What’s the benefit of a distributed git host? Are you just trying to distribute the storage costs?
Not just storage costs — mainly for privacy, avoiding Big Tech control, and having an open-source, decentralized alternative where I’m not tracked or subjected to ads.
You can pay for hosting or self host it and get all that. What did being distributed do that?
Game of Trees - https://gameoftrees.org/index.html
Not distributed but definitely meets other requirements.
Is there something wrong with Gitlab?
Is there something wrong with Gitlab?
Not inherently—GitLab works fine, but it’s corporate-owned, collects some data, and isn’t fully decentralized. If your goal is privacy, open source, and independence from Big Tech, that’s why people look for alternatives like Gitea, Forgejo, or federated solutions.
it’s “open core”.
Forgejo is an activitypub-enabled Git forge software, and codeberg is one of the largest forgejo instances.
Tangentially related, but git-annex, and, in particular, its sync subcommand are a great tool for storing files and managing git repos across multiple machines (and even just loose drives) in a “P2P” way without any centralised server
Forgejo is an activitypub-enabled Git forge software, and codeberg is one of the largest forgejo instances.
Thank you for this explainer, that’s cool as fuck!
I can’t believe no one said anything about Radicle ? https://radicle.xyz/
On server:
git init --bare ~/projects/project.git
On client:
git clone username@server:projects/project.git
My new favourite tool.
interesting!
No one has mentioned Gitea yet, is there a reason? Genuinely asking.
Gitea has gone open core; it is still free software but its development is controlled by a for-profit company which is developing non-free features. So, Forgejo is the community-run fork of it which people outside the Gitea company are contributing to instead now. You can read more about their divergence here.
I wonder when people (especially companies) learn that with open source projects, it’s the community and contributors who are in charge and not the “owner”. The moment you do something the community doesn’t like, they’ll fork the project, migrate, and your project is left in the dust.
Few examples off the top of my head - CyanogenMod/LineageOS. Maps me/Organic Maps/CoMaps. OpenOffice/LibreOffice.
If your company/business/project depends on user content, don’t piss off the users.
Thank you!
GitLab, I am not sure if their own installation hits all points (depends on what you define as “big tech involvement” maybe), but if you self-host it, certainly.
Removed by mod
I haven’t tried it but Radicle sounds cool ? Radicle is an open source, peer-to-peer code collaboration stack built on Git. Unlike centralized code hosting platforms, there is no single entity controlling the network. Repositories are replicated across peers in a decentralized manner, and users are in full control of their data and workflow.
There are some dev/repo tools, but I don’t know how they compare with commercial platforms.
Try GitLab. They’re independent and free of trackers according to Brave Shields. Though keep an eye out for the storage limits, since GitLab makes you quickly realize that, unlike GitHub, they don’t have unlimited storage.
I haven’t tried it but Radicle sounds cool ? Radicle is an open source, peer-to-peer code collaboration stack built on Git. Unlike centralized code hosting platforms, there is no single entity controlling the network. Repositories are replicated across peers in a decentralized manner, and users are in full control of their data and workflow.
There are some dev/repo tools, but I don’t know how they compare with commercial platforms.
I’m not a git expert. If we Primarily use private repos and use gitea why would this be good ? I presume it’s only good for public repos right?
I’m not a git expert. If we Primarily use private repos and use gitea why would this be good ? I presume it’s only good for public repos right?
Even with private repos, it can be useful for backups, CI/CD, or local mirrors. If you just care about public exposure, then yes, it’s mainly for public repos.
