After the Giveupgithub.org campaign, i started thinking about leaving GitHub.
I don't have big projects on GitHub, but everyone moving will help the campaign, and send a clear message to GitHub leadership about Copilot.<p>I tried switching for a bit with Gitea(Codeberg) and Drone CI/CD.
And it was OK, but i missed a lot of the niceties of GitHub, and i felt that Drone CI/CD is not that great compared to GH-Actions or GitLab CI/CD.
I returned to GitHub due to popularity and the nicites of GH-actions but I'm now thinking of using GitLab.
Yes its closed source(gitlab.com) and its limited on the free tier(especially for projects, even open repos), but its probably more funded and stable than community hosts like Codeberg, and the CI/CD is awesome, with 50,000 minutes for Public repos or self hosting.
And there is no Copilot, at least not yet.
Gitlab.com is not listed on the SFC's website, because its not open source, but i think its better than just sticking with GitHub.
On the other hand, its still closed source, and its way more (free tier) limited and less popular than GitHub.<p>So what do you think? is switching to GitLab for Ethical reasons the right choice? or it doesn't really make sense unless its an actually open platform?
I do not suggest switching to GitLab because it will not display anything if JavaScripts are disabled (although the git protocol will still work, but it is a bit confusing; I think fossil is much less confusing). There are other alternatives, such as Sourcehut (which does not use JavaScript) and Codeberg (which does, but it can still be displayed without JavaScript too, like GitHub).<p>However, you do not have to use only one service; it is also possible to make mirrors on multiple services, including GitHub and GitLab. If it is not the only mirror, then it does not matter that JavaScripts are required for one of them. Although, if you do not want to use GitHub then that is OK, too; there are many others.<p>I host projects on my own computer (using Fossil) but also mirror on Chisel. If you use Git then you will not use this, though; if you use Git then you can use Sourcehut or Codeberg instead.<p>Note that GitHub has API documentation. Codeberg also has, although its API documentation will not be displayed without JavaScripts, but it is using the Swagger format, so if you have a program that can display it then you can use it (or you can just view the JSON code directly). If similar features are implemented, then if you have your own then it can also be possible to implement the same API so that your service can be compatible.
I moved from Github to Gitlab years ago due to ethical issues (open source vs closed).<p>I think that, at the very least, it's beneficial to prop up competitors to Github to prevent them from achieving a monopoly. Too many people currently see Github and git as interchangeable and that is potentially disastrous considering Microsoft owns Github.<p>I'm currently using <a href="https://sourcehut.org/" rel="nofollow">https://sourcehut.org/</a> privately and professionally, and love it.
Yes it's the right choice IMO. Copilot is license laundering and stealing code and we should not support that.<p>Im self hosting Gitlab. They offer a docker compose file that makes it super easy. You can use your self hosted Gitlab as the source of truth and easily mirror the repos to public hosts like GitHub if needed.<p>You can even use an old computer or a cheap server or Synology etc. to host it instead of renting a cloud server. It's a little bit of a learning curve but you can then self host all kinds of stuff. Git repos, media servers, photos, home assistant etc. The advantage is no monthly fee, guaranteed privacy, full control and a meaningful exit from the corporate controlled web where there is no privacy and no telling what will happen to your stuff. Check out reddit.com/r/homelab or search for "homelab" if you're interested!
I personally have no problem with Copilot. To me every source should be open for personal use. For commercial use this might causes a problem, Github profiting from established sourcecode under restrictive licenses. For me a neural network is using the same principles as the human brain. A network of cells generating an output using complex logic. Would you disallow a human that has read a copyleft sourcecode file to write code of similar structure? To me the answer is no. So I have no problem with Copilot. This is more of an ethical problem for me than a moral one. Moral wise you could force Microsoft to only train copilot on permissive licensed projects.
As with other issues popping up recently, this can be mostly solved with decentralization by hosting your own server with Gitea, etc. The main thing that’s hard to give up is GitHub pages since it’s awesome for hosting. I haven’t tried Netlify but maybe it’s a good enough alternative?
Ethical reasons are never sufficient to replace practical ones, though they are important enough to cause one to evaluate the alternatives, which is never a bad thing, and can help to synthesize practical reasons to switch.<p>If one is not using vendor locked-in features, it's much easier to switch.
Lol good luck with that.<p>When u die ur code will be gone, mine will have a copy stored by github in the cold mountains somewhere.<p>Aliens will see my code, they wont see yours.