Twitter distributes config files across their entire fleet (hundreds of thousands of machines) using git and a cron job. Commit your config change, wait a few minutes and there it is.
Source: I’m a former tweep.
Ask HN: Apps that are built with Git as the back end?
41–50 of 68 posts
Re: Ask HN: Apps that are built with Git as the back end?
#42This is an excelling CMS: https://forestry.io/ I used it as the editorial interface for a little static blog: https://www.wildernessprime.com/
Thanks for the link. Have been toying with idea in my head for years.
Re: Ask HN: Apps that are built with Git as the back end?
#43Etckeeper exists: https://etckeeper.branchable.com/
It puts your /etc/ directory in version control, with some automation so you don't have to manage it as much.
I don't think it really counts as an app with a backend, and it can use other VCSs as the data store (it used to default to mercurial until a few years ago), but it's up there as one of the things I install early when I'm using a new system.
It has only saved me once or twice, but each time I've been glad it's there.
Re: Ask HN: Apps that are built with Git as the back end?
#44The system used to produce ddr.densho.org uses Git and git-annex to manage archival metadata and binaries. Unfortunately it's not directly visible on the site and is not open-source licensed.
The original use case was to support branch archives in remote rural areas with poor connectivity who were collecting video oral histories. The metadata could be synced over the wire to the central hub but binaries would be shipped periodically on hard drives. "Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon loaded with backup tapes".
Git's structure has excellent properties for maintaining the fixity of data and helps with provenance and chain-of-custody documentation.
Re: Ask HN: Apps that are built with Git as the back end?
#45brew.sh backend is git.
This is not a good idea however. Anything you install that has thousands of files will slow down brew substantially during updates. GitHub has had issues specifically with brew.sh misusing their service.
Git should not be a backend for any application, it was not designed for such purpose...and you will be violating GitHub or any source host TOS.
Re: Ask HN: Apps that are built with Git as the back end?
#46This is an excelling CMS: https://forestry.io/ I used it as the editorial interface for a little static blog: https://www.wildernessprime.com/
That's how it should be. Most blogs and other systems should be using git, not a database. The database is overused.
Re: Ask HN: Apps that are built with Git as the back end?
#47This guy built and hosts a SQLite database via github. Is this helpful? https://phiresky.github.io/blog/2021/hosting-sqlite-database...
This is not using git as a backend, it is merely using GitHub's static web hosting to serve files. Still impressive, but git could have been replaced with FTP here.
Don't think I agree. He is using a real SQL database stored in git. You can run queries against it. He's hosting a database in a static web site. I don't see this as an ftp clone.
Re: Ask HN: Apps that are built with Git as the back end?
#48This is an excelling CMS: https://forestry.io/ I used it as the editorial interface for a little static blog: https://www.wildernessprime.com/
That's how it should be. Most blogs and other systems should be using git, not a database. The database is overused.
Git is a (distributed) database. https://github.blog/2022-08-29-gits-database-internals-i-pac...
Re: Ask HN: Apps that are built with Git as the back end?
#49I know GNU Jami (a P2P chat program) uses Git as its data-store extensively— from what I could tell, checking out ~/.local/share/Jami/, all messages are stored in git commit messages, for instance.
Re: Ask HN: Apps that are built with Git as the back end?
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is not using git as a backend, it is merely using GitHub's static web hosting to serve files. Still impressive, but git could have been replaced with FTP here.
Don't think I agree. He is using a real SQL database stored in git. You can run queries against it. He's hosting a database in a static web site. I don't see this as an ftp clone.
The database is stored in git, but is using GitHub actions to create a tarball of that database that is then severed as static files on GitHub pages.
It being stored in git is irrelevant to the end result. The same exact content without git could be on S3, or any other static hosting, and it would work exactly the same.
Another example, is the following map _using_ git, or is git just a method to get free hosting from Microsoft?
https://github.com/foundationalfactorio/foundationalfactorio...
https://foundationalfactorio.github.io/maps/#3/61.52/-2.46
The end result is just static files be served.