someone explain this to me? Not the technical aspect, but rather a user story or use…
I imagine if a new law is introduced or a change to an existing law is proposed it can auto-check for consistency, collisions with other laws, auto-flag laws that need to be amended together or things like that.
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Re: Soft launch of open-source code platform for government
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
NLNet is funding open source projects to the tune of tens of millions of euros per year, and it is Dutch.
NLnet (the foundation) is Dutch, but as far as I know NLnet Labs (which does the work and spends the money) is at least partially funded by Germany (through the Sovereign Tech Fund). I don't have the numbers at hand and cannot dig them up right now. If anyone knows the extent of participation of each country that'd be definitely interesting for others too.
I think NLnet Labs is indeed like 50% funded through German Sovereign Tech Fund, but most of NLnet + the rest of NLnet Labs is funded via EU project funds or other public programs. I don't think NLnet receives anything at all from the Dutch government AFAIK, and NLnet Labs gets tiny amount of funds via Dutch SIDN subsidy I guess, but that's pretty much it.
This is all (tried to) rememberings from meetings in 2024 sometime, so could be different today.
Re: Soft launch of open-source code platform for government
#74Is there a network or organization for the coordination of government open source projects? I love the idea of my city, region or nation (or planet) working to solve a problem and releasing the tool to the public. I just don't want every government to duplicate all the same work, some duplication and competition is fine. But the idea that different places have different specialities etc....
In the Netherlands municipalities have been collaborating for years already to build an open source ecosystem: https://commonground.nl/ We have 342 municipalities, all buying the same apps (from 3 or 4 vendors) to deliver basic services to their citizens. Common Ground aims to replace all of those with open source solutions.
Hey, I would love to contribute to this project. Is there a list of repo's I can take a look at and contribute?
I see some communities, seems like each community has their own setup, some of them have github links.
Re: Soft launch of open-source code platform for government
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
I mean...it's a soft launch, not sure what you expect.
It's a public website, and it's advertised on HN, and after all the failures of the Dutch government to run independent IT infrastructure, we hoped for a better launch.
> after all the failures of the Dutch government to run independent IT infrastructure,
name a few? the infra seems relatively stable. the only api ive used so far doesn't even have rate limiting, so i can queue ~10 requests at once and they all return fine.
Re: Soft launch of open-source code platform for government
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
Since a lot of this discussion is talking around the actual situation, let me try and explain it in more detail. The dutch government has an authentication system called DigiD. It's effectively an OAuth protocol for government sites, and one of the few ways in which the Dutch government has centralized IT. Every dutch citizen can get access to it, and probably will need it at some point to deal with the government (p…
We have something similar in Spain too, and I'd be outraged if the government planned to sell it all to a US company as well, don't get me wrong. But I still don't see the "inaction of blocking the sale" as proof that the government is planning or trying to push that sale through, regardless if I personally happen to disagree or I see the drawbacks from it.
I sorta alluded as to how the government is pushing the sale through, but to reiterate more clearly, and with political detail:
* In early 2025, the previous dutch government lost majority coalition support. The previous government remains in power until a new one is elected, but isn't expected to make major decisions any more; they're effectively just stewards to ensure the country isn't totally leaderless[0] (this is also called a demissionary government here).
* In late 2025, a new second chamber is elected and work on a coalition begins. Until a new coalition is formed, the previous government remains in power.
* In November 2025, right around this, Kyndryl announces it's takeover of Solvinity. The demissionary government gives initial approval for the takeover and decides that the takeover won't mess with the DigiD contract.
* In January 2026, the deal begins to fall under scrutiny in IT/privacy circles and some political parties express their concerns, but not much media attention is drawn to it at first. The ACM (dutch antitrust authority) also gives it's approval for the sale. All this still happens under the demissionary government.
* In February 2026, the new coalition government is sworn in. Scrutiny on the deal is starting to intensify and media coverage becomes more public.
* In late April 2026 (as in, last week), parliament passes a motion to request to change away from Solvinity in 2028. At the same time, the minister responsible for the sale is answering press questions about the sale, indicating he doesn't intend to block the sale. Just four days ago, the minister publishes a formal letter to parliament, effectively saying that they aren't stopping anything and that the government already gave preliminary approval to extend the DigiD contract with Solvinity (a separate matter, but just as related) back in March (so under the current government). They expect to ink it before the end of next week (May 6th.)
Somewhere between March and April, some internal government employees also step to the press to warn them about the sale in terms of a national security threat, but I don't exactly recall when on the timeline that happened.
The reason why the government is getting the blame for it isn't just inaction; they aren't standing by and letting something they had no involvement with (since the previous government was demissionary) happen - they're actively choosing to continue the motions of the previous demissionary government - including signing contract extensions that the previous government wasn't involved with - in spite of the very clear pushback they're getting from doing so.
[0]: This is the abbreviated version - somehow the previous government managed to lose coalition support twice, even when it was already demissionary. It's not normal for two parties to pull out like that on separate occasions.
Re: Soft launch of open-source code platform for government
#77In Germany, we have the similar portal https://opencode.de (no relation to the coding agent)
It's built on Gitlab and does everything you need your git to do.
They also provide hardened base container images at https://container.gov.de
Re: Soft launch of open-source code platform for government
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
NLNet is funding open source projects to the tune of tens of millions of euros per year, and it is Dutch.
NLnet (the foundation) is Dutch, but as far as I know NLnet Labs (which does the work and spends the money) is at least partially funded by Germany (through the Sovereign Tech Fund). I don't have the numbers at hand and cannot dig them up right now. If anyone knows the extent of participation of each country that'd be definitely interesting for others too.
NLnet Labs was started by NLnet but now independent.
https://nlnetlabs.is.not.nlnet.nl/
Funding for NLnet Labs is largely from paying customers for development of DNS software.
NLnet funds development of the full stack of communication technologies from chip design to office suites. Funding for NLnet comes from public institutions, private companies and citizens.
Re: Soft launch of open-source code platform for government
#79The day government moves away from proprietary software and extyernal services (especially cloud storage holy god) must come. I'll be here for it
Re: Soft launch of open-source code platform for government
#80Proud dutchie here! I was wondering this morning whether they were going to migrate away from GH. Really glad that they did. I remember applying for a job (at some weird company) to be put up as an open-source contributor for the dutch government last year. The idea was that I was going to build on top of MuleSoft stuff. They ghosted me a day later, despite me having already done these things for the client they need…
One of the projects I work on, OWF, has great engagement with our open source efforts from Dutch companies and NGOs.