5 ms·

Ask YC: Google Code or Sourceforge

11 points by yourabi 18y ago

I'm starting a new project (GPL apache module)... What do you prefer Google Code or SF.net... reasons?

xenoterracide 18y ago
neither github http://github.com http://github.com main reason. It uses git. Another benefit of github is you can pay for accounts that are private, so if you wanted to host proprietary code. Or things that aren't so much proprietary as personally private (backups). also google isn't supportive of AGPL, I like the AGPL so I can't support them on this one. if you want subversion you should go with sourceforge. I'm not sure which vcs system google uses. (on google code; they use perforce internally) There is also Launchpad for bazaar (bzr) repositories Honestly just pick the one one with the vcs you want to use. EDIT: I've rewritten this like 3 times :P sorry. Should read right now.
- xenoterracide 18y ago
  I'd also like to say... sorry for answering your question in a round about manner and perhaps not the answer you were looking for. I myself am annoyed when I ask one question about A and people answer it with use B. I just want you to be aware of the alternatives.
- daleharvey 18y ago
  google code is also subversion
- aflag 18y ago
  github seems nice. I'd also like to point out savannah (http://savannah.gnu.org/ http://savannah.gnu.org/), which is particularly nice if you intend to use GPL. Also, it's good for leting you know how to properly handle your licenses when you apply for a project. It uses cvs, svn and git.
daleharvey 18y ago
sf.net has a lot of people migrating away because it can be extremely slow, the tracker interface isnt up to scratch, and its quite unreliable (they recently reset everyones password in the middle of an inkscape launch) launchpad seems to be the best tracker around, but if you dont use bzr, or git, I would possibly just put your code on google code and use launchpad for everything else
- yawl 18y ago
  Agree, sf.net has too many projects on it and checkin/chekout speed is very slow sometimes. I have a project on Google Code and so far I am happy with it. I also use github, so far has not seen problems. As ruby on rails moved to git, I believe lots of open source ruby projects may follow.
- eccp 18y ago
  You're right, you can have your code in svn on Google Code, and setup the project on Launchpad, so the code is automagically imported into a Bzr branch. I've got a Bzr branch (https://code.launchpad.net/~vcs-imports/gtkfilesplitter/trunk https://code.launchpad.net/~vcs-imports/gtkfilesplitter/trun...) imported from (http://gtkfilesplitter.googlecode.com/svn/ http://gtkfilesplitter.googlecode.com/svn/)
  - xenoterracide 18y ago
    how is keeping both current working for you?
  - yourabi 18y ago
    Is that automatic, and is it easy to setup? Or do you have to create/import the branch manually?
yourabi 18y ago
xenoterracide: no worries, it was a very helpful reply as I hadn't actually considered launchpad (I always thought of it as an Ubuntu specific project, but clearly I was wrong) I'm already familiar with SVN, so the lazy me would want to go with that -- but I've been meaning to learn git for sometime, and github might be the way to go.
- xenoterracide 18y ago
  I thought the basics of git were easy. But I haven't had to play with others yet. http://git.or.cz/gitwiki/QuickStart http://git.or.cz/gitwiki/QuickStart http://git.or.cz/course/svn.html http://git.or.cz/course/svn.html (for svn users) one thing I just noticed... github offers a wiki for your project but no bug tracker (that I'm aware of) :( I filed a bug with them on it. and if launchpad offers git support it might be the way to go if you'll need a bug tracker soon. (if you won't I'm sure they'll fix that).
  - yourabi 18y ago
    I'm sure GitHub will add a bug tracking system, and in the meantime a simple Wiki is a workable solution for bug-tracking. If it works for Wikia it can work for me too.
    - bretthoerner 18y ago
      Actually, they interface somehow with Lighthouse, a separate service, for bugs. http://www.lighthouseapp.com/ http://www.lighthouseapp.com/
      - apathy 18y ago
        Beat me to it. Although I discovered recently that someone had written a Trac backend plugin for Git, which rules. Trac kicks the living shit out of every other issue tracker I have ever seen. You should look into Trac and/or Trac integration regardless of what VCS you us; all useful VC/SCM systems appear to be supported nowadays (alas, no Visual SourceSafe) http://trac.edgewall.org/ http://trac.edgewall.org/ Trac kicks so much ass. Moving to Trac legitimately made my hobby site real amounts of money because people entrusted us with more goodwill as a result of our quicker responses and better communication under Trac. OOOH LOOKY HERE! A trac-lighthouse comparison: http://warpspire.com/tipsresources/web-publishing/lighthouse-the-bug-tracker-youve-been-looking-for/ http://warpspire.com/tipsresources/web-publishing/lighthouse... AND someone produced a Trac-Lighthouse mirroring tool (not unlike the very useful git-svn SVN-Git mirroring tools): http://github.com/shayarnett/trachouse/tree/master http://github.com/shayarnett/trachouse/tree/master This is just too awesome. Maybe GitHub is truly The Way. I haven't been involved with a Big Project on GitHub yet, only Google Code, so take the following with a metric fuckload of NaCl please. My experience with Google Code has been closest (in terms of communication and transparency) to that of running my own Trac installation. I assume they're converging towards Trac simply because it's the lowest-effort option at a Python shop with an SVN-centric offering. Github is neat but I have begun to wonder if Git and its toolchain isn't a little discouraging for new/dabbling developers on a germinal project. I use both, although I'm beginning to drift away to Git for new work. Then again, I've been using Unix toolchains for 14 years now. I'm the target demographic for Git. Oh, fuck it. This post has just become a catalog of useful links and migration tools for me. If it helps you too, so be it, but writing this much means I have to help myself :-)
eccp 18y ago
I used SF in the past (prior to their svn adoption) and it was slow, lots of forms to fill for a setup, and the process to deliver the downloads was cumbersome. Google Code requires a free Google Account and a simple form. If you can live with svn, you'll find that its features are simple yet powerful (wiki, downloads page, svn browser, issues tracker). Another thing i like is that you can give admin/commit access to other Google accounts easily. Launchpad is also a good alternative if your code is under a free license. You'll have the features of bzr, issues tracker and others, and if you're packing for Debian/Ubuntu, you can use Launchpad PPA to build your packages for 32 and 64 bit architectures for free.
jaaron 18y ago
Google code. SF.net, while trying to make improvements, is hobbled with an old design. Google code is much better. And both use subversion. Interesting choice to GPL an Apache module, though.
dazzawazza 18y ago
You can put your code wherever you like but please put your mailing list on Google Groups. Finding stuff in Google Groups is SO much easier then SF. That may swing your decision.
ionel 18y ago
anything but sourceforge
kilowatt 18y ago
github seems pretty cool so far, BUT I don't like that their webpage is kind of sluggish, or that they delegate issue tracking out to a pay service (lighthouse) in a related note, committing/branching all the time locally and then just doing "git push origin" when I feel like pushing all those changes to github is AMAZING. it really changes the way you deal with rapidly changing code. I'm just learning git but the nerdhype seems strongly justified with this one :)

11 points by yourabi 18y ago

I'm starting a new project (GPL apache module)... What do you prefer Google Code or SF.net... reasons?

neither github http://github.com http://github.com main reason. It uses git. Another benefit of github is you can pay for accounts that are private, so if you wanted to host proprietary code. Or things that aren't so much proprietary as personally private (backups). also google isn't supportive of AGPL, I like the AGPL so I can't support them on this one. if you want subversion you should go with sourceforge. I'm not sure which vcs system google uses. (on google code; they use perforce internally) There is also Launchpad for bazaar (bzr) repositories Honestly just pick the one one with the vcs you want to use. EDIT: I've rewritten this like 3 times :P sorry. Should read right now.

xenoterracide 18y ago
I'd also like to say... sorry for answering your question in a round about manner and perhaps not the answer you were looking for. I myself am annoyed when I ask one question about A and people answer it with use B. I just want you to be aware of the alternatives.
daleharvey 18y ago
google code is also subversion
aflag 18y ago
github seems nice. I'd also like to point out savannah (http://savannah.gnu.org/ http://savannah.gnu.org/), which is particularly nice if you intend to use GPL. Also, it's good for leting you know how to properly handle your licenses when you apply for a project. It uses cvs, svn and git.

daleharvey 18y ago

sf.net has a lot of people migrating away because it can be extremely slow, the tracker interface isnt up to scratch, and its quite unreliable (they recently reset everyones password in the middle of an inkscape launch) launchpad seems to be the best tracker around, but if you dont use bzr, or git, I would possibly just put your code on google code and use launchpad for everything else

yawl 18y ago
Agree, sf.net has too many projects on it and checkin/chekout speed is very slow sometimes. I have a project on Google Code and so far I am happy with it. I also use github, so far has not seen problems. As ruby on rails moved to git, I believe lots of open source ruby projects may follow.
eccp 18y ago
You're right, you can have your code in svn on Google Code, and setup the project on Launchpad, so the code is automagically imported into a Bzr branch. I've got a Bzr branch (https://code.launchpad.net/~vcs-imports/gtkfilesplitter/trunk https://code.launchpad.net/~vcs-imports/gtkfilesplitter/trun...) imported from (http://gtkfilesplitter.googlecode.com/svn/ http://gtkfilesplitter.googlecode.com/svn/)
- xenoterracide 18y ago
  how is keeping both current working for you?
- yourabi 18y ago
  Is that automatic, and is it easy to setup? Or do you have to create/import the branch manually?

yourabi 18y ago

xenoterracide: no worries, it was a very helpful reply as I hadn't actually considered launchpad (I always thought of it as an Ubuntu specific project, but clearly I was wrong) I'm already familiar with SVN, so the lazy me would want to go with that -- but I've been meaning to learn git for sometime, and github might be the way to go.

xenoterracide 18y ago
I thought the basics of git were easy. But I haven't had to play with others yet. http://git.or.cz/gitwiki/QuickStart http://git.or.cz/gitwiki/QuickStart http://git.or.cz/course/svn.html http://git.or.cz/course/svn.html (for svn users) one thing I just noticed... github offers a wiki for your project but no bug tracker (that I'm aware of) :( I filed a bug with them on it. and if launchpad offers git support it might be the way to go if you'll need a bug tracker soon. (if you won't I'm sure they'll fix that).
- yourabi 18y ago
  I'm sure GitHub will add a bug tracking system, and in the meantime a simple Wiki is a workable solution for bug-tracking. If it works for Wikia it can work for me too.
  - bretthoerner 18y ago
    Actually, they interface somehow with Lighthouse, a separate service, for bugs. http://www.lighthouseapp.com/ http://www.lighthouseapp.com/
    - apathy 18y ago
      Beat me to it. Although I discovered recently that someone had written a Trac backend plugin for Git, which rules. Trac kicks the living shit out of every other issue tracker I have ever seen. You should look into Trac and/or Trac integration regardless of what VCS you us; all useful VC/SCM systems appear to be supported nowadays (alas, no Visual SourceSafe) http://trac.edgewall.org/ http://trac.edgewall.org/ Trac kicks so much ass. Moving to Trac legitimately made my hobby site real amounts of money because people entrusted us with more goodwill as a result of our quicker responses and better communication under Trac. OOOH LOOKY HERE! A trac-lighthouse comparison: http://warpspire.com/tipsresources/web-publishing/lighthouse-the-bug-tracker-youve-been-looking-for/ http://warpspire.com/tipsresources/web-publishing/lighthouse... AND someone produced a Trac-Lighthouse mirroring tool (not unlike the very useful git-svn SVN-Git mirroring tools): http://github.com/shayarnett/trachouse/tree/master http://github.com/shayarnett/trachouse/tree/master This is just too awesome. Maybe GitHub is truly The Way. I haven't been involved with a Big Project on GitHub yet, only Google Code, so take the following with a metric fuckload of NaCl please. My experience with Google Code has been closest (in terms of communication and transparency) to that of running my own Trac installation. I assume they're converging towards Trac simply because it's the lowest-effort option at a Python shop with an SVN-centric offering. Github is neat but I have begun to wonder if Git and its toolchain isn't a little discouraging for new/dabbling developers on a germinal project. I use both, although I'm beginning to drift away to Git for new work. Then again, I've been using Unix toolchains for 14 years now. I'm the target demographic for Git. Oh, fuck it. This post has just become a catalog of useful links and migration tools for me. If it helps you too, so be it, but writing this much means I have to help myself :-)

eccp 18y ago

I used SF in the past (prior to their svn adoption) and it was slow, lots of forms to fill for a setup, and the process to deliver the downloads was cumbersome. Google Code requires a free Google Account and a simple form. If you can live with svn, you'll find that its features are simple yet powerful (wiki, downloads page, svn browser, issues tracker). Another thing i like is that you can give admin/commit access to other Google accounts easily. Launchpad is also a good alternative if your code is under a free license. You'll have the features of bzr, issues tracker and others, and if you're packing for Debian/Ubuntu, you can use Launchpad PPA to build your packages for 32 and 64 bit architectures for free.

jaaron 18y ago

Google code. SF.net, while trying to make improvements, is hobbled with an old design. Google code is much better. And both use subversion. Interesting choice to GPL an Apache module, though.

dazzawazza 18y ago

You can put your code wherever you like but please put your mailing list on Google Groups. Finding stuff in Google Groups is SO much easier then SF. That may swing your decision.

ionel 18y ago

anything but sourceforge

kilowatt 18y ago

github seems pretty cool so far, BUT I don't like that their webpage is kind of sluggish, or that they delegate issue tracking out to a pay service (lighthouse) in a related note, committing/branching all the time locally and then just doing "git push origin" when I feel like pushing all those changes to github is AMAZING. it really changes the way you deal with rapidly changing code. I'm just learning git but the nerdhype seems strongly justified with this one :)