6 ms·

Good article but confused by: "Unless you pay, GitHub Pages requires your repository to be public." How is that a problem with a static website?

notRobot 4y ago
One example: All files/pages will be publicly discoverable. I regularly chuck stuff on a webserver to share files (like /files/dat-283992.txt) that's only meant to be accessed by people I share the URL with, but that's not possible when the repo is public. Additionally, your Jekyll config files will also be public, which I guess some people might not want, for whatever reason.
- Moru 4y ago
  Just make sure your server does not give a list of files in the directory /files/ if you do that :-)
  - hnbad 4y ago
    If the repo is public, people can just go to the repo and GitHub will happily give them the list of files.
  - notRobot 4y ago
    Haha yep, made that mistake in the past!
  - TurkishPoptart 4y ago
    How do you do that?
    - Moru 4y ago
      It's a very common mistake so there is lots of help for it: You search "disable directory listing" for whatever webserver you use. I mostly use apache: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=apache+disable+directory+listing+htaccess&t=ffab&ia=web https://duckduckgo.com/?q=apache+disable+directory+listing+h...
- xigoi 4y ago
  > I regularly chuck stuff on a webserver to share files (like /files/dat-283992.txt) that's only meant to be accessed by people I share the URL with, but that's not possible when the repo is public. Have you heard about encryption?
  - notRobot 4y ago
    Sure. I use HTTPS.
    - xigoi 4y ago
      That's not the point. If you want only certain people to be able to access a publicly available file, just encrypt it.
      - notRobot 4y ago
        I could password protect it. Or I could give it a unique undiscoverable URL. It's virtually the same. It's no different than sharing a link to a file in your Google Drive accessible only to people with the URL. Encryption doesn't play the role you seem to think it plays here.
        xigoi 4y ago
        > I could password protect it. Yes, aka encrypt it. > Or I could give it a unique undiscoverable URL. …which is not possible if the repository is public.
        notRobot 4y ago
        You can password protect without encrypting
0xCMP 4y ago
It's just something to be aware of. In progress drafts committed could be seen and typos/fixes are publicly logged. That is unusual to be so openly accessible.
c7b 4y ago
It means that not only the current state of the website is available (which it of course always is), but also your full edit history and the file tree.
dorkrawk 4y ago
Also, it's not quite true. GitHub offers free private repos for individuals now: https://github.com/pricing https://github.com/pricing
- exodust 4y ago
  But you can't have hosted web pages and private repos at same time on free plan.

notRobot 4y ago

One example: All files/pages will be publicly discoverable. I regularly chuck stuff on a webserver to share files (like /files/dat-283992.txt) that's only meant to be accessed by people I share the URL with, but that's not possible when the repo is public. Additionally, your Jekyll config files will also be public, which I guess some people might not want, for whatever reason.

Moru 4y ago
Just make sure your server does not give a list of files in the directory /files/ if you do that :-)
- hnbad 4y ago
  If the repo is public, people can just go to the repo and GitHub will happily give them the list of files.
- notRobot 4y ago
  Haha yep, made that mistake in the past!
- TurkishPoptart 4y ago
  How do you do that?
  - Moru 4y ago
    It's a very common mistake so there is lots of help for it: You search "disable directory listing" for whatever webserver you use. I mostly use apache: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=apache+disable+directory+listing+htaccess&t=ffab&ia=web https://duckduckgo.com/?q=apache+disable+directory+listing+h...
xigoi 4y ago
> I regularly chuck stuff on a webserver to share files (like /files/dat-283992.txt) that's only meant to be accessed by people I share the URL with, but that's not possible when the repo is public. Have you heard about encryption?
- notRobot 4y ago
  Sure. I use HTTPS.
  - xigoi 4y ago
    That's not the point. If you want only certain people to be able to access a publicly available file, just encrypt it.
    - notRobot 4y ago
      I could password protect it. Or I could give it a unique undiscoverable URL. It's virtually the same. It's no different than sharing a link to a file in your Google Drive accessible only to people with the URL. Encryption doesn't play the role you seem to think it plays here.
      - xigoi 4y ago
        > I could password protect it. Yes, aka encrypt it. > Or I could give it a unique undiscoverable URL. …which is not possible if the repository is public.
        notRobot 4y ago
        You can password protect without encrypting

0xCMP 4y ago

It's just something to be aware of. In progress drafts committed could be seen and typos/fixes are publicly logged. That is unusual to be so openly accessible.

c7b 4y ago

It means that not only the current state of the website is available (which it of course always is), but also your full edit history and the file tree.

dorkrawk 4y ago

Also, it's not quite true. GitHub offers free private repos for individuals now: https://github.com/pricing https://github.com/pricing

exodust 4y ago
But you can't have hosted web pages and private repos at same time on free plan.