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GitHub is good because it doesn't re-invent the wheel - it uses Git. If Github had rolled their own system it probably wouldn't have taken off. Keybase.io is v
by RyanZAG 13y ago
GitHub is good because it doesn't re-invent the wheel - it uses Git. If Github had rolled their own system it probably wouldn't have taken off.
Keybase.io is very much rolling their own system. I think that answers the question.
- suhair 13y agoWe're not reinventing any cryptography here - the goal is a simple way to look up and trust keys, based on known public identities. from keybase.io
- Crito 13y agoI assume that he means they are reinventing keyservers (e.g. http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/ http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/, and the web of trust for verifying authenticity of public keys), not the crypto itself.
- masklinn 13y ago> Keybase.io is very much rolling their own system. It's a store (much like github) for standard PGP/GPG keys. And it provides a convenient CLI for basic tasks. As far as I can see, it does no more rolling of its own system than Github.
- el-dawg 13y agoIsn't gpg already a convenient cli for basic gpg tasks? We have had public keystores (much like github) for decades. There are probably already links to some on your system.
- Karunamon 13y agoNot for end-users it isn't. Even for someone who knows what they're doing, it's a PITA.
- el-dawg 13y agoWell, it isn't a PITA for me, and I couldn't imagine pointing my grandmother at keybase.io yet (but I could imagine installing a cert in her mail client for her). Maybe they have a sweet spot there and I am willing to accept I just don't yet understand who fits. But I don't think I'm that special, and I use gpg happily (and efficiently) every day.
- backdraw_ 13y ago> Isn't gpg already a convenient cli for basic gpg tasks? There's no way within GPG to easily determine whether you have a trust path to a given key unless you have all the intermediate keys already.
- awendt 13y agoI suggest you read "Thoughts on keybase.io" (http://blog.lrdesign.com/2014/03/thoughts-on-keybase-io/ http://blog.lrdesign.com/2014/03/thoughts-on-keybase-io/), it touches the "roll your own" points as well as authentication and consequences like vendor lock-in.
- read 13y agoIf you came late in this thread or somehow still believe keybase.io equals rolling your own system, sokrates wrote a good description of what keybase.io does lower in this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7465349 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7465349 The big assumption keybase.io seems to challenge here is that your online identity doesn't consist only of your public key.
- lvh 13y agoKeybase seems to rely on existing systems for trust anchoring (Twitter, Github...) as well as using existing cryptosystems for doing the heaving lifting (OpenPGP). If Github didn't reinvent the wheel because it's all Git, how did keybase.io reinvent the wheel by being all OpenPGP?
- edwintorok 13y agoIts not all OpenPGP: it reinvents the web of trust part of OpenPGP instead of integrating with it. A more 'OpenPGP way' would've been to add a new uid to your OpenPGP key for each service (github/twitter/etc.), and have the 'service' (i.e. github/twitter/etc.) sign that uid on your key. See also: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7465564 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7465564
- giulianob 13y agoExcept that a lot of people's first experience with Git was through Github. I would say that Git might not have been as popular without Github rather than the other way around.
- riquito 13y agoIt was growing popular at a fast pace before Github existed, because it was to good to be true (that's why Github choose it). I think Github helped more in creating a fresh and easy way to follow/contribute to open projects.
- kbar13 13y agoKeybase is good because it doesn't re-invent the wheel -it uses PGP.
- cbhl 13y agoGitHub doesn't provide a wrapper around git, though -- I'd argue it's maybe closer to Heroku than GitHub.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- rickr 13y agoI was under the impression that github is popular due to it's offerings outside of DVCS (bug tracker, discussions, documentation etc). To me that makes it seem even more so like keybase. The core of the product is there but it's environment it was makes it special.
- orblivion 13y agoLook up what Linus thinks of Github pull requests
- FiloSottile 13y agoGitHub took a good, hard tool, git, and created a new way for its users to communicate: Pull Requests, GitHub.com repos. Keybase is taking a good, hard tool, pgp, and creating a new way for its users to communicate: usernames, social account proofs and Keybase.io hosted pubkeys instead of keyparties and keyservers.
- el-dawg 13y agoGit is hard because there are a thousand workflows to accomplish similar tasks. Github picked a few flows and rounded the edges and corners. This provided great value. With gpg, there are already fewer workflows, and there aren't as many sharp edges as git, existing keyservers simply don't have rounded corners ;].
- Pxtl 13y ago... wait, there's an actual pgp thing called a "key party"? Really?
- alcari 13y agoYeah, key signing parties aren't that uncommon in some circles. Everybody gets together and signs pgp keys in person.
- Pxtl 13y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_sex#Key_party http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_sex#Key_party
- twic 13y agoProperly and usually called a key signing party. Fewer horny suburbanites, more paranoid geeks.
- zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC 13y agoGithub didn't invent pull requests, and that it seems to be perceived by some as if that was the case is IMO one of the big problems with github, as it serves to create a lock-in like effect (I have encountered projects that didn't have any non-proprietary contact info, so I couldn't contribute my patches). Email is a perfectly sensible way for sending pull requests, and it has the huge advantage that it's not a centralized service that you need a special account for, any email provider will do. Hell, you even can send pull requests via snail mail if you want to.
- bashcoder 13y agoGithub is good because it adds value and removes friction.