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Funny timing — I've been working on a hosted Fossil service to scratch this exact itch. The integrated wiki+forum+tickets+code is killer for small teams, but mo

Funny timing — I've been working on a hosted Fossil service to scratch this exact itch. The integrated wiki+forum+tickets+code is killer for small teams, but most people who'd pick Fossil don't actually want to babysit a server. So we host it. Two things I keep coming back to: (1) The "opinionated / small-teams only" critique others have raised in this thread is real, and I think Fossil should own it instead of fighting it. The 5,000-engineer monorepo market is a solved problem (Git won). Fossil should own the 1-50 person bracket — where having issues, wiki, forum, and code in one self-contained, syncable SQLite file is a huge unfair advantage. (2) AI agents are a brand-new reason to look at Fossil that didn't exist when Git won. Every repo is a queryable SQLite file. An agent reads tickets + wiki + code + history with one SELECT — not 47 GraphQL calls and a rate limit. RAG and MCP setups against the repo become trivial. We're stuck on the name (fossilforge vs fossilhub). If you have an opinion: https://fossilhub.io https://fossilhub.io | https://fossilforge.io https://fossilforge.io — vote, get early access. The self-hosted side is already shipping at fossilrepo.io if you'd rather run your own. --- Disclosure: founder, so grain of salt accordingly.

hdrz 5mo ago
You should continue with a name which is related to fossils, fossillab.io, boneyard.dev and so on…
- dijit 5mo ago
  fossilised.dev .. maybe british spelling. palaeontology.dev ... too awkward. museum.dev has a sort of "this is dead" ring to it. Ironically what fossils are stored in within a museum is referred to as a "repository".. Well, there's only 2 hard problems in computer science right?
  - selectnull 5mo ago
    > what fossils are stored in within a museum is referred to as a "repository" I own a cute domain for that: repositoryum.com. I had the plans for it, but it's one of those that never came to a realization.
  - hdrz 5mo ago
    Yeah, museum sounds like dead and rot… However on my small site [1] that’s the name of the fossil repos page [1]: https://hdrz.cc/museum https://hdrz.cc/museum
    - maccard 5mo ago
      FYI your cert is expired.
  - graemep 5mo ago
    The best know hosted Fossil service is https://chiselapp.com/ https://chiselapp.com/
  - achenet 5mo ago
    > Well, there's only 2 hard problems in computer science right? Yes there are only 2 hard problems in computer science - caching, naming things, and off by one errors.
    - dijit 5mo ago
      precisely
- hecifato 5mo ago
  boneyard.dev evokes something dead but that name kinda goes hard
- kitd 5mo ago
  "countryclub.com" - ie, a bunch of fossils :)
colinhb 5mo ago
Maybe something fossil-adjacent: - amber.dev - quarry.sh You’ll probably need to play with gTLDs to find something that works. Can also echo “scm” from fossil’s domain: - amberscm.dev Along with useX.com, Xhq.com, etc., patterns. Of the two you have listed, I’d choose fossilforge, but would vote for an alternative TLD since .io has an expected meaning coming from GitHub.
noosphr 5mo ago
Or, hear me out, we learn to host our own shit again and stop giving all our data to $megacorp after the inevitable buyout.
- ragelink 5mo ago
  there's a host your own version thats available now https://fossilrepo.dev https://fossilrepo.dev live server (demo) in fossilrepo.io which is a modern wrapper UI. There's also the standard https://fossil-scm.org/ https://fossil-scm.org/ which you can also host yourself on a $5/mo server on Hertzner or the like.
- nmz 5mo ago
  I trust more a megacorp to survive more than 5 years than a personal host, I can't tell you how many times I've gone to a personal server where something I used was hosted and its dead.
graemep 5mo ago
Fossil is very easy to self host. If you already have a web server it needs maybe 10 or 15 lines of server config. If you want to avoid start up you need something to autostart/restart the server process. If you point it at a directory you can add a new repo simply by adding a Fossil file to the directory. You can even run it on shared hosting as a CGI (never done it myself). The only thing that took some setup was sending email notifications. > The "opinionated / small-teams only" critique others have raised in this thread is real, and I think Fossil should own it instead of fighting it. I agree I use Fossil for multiple personal and small projects. Anywhere I can, really. It is very simple and everything is distributed.
- gandreani 5mo ago
  And backups. Sqlite makes it easier but no backup process is easy. You always have to backup and restore at least once to have the confidence to rely on it. It's another (big) point towards paying someone else to host it.
  - graemep 5mo ago
    Its less of a worry given ts distributed.
deleted 5mo ago
[deleted]
ahaferburg 5mo ago
For the name: Use something with amber in the name.
DoctorOetker 5mo ago
a lot of other commenters point out the dead connotation, so you could pivot the semantics and go for something like fossil.fuel? has some "oomph" to it, and represents a high energy density carrier, a feedstock that can go in many directions, oils, plastics, ... being a software project makes the environmental connotation less important (using a different project would also cost server energy etc...) so its more clearly tongue in cheek

hdrz 5mo ago

You should continue with a name which is related to fossils, fossillab.io, boneyard.dev and so on…

dijit 5mo ago
fossilised.dev .. maybe british spelling. palaeontology.dev ... too awkward. museum.dev has a sort of "this is dead" ring to it. Ironically what fossils are stored in within a museum is referred to as a "repository".. Well, there's only 2 hard problems in computer science right?
- selectnull 5mo ago
  > what fossils are stored in within a museum is referred to as a "repository" I own a cute domain for that: repositoryum.com. I had the plans for it, but it's one of those that never came to a realization.
- hdrz 5mo ago
  Yeah, museum sounds like dead and rot… However on my small site [1] that’s the name of the fossil repos page [1]: https://hdrz.cc/museum https://hdrz.cc/museum
  - maccard 5mo ago
    FYI your cert is expired.
- graemep 5mo ago
  The best know hosted Fossil service is https://chiselapp.com/ https://chiselapp.com/
- achenet 5mo ago
  > Well, there's only 2 hard problems in computer science right? Yes there are only 2 hard problems in computer science - caching, naming things, and off by one errors.
  - dijit 5mo ago
    precisely
hecifato 5mo ago
boneyard.dev evokes something dead but that name kinda goes hard
kitd 5mo ago
"countryclub.com" - ie, a bunch of fossils :)

colinhb 5mo ago

Maybe something fossil-adjacent: - amber.dev - quarry.sh You’ll probably need to play with gTLDs to find something that works. Can also echo “scm” from fossil’s domain: - amberscm.dev Along with useX.com, Xhq.com, etc., patterns. Of the two you have listed, I’d choose fossilforge, but would vote for an alternative TLD since .io has an expected meaning coming from GitHub.

noosphr 5mo ago

Or, hear me out, we learn to host our own shit again and stop giving all our data to $megacorp after the inevitable buyout.

ragelink 5mo ago
there's a host your own version thats available now https://fossilrepo.dev https://fossilrepo.dev live server (demo) in fossilrepo.io which is a modern wrapper UI. There's also the standard https://fossil-scm.org/ https://fossil-scm.org/ which you can also host yourself on a $5/mo server on Hertzner or the like.
nmz 5mo ago
I trust more a megacorp to survive more than 5 years than a personal host, I can't tell you how many times I've gone to a personal server where something I used was hosted and its dead.

graemep 5mo ago

Fossil is very easy to self host. If you already have a web server it needs maybe 10 or 15 lines of server config. If you want to avoid start up you need something to autostart/restart the server process. If you point it at a directory you can add a new repo simply by adding a Fossil file to the directory. You can even run it on shared hosting as a CGI (never done it myself). The only thing that took some setup was sending email notifications. > The "opinionated / small-teams only" critique others have raised in this thread is real, and I think Fossil should own it instead of fighting it. I agree I use Fossil for multiple personal and small projects. Anywhere I can, really. It is very simple and everything is distributed.

gandreani 5mo ago
And backups. Sqlite makes it easier but no backup process is easy. You always have to backup and restore at least once to have the confidence to rely on it. It's another (big) point towards paying someone else to host it.
- graemep 5mo ago
  Its less of a worry given ts distributed.

deleted 5mo ago

[deleted]

ahaferburg 5mo ago

For the name: Use something with amber in the name.

DoctorOetker 5mo ago

a lot of other commenters point out the dead connotation, so you could pivot the semantics and go for something like fossil.fuel? has some "oomph" to it, and represents a high energy density carrier, a feedstock that can go in many directions, oils, plastics, ... being a software project makes the environmental connotation less important (using a different project would also cost server energy etc...) so its more clearly tongue in cheek