This is a bit depressing.
https://www.nerdmeritbadges.com/products/octocat
This underlying problem needs to become a priority. Either pressuring #github to go free software or getting free software to go elsewhere.
Github becoming synonymous with open source just muddies free software waters more.
Free Software needs free tools.
@satchmoz In the long term people will cry in disappointment when the company eventually tanks or gets bought and corrupted. But something else will replace it. Alternatives will be able to step in at the right moment.
Meanwhile, grown-up open source projects which have existed much longer mostly still run their own infrastructure, so it's _not_ going to brielfy take out absolutely everything.
@satchmoz BTW I am always amused when a new project arrives at the Apache Software Foundation and demands that their primary repository will be on Github and the ASF tells them "No, that would be incredibly short-sighted; you can only have a mirror there". This discussion repeats roughly every 6 months...
@stsp I donโt see what is โincredibly short-sightedโ. It is inexpensive, reliable, and effective, no? What is the thing that these naรฏve people donโt get? If this is so obvious and these arguments are made so often, feel free to point me to some blog somewhere. Iโll read.
@paco The point is to stay independent. ASF projects do not host critical services outside of ASF infrastructure. This way the ASF can ensure long-term stability.
This is not specific to github and it applies to any critical services (of which version control is just one).
@deejoe I also think you need to define โproprietary code hostingโ. I asked naively before (literally because I donโt know). What is โproprietaryโ about GitHub? Is there some licensed extension to the git protocol? Is there something they require of a project or an individual that is โproprietaryโ? I thought git was git, and theyโre effectively a commercial, value-added git-as-a-service business. Iโm open to being corrected.
@deejoe Thatโs an extraordinary extreme position. At some layer in the stack there will be โproprietaryโ software. That free OS runs on CPUs that run proprietary microcode. The network routers (my ISPs, if not mine) that connect the hosts to the net run a proprietary OS. Look at the OSI reference model. How many layers can one operate with zero proprietary software? Maybe layer 5 on up? Proprietary layer 7 code is bad, but we shrug at layers 1-4?
You've shifted the discussion.
You started with "define proprietary".
Now you're arguing *for* proprietary.
Which, you know, fine: You be you.
But let's just be clear the direction you've taken this.
@deejoe @satchmoz I'm trying very hard to challenge my assumptions and beliefs. I work for a massive vendor of proprietary software and services. I absolutely come at this with an obvious world view that I am quite open about. And yet, here I am trying very hard to respectfully understand your point of view. There is need to mock. If the viewpoint is worth believing in, it will withstand this scrutiny.
