4 ms·

Would it not be possible to move to some decentralized Github alternative?

by DavideNL 6y ago

RealStickman_ 6y ago
The problem is finding a good alternative and getting everybody to move there.
- toyg 6y ago
  “Everybody” is surely not a massive amount of people for youtube-dl. I mean, it’s hardly the Linux kernel... let’s remember that this is just about developers, distribution is a separate (arguably easier to solve) problem.
  - usr1106 6y ago
    And even the Linux kernel does not use a centralized 3rd party service. They use only email. Of course the server hosting LKML or in the end Linus' mailbox are single points of failures.
metters 6y ago
There was a hackernnews article about a decentralised github (not yt-dl) yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24874994 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24874994
hk__2 6y ago
You can’t decentralise issues and pull-requests. Edited: as pointed-out, Fossil supports decentralized issues (but not PRs). However, Fossil is a totally different system than Git.
- justaj 6y ago
  It's amazing that no one has thought to do this yet considering the checkered history of GitHub's compliance with DMCA takedowns.
  - Izkata 6y ago
    In the early 2010s, there were a whole bunch of distributed issue trackers for git. They all died out due to various problems, such as working across branches, polluting the commit history, extra commands to keep synced (including not getting retrieved with the initial clone), not having a web view for project managers/bug reporters, etc. I think this was the most popular one: https://github.com/aaiyer/bugseverywhere https://github.com/aaiyer/bugseverywhere
- e12e 6y ago
  Tell that to fossil devs.
- JulianWasTaken 6y ago
  https://github.com/MichaelMure/git-bug https://github.com/MichaelMure/git-bug
xg15 6y ago
You mean something like... got? ;) But I agree with the sibling posts, while decentralised change tracking is pretty much the original idea of git, all the project management stuff (issues, comments, membership/permissions, discoverability) are a lot harder to decentralize. I also don't think the MPAA or whoever else would be very impressed by that if the end result is still illegal activity: If the developers are known, then they'd either have to pass on the project to someone else or risk liability, whether their project repo is centralised or not.
- rozab 6y ago
  Just host a gitlab instance through TOR or something, bish bash bosh
  - CameronNemo 6y ago
    GitLab through tor sounds slow...... (Six dots for six hops)
    - ReactiveJelly 6y ago
      Tor uses 3 middle nodes, so it's only 6 hops if you count the round trip. It's the latency that kills you, not sheer bandwidth - I can watch YouTube on Tor on a good day when Google doesn't block my exit. More people should try Tor. It's easier than you think.
      - TimWolla 6y ago
        A hidden service uses 6 middle nodes, 3 for the server, 3 for the client.
Doxin 6y ago
Something like... git? Git is designed from the start to work for decentralized workflows, development could continue without too much issue by sending patches by email instead of pull requests by github.

Would it not be possible to move to some decentralized Github alternative?

RealStickman_ 6y ago

The problem is finding a good alternative and getting everybody to move there.

toyg 6y ago
“Everybody” is surely not a massive amount of people for youtube-dl. I mean, it’s hardly the Linux kernel... let’s remember that this is just about developers, distribution is a separate (arguably easier to solve) problem.
- usr1106 6y ago
  And even the Linux kernel does not use a centralized 3rd party service. They use only email. Of course the server hosting LKML or in the end Linus' mailbox are single points of failures.

metters 6y ago

There was a hackernnews article about a decentralised github (not yt-dl) yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24874994 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24874994

hk__2 6y ago

You can’t decentralise issues and pull-requests. Edited: as pointed-out, Fossil supports decentralized issues (but not PRs). However, Fossil is a totally different system than Git.

justaj 6y ago
It's amazing that no one has thought to do this yet considering the checkered history of GitHub's compliance with DMCA takedowns.
- Izkata 6y ago
  In the early 2010s, there were a whole bunch of distributed issue trackers for git. They all died out due to various problems, such as working across branches, polluting the commit history, extra commands to keep synced (including not getting retrieved with the initial clone), not having a web view for project managers/bug reporters, etc. I think this was the most popular one: https://github.com/aaiyer/bugseverywhere https://github.com/aaiyer/bugseverywhere
e12e 6y ago
Tell that to fossil devs.
JulianWasTaken 6y ago
https://github.com/MichaelMure/git-bug https://github.com/MichaelMure/git-bug

xg15 6y ago

You mean something like... got? ;) But I agree with the sibling posts, while decentralised change tracking is pretty much the original idea of git, all the project management stuff (issues, comments, membership/permissions, discoverability) are a lot harder to decentralize. I also don't think the MPAA or whoever else would be very impressed by that if the end result is still illegal activity: If the developers are known, then they'd either have to pass on the project to someone else or risk liability, whether their project repo is centralised or not.

rozab 6y ago
Just host a gitlab instance through TOR or something, bish bash bosh
- CameronNemo 6y ago
  GitLab through tor sounds slow...... (Six dots for six hops)
  - ReactiveJelly 6y ago
    Tor uses 3 middle nodes, so it's only 6 hops if you count the round trip. It's the latency that kills you, not sheer bandwidth - I can watch YouTube on Tor on a good day when Google doesn't block my exit. More people should try Tor. It's easier than you think.
    - TimWolla 6y ago
      A hidden service uses 6 middle nodes, 3 for the server, 3 for the client.

Doxin 6y ago

Something like... git? Git is designed from the start to work for decentralized workflows, development could continue without too much issue by sending patches by email instead of pull requests by github.