A case for choosing alternatives to GitHub for your open-source works. Both practical and philosophical.
Our thoughts, creations and relationships online are made possible because of large platforms based in Silicon Valley. Let's talk about GitHub. People use it. I mean, that's where everyone else is. Period. End of story. ... Or is it?! Put your tin foil hats on, as I'll dive deep into the questions that none of us ever ask anymore before deciding to use that thing:
What is good about GitHub, what is missing from GitHub, and why (presumably speaking)?
- Vendor lock-in
- Limitations
How did we end up here? What paved the way for GitHub to exist, and what can we learn from the past?
- SourceForge
- BitKeeper and Git
Is GitHub **REALLY** as popular as you think? Let's talk about its marketing!
Should **YOU**, the person reading this, perhaps (**NOT**) consider an alternative? 👉👈
- What sort of alternatives are there?
- Can YOU make your own alternatives?!
We'll dive deeper into the alternatives, with examples of managed and self-hosted alternatives ([SourceHut](https://sr.ht), [Radicle](https://radicle.xyz), [Codeberg](https://codeberg.org), [Forgejo](https://forgejo.org), *and more!*), as well as explain their history and what they bring to the table. Some points:
- Progress on ActivityPub-based forge federation. (why you should not wait until it's ready™)
- Technical demonstrations ✨
- Self-hosting for organized open-source projects
- Some arguments as to using any of these weird hipster alternatives is a good idea...
- ... and why you should, like, totally avoid them, or come up with your own alternatives! (Whether that is software, software instances, or non-profit organizations!)
---
The first half of this talk will contain a bunch of historical details, mostly to give context behind the *why* people tried to built alternatives, why they are still trying, and why you should bother. Some of these took place *before* I was even born, take everything with a grain of salt. :)
**Disclaimer:** I am involved with Codeberg and Forgejo as a volunteer; that's where I'm coming from, I may be a little tiny bit biased. Opinions are my strictly own. Technical demonstrations will focus on Forgejo.