[conspire] CABAL (in-person + Jitsi Meet), Sat., July 12, 2025

[Ron]

Rev Anon wrote on 2025-07-27 11:58:

> I'm usually way behind in news.
> 
> I just heard that ms bought github?

It was announced June 4th, 2018 - over 7 years ago.


> How can we trust any data from now on?  (not that we
> really did anyway).

I hate Microsoft as much as the next guy, but no one really expects them 
to fiddle with the repositories and do what? Add tracking software to 
the repos or something?


> How is this purchase even legal?

Why wouldn't it be? There's no monopoly on revision tracking software, 
and monopolies are not illegal anyway.


> I had thought
> that github was an open-source resource operating under the GNU
> license?

Git is released under the GNU General Public License version 2.0.

Github is a website which is not required to distribute their source code.


They encourage users to create a file to explicitly state which license 
they want to apply and have a guide on which licenses allow what:

https://docs.github.com/en/repositories/managing-your-repositorys-settings-and-features/customizing-your-repository/licensing-a-repository

They're still all about open source software.


> Please make me feel better about this.

MS has been a surprisingly good shepherd of Github.

There's been no real scandals in 7 years.

It must cost a lot to develop and run such a site and it's still free to 
use and I don't see advertising pushed in my face when I go there.

I can still interact with Github via `git` almost 100% (I'll use Github 
web interface to create a new repo, which can then be used via CLI).


I'd recommend not worrying too much, but be vigilant (as always with 
software).



> Is there something
> us rebels can do that would isolate our resources from the "Evil
> Empire"?

Use git. Use gitlab.com (but you may have to pay for an account; not 
sure how its funded). https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/


> On the good side, Linux use is up to 6%!!
Nice.

Just spent some time with someone who I helped switch, now all his 
hardware runs Linux, and he's not a technical guy at all.

It's been a few years now and he'll not be going back.


Small victories are still victories...