You Already Have a Git Server

Re:You Already Have a Git Server by paulddraper on Sunday October 26, 2025 @01:30PM (#45713671)

Having a web interface was really appreciated by users, it would seem.

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Re:You Already Have a Git Server by jasode on Sunday October 26, 2025 @02:04PM (#45713917)

>Having a web interface

It's not the interface, it's the web hosting. People want a free destination server that's up 24/7 to store their repository.

If it was only the web interface, people could locally install GitLab or Gitea to get a web browser UI. (Or use whatever modern IDE code editor to have a GUI instead of a CLI for git commands.) But doing that still doesn't solve what GitHub solves: a public server to host the files, issue tracking, etc.

Before git & Github, people put source code for public access on SourceForge and CodeProject. The reason was the same: a zero-cost way to share code with everybody.

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Re:You Already Have a Git Server by udev4096 on Sunday October 26, 2025 @02:15PM (#45714002)

GH is essentially an unlimited storage space. There are countless scripts which makes it possible to even use it as an unlimited mounted storage

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Re:You Already Have a Git Server by FpUser on Sunday October 26, 2025 @06:26PM (#45715665)

And then one day orange gets pissed of at yet another country and it (the repo) is gone

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Re:You Already Have a Git Server by wiz21c on Monday October 27, 2025 @04:02AM (#45718410)

orange ?

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Re:You Already Have a Git Server by kevin_thibedeau on Monday October 27, 2025 @09:24AM (#45720814)

The convicted felon.

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Re:You Already Have a Git Server by chipsrafferty on Sunday October 26, 2025 @05:50PM (#45715483)

No, actually it's the interface. Many companies would totally host it themselves, but the interface is what gives GH value.

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Re:You Already Have a Git Server by tweetle_beetle on Monday October 27, 2025 @04:07AM (#45718435)

GitLab is around a decade old, is a solid enterprise product and has always had a very similar interface to GitHub, at times even drawing criticism for being too similar. There's more to it than that.

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Re:You Already Have a Git Server by pmontra on Sunday October 26, 2025 @07:24PM (#45715942)

It was both.

A 24/7 repository and a 24/7 web URL for the code. Those two features together let devs inspect and download code, and open and discuss issues.

The URL also let automated tools download and install packages.

Familiar UI, network effects made the rest.

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Re:You Already Have a Git Server by JoshTriplett on Sunday October 26, 2025 @07:43PM (#45716031)

Exactly. The UI needs to live wherever the canonical home for the project is, at least until we have a federated solution.

I'm really looking forward to federated forges.

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Re:You Already Have a Git Server by mr_toad on Monday October 27, 2025 @07:56AM (#45719962)

GitHub and the others also handle user authentication and issue tracking, which aren’t part of Git itself.

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Re:You Already Have a Git Server by yogishbaliga on Sunday October 26, 2025 @02:30PM (#45714124)

It is also other features such as GitHub workflow, releases, integration with other tools, webhooks etc. that makes it useful.

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Re:You Already Have a Git Server by paulddraper on Sunday October 26, 2025 @05:23PM (#45715335)

That’s true, but GitHub was dominant prior to having most of those features.

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