4 ms·

How GitHub monopoly is destroying the open source ecosystem

71 points by toastal 9mo ago

thisislife2 9mo ago
Or rather "centralisation" in the hands of BiGTech is eroding many of our rights, the right to repair (through open source) being one of them. Also, App Stores too seek to kill open source apps on the mobile platform as there is no money to be made from it and good "free" open source apps tend to poach the sales from paid apps. There many open source projects for iDevices that will never be popular because you cannot install it directly.
gdelfino01 9mo ago
[flagged]
- deleted 9mo ago
  [deleted]
- cedws 9mo ago
  [flagged]
- dang 9mo ago
  "Please don't pick the most provocative thing in an article or post to complain about in the thread. Find something interesting to respond to instead." "Eschew flamebait. Avoid generic tangents." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
hu3 9mo ago
> I know the solution. Starting this year, students will be forced to contribute to a project they use, care about or, at the very least, truly want to use in the long term. Not one they found randomly on Github. I expect that most of the open-source projects the students care about will be in GitHub. So perhaps a better solution was to teach them to setup their own git repo in a cheap or free uni server.
- mimsee 9mo ago
  > So perhaps a better solution was to teach them to setup their own git repo in a cheap or free uni server. And then lose access after graduating. Great idea!
  - hu3 9mo ago
    It's just an educational exercise to teach students to setup and mantain their own git server. Obviously students don't expect to use uni servers forever. They can setup their own with the lessons learned.
  - Buttons840 9mo ago
    Tell the students that they will receive a one week notice during the middle of the semester that they need to migrate their git repo to a new server, then teach them the 2 or 3 commands they will need to enter to do this. They will then understand that it is extremely easy to move a git repo.
  - herewulf 9mo ago
    Any Git clone is also technically a Git server, so no, they don't lose access to their own filesystem after graduating.
  - econ 9mo ago
    Probably but I never got why that is. It seems a school could be there in all kinds of ways for the entire duration of the career.
ekjhgkejhgk 9mo ago
People like this CHOSE to use github despite it being a walled garden and now are complaining that they want to destroy the "open source" ecosystem. You see, here's Stallman being right once again. Stallman many times on many topics said he wouldn't use a product that's a walled garden and where his presence would contribute to that products dominance (i.e. network effects - everybody has to use it because everybody else is using it). People like the author said "I'll use github because it's beneficial to me in the immediate horizon, despite the fact that I'll be indirectly contributing to their assault on free software". Well, hard for me to care about the author now. Anyway Forgejo[1,2] is FREE and COPYLEFT software, and Codeberg[3] is a pretty big forge. Forgejo also has on their roadmap to add some federated-type features, so that different people/organizations can host their Forgejo instances, but interact seemlessly with projects on other instances. If this stuff matters to you, donate to Forgejo[4]. [1] https://codeberg.org/Forgejo/forgejo https://codeberg.org/Forgejo/forgejo [2] https://forgejo.org/ https://forgejo.org/ [3] https://codeberg.org/ https://codeberg.org/ [4] https://liberapay.com/forgejo https://liberapay.com/forgejo
- johnisgood 9mo ago
  I agree. BTW Forgejo seems to be very similar to GitHub when it comes to bug tracking. There are so many project management systems and bug trackers out there, and I think GitHub (and as thus, Forgejo's) way of doing this is limiting. There was a recent submission about it on Hacker News: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46460319 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46460319. I wonder if people would rather prefer Jira, Redmine, MantisBT, Bugzilla, or something completely different, or a choice to have X and Y and why, and so forth.
- trueismywork 9mo ago
  Federation should be the way but time and again we have seen federation fail, first for chats (XMPP) then for Blurbs (twitter vs mastodon), and social networks where there's not even a big enough name to mention for federated social networks.
  - ekjhgkejhgk 9mo ago
jokoon 9mo ago
What are free, good alternatives to github? Is gitlab still relevant?
- toastal 9mo ago
  GitLab, Codeberg, SourceHut, Notabug, Radicle, Tangled… & that is just Git but there are other VCSs hosted other ways like Darcs, Pijul, Fossil, & so on.
- trueismywork 9mo ago
  GitLab is very relevant. In some spaces, it is the only one with enough features. But it is pretty expensive and the way i see it, only the ultimate pricing plan makes sense. Premium makes no sense unless you are just a small company developing proprietary software with separate workflow for customers..
- pamcake 9mo ago
  If you want something close to the GitHub UX, then Forgejo or Gitea. If not, there are loads of options depending on your preferences and needs. GitLab is still relevant. Personally I find it too resource-heavy (both server and web ui) to be my first pick but it's still widely used and actively developed.
- BrouteMinou 9mo ago
  I use codeberg
- thunderbong 9mo ago
  For small teams, fossil is unbeatable https://fossil-scm.org https://fossil-scm.org
- meonkeys 9mo ago
  For what part(s) of github? Free as in freedom? Many other tools/platforms provide decent source control and issue tracking. Nothing else has the FOSS project market share of github, and this matters especially when you're looking for the canonical home of a project and trying to judge how popular/active/viable it is (stars/commits/issues/PRs). If you want exposure and participation for your FOSS project, it's harder to not use github. FWIW, Forgejo does the source control stuff well. I love it for self-hosted local mirrors.
herewulf 9mo ago
I have always been very interested in seeing repository metadata (issues, etc) kept in the code repository itself. Not technically easy, I know. I wonder if there are any current efforts that manage to make this work?

71 points by toastal 9mo ago

Or rather "centralisation" in the hands of BiGTech is eroding many of our rights, the right to repair (through open source) being one of them. Also, App Stores too seek to kill open source apps on the mobile platform as there is no money to be made from it and good "free" open source apps tend to poach the sales from paid apps. There many open source projects for iDevices that will never be popular because you cannot install it directly.

gdelfino01 9mo ago

[flagged]

deleted 9mo ago
[deleted]
cedws 9mo ago
[flagged]
dang 9mo ago
"Please don't pick the most provocative thing in an article or post to complain about in the thread. Find something interesting to respond to instead." "Eschew flamebait. Avoid generic tangents." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

hu3 9mo ago

> I know the solution. Starting this year, students will be forced to contribute to a project they use, care about or, at the very least, truly want to use in the long term. Not one they found randomly on Github. I expect that most of the open-source projects the students care about will be in GitHub. So perhaps a better solution was to teach them to setup their own git repo in a cheap or free uni server.

mimsee 9mo ago
> So perhaps a better solution was to teach them to setup their own git repo in a cheap or free uni server. And then lose access after graduating. Great idea!
- hu3 9mo ago
  It's just an educational exercise to teach students to setup and mantain their own git server. Obviously students don't expect to use uni servers forever. They can setup their own with the lessons learned.
- Buttons840 9mo ago
  Tell the students that they will receive a one week notice during the middle of the semester that they need to migrate their git repo to a new server, then teach them the 2 or 3 commands they will need to enter to do this. They will then understand that it is extremely easy to move a git repo.
- herewulf 9mo ago
  Any Git clone is also technically a Git server, so no, they don't lose access to their own filesystem after graduating.
- econ 9mo ago
  Probably but I never got why that is. It seems a school could be there in all kinds of ways for the entire duration of the career.

ekjhgkejhgk 9mo ago

People like this CHOSE to use github despite it being a walled garden and now are complaining that they want to destroy the "open source" ecosystem. You see, here's Stallman being right once again. Stallman many times on many topics said he wouldn't use a product that's a walled garden and where his presence would contribute to that products dominance (i.e. network effects - everybody has to use it because everybody else is using it). People like the author said "I'll use github because it's beneficial to me in the immediate horizon, despite the fact that I'll be indirectly contributing to their assault on free software". Well, hard for me to care about the author now. Anyway Forgejo[1,2] is FREE and COPYLEFT software, and Codeberg[3] is a pretty big forge. Forgejo also has on their roadmap to add some federated-type features, so that different people/organizations can host their Forgejo instances, but interact seemlessly with projects on other instances. If this stuff matters to you, donate to Forgejo[4]. [1] https://codeberg.org/Forgejo/forgejo https://codeberg.org/Forgejo/forgejo [2] https://forgejo.org/ https://forgejo.org/ [3] https://codeberg.org/ https://codeberg.org/ [4] https://liberapay.com/forgejo https://liberapay.com/forgejo

johnisgood 9mo ago
I agree. BTW Forgejo seems to be very similar to GitHub when it comes to bug tracking. There are so many project management systems and bug trackers out there, and I think GitHub (and as thus, Forgejo's) way of doing this is limiting. There was a recent submission about it on Hacker News: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46460319 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46460319. I wonder if people would rather prefer Jira, Redmine, MantisBT, Bugzilla, or something completely different, or a choice to have X and Y and why, and so forth.
trueismywork 9mo ago
Federation should be the way but time and again we have seen federation fail, first for chats (XMPP) then for Blurbs (twitter vs mastodon), and social networks where there's not even a big enough name to mention for federated social networks.
- ekjhgkejhgk 9mo ago

jokoon 9mo ago

What are free, good alternatives to github? Is gitlab still relevant?

toastal 9mo ago
GitLab, Codeberg, SourceHut, Notabug, Radicle, Tangled… & that is just Git but there are other VCSs hosted other ways like Darcs, Pijul, Fossil, & so on.
trueismywork 9mo ago
GitLab is very relevant. In some spaces, it is the only one with enough features. But it is pretty expensive and the way i see it, only the ultimate pricing plan makes sense. Premium makes no sense unless you are just a small company developing proprietary software with separate workflow for customers..
pamcake 9mo ago
If you want something close to the GitHub UX, then Forgejo or Gitea. If not, there are loads of options depending on your preferences and needs. GitLab is still relevant. Personally I find it too resource-heavy (both server and web ui) to be my first pick but it's still widely used and actively developed.
BrouteMinou 9mo ago
I use codeberg
thunderbong 9mo ago
For small teams, fossil is unbeatable https://fossil-scm.org https://fossil-scm.org
meonkeys 9mo ago
For what part(s) of github? Free as in freedom? Many other tools/platforms provide decent source control and issue tracking. Nothing else has the FOSS project market share of github, and this matters especially when you're looking for the canonical home of a project and trying to judge how popular/active/viable it is (stars/commits/issues/PRs). If you want exposure and participation for your FOSS project, it's harder to not use github. FWIW, Forgejo does the source control stuff well. I love it for self-hosted local mirrors.

herewulf 9mo ago

I have always been very interested in seeing repository metadata (issues, etc) kept in the code repository itself. Not technically easy, I know. I wonder if there are any current efforts that manage to make this work?