Requirements

This project should facilitate free-association among working groups by allowing them to define and sign charters, contracts, and accounting ledgers. When paired with multisignature cryptocurrency and/or (in the future) smart contract technology, this should allow very flexible and self-defined organization indeed.

The specific choices made focus on small, closely related working groups. The Git Guild is not intended to be a single, global network. Sub-guilds should be operated with individual roles and responsibilities.

Git

By choosing to store contracts on git, and focus on git workflows, we are both experimenting with our own self-defined organization model, as well as providing a template for other open source software teams. The nature of a git repository is very similar to a blockchain, in that both are records of all changes that happen to a set of data through time. This means that a git repository can easily be synced with a blockchain for advanced functionality. At the same time, github and others provide easy to use and read tools for markdown and csv documents that the guild publishes. This provides basic transparency and user friendliness for intermediate users.

GPG

The choice of GPG for signing is largely one of convenience. Many git users already sign commits with gpg, and so it should integrate well with their existing identities and workflows. The fact that it is not typically used in tandem with blockchain technology is a bridge we may cross in the future.