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GitTorrent: A Decentralized GitHub (2015)

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Re: GitTorrent: A Decentralized GitHub (2015)

#21
post #7

And another angle, if you want to store a snapshot of a repo on IPFS https://github.com/whyrusleeping/git-ipfs-rehost

This proviedes just read only publishing currently.

Can one simply place a git repo in an IPFS directory (e. g. with some IPFS fuse implementation) and share an IPNS / DNSLink so that future changes can be found under the same address?

In this aporoach github issues and pull requests can be replaced by discussions and patches in a mailing list.

Re: GitTorrent: A Decentralized GitHub (2015)

#22
post #5

Looks like a good fit for youtube-dl

The maintainers should probably just run their own git server as a hidden service, change their git name/email/signing keys and be done with it. Going after youtube-dl so publicly has a solid Streisand effect. Feel as though the lawyers aren't going to give up easily on this one and will hound them one way or another. Regardless, there is some github alternatives available through tor: Darktea: http://it7otdanqu7ktnt…

Switching to hidden services while we're building with decentralization does seem to be the pragmatic thing to do.

Re: GitTorrent: A Decentralized GitHub (2015)

#23
post #9

Hi! I'm the GitTorrent author. It feels strange to have it show up on the front page whenever GitHub does something bad, more than five years later. Bitcoin and BitTorrent v1 were plausible substrates in 2015, but no longer. I think Radicle ( https://radicle.xyz ) is the project most deserving of attention at the moment. The hardest thing about such a project is economic: how do you handle issue/comment spammers? Or…

I think that such problems requires humans to make a decision. There should be a vote mechanism / leader election / democratic process to give some people the power / admin role to solve these issues by manual intervention.

Re: GitTorrent: A Decentralized GitHub (2015)

#24
post #16

This is a solution to a non-problem. Hosting taken down git repos is easy an due to gits design all developers already have the source code. The real problem is hosting issues and PRs in such a way. Github has an API and it's possible to script the backup but source code gets backup automatically so when the takedown strikes it's not a big problem.

While others could have a backup of a Git repository, I need to find them first — so discoverability is a problem. Next thing is integrity - how do I know that the git history I receive has not been tampered with?

Re: GitTorrent: A Decentralized GitHub (2015)

#25
post #9

Hi! I'm the GitTorrent author. It feels strange to have it show up on the front page whenever GitHub does something bad, more than five years later. Bitcoin and BitTorrent v1 were plausible substrates in 2015, but no longer. I think Radicle ( https://radicle.xyz ) is the project most deserving of attention at the moment. The hardest thing about such a project is economic: how do you handle issue/comment spammers? Or…

The radicle website seems to do a bad job in advertising itself. I'm missing links at the top for a simple explanation of the project and quick tutorials to get radicle running for existing GitHub/GitLab/Gitea users. If you want people to use your project it has to be easy.

Re: GitTorrent: A Decentralized GitHub (2015)

#26
post #16

This is a solution to a non-problem. Hosting taken down git repos is easy an due to gits design all developers already have the source code. The real problem is hosting issues and PRs in such a way. Github has an API and it's possible to script the backup but source code gets backup automatically so when the takedown strikes it's not a big problem.

While others could have a backup of a Git repository, I need to find them first — so discoverability is a problem. Next thing is integrity - how do I know that the git history I receive has not been tampered with?

Do signed commits solve the integrity problem?

Re: GitTorrent: A Decentralized GitHub (2015)

#27
After thinking about this for a couple of years while helping the Safe Network (a decentralisation project worth getting to know) I began my own effort to decentralise github based on Safe, just last Sunday!

Even before Friday's censorship, I was pleasantly surprised by the level of support and offers to help I received in mastodon. People there are aware, skilled and ready.

BTW I've got ideas on how to handle the issue/comment spam and other problems rightly highlighted by @cjbprime in his reply to the OP. But first I have to get git-bug (really worth of support too) compiled to WASM and running in the browser.

It's early days, but you can see what I'm up to here: https://safenetforum.org/t/safe-git-ui-discussion/32793?u=ha...

Or follow: https://mastodon.technology/@happybeing https://twitter.com/safepress

Re: GitTorrent: A Decentralized GitHub (2015)

#28
post #5

Looks like a good fit for youtube-dl

The maintainers should probably just run their own git server as a hidden service, change their git name/email/signing keys and be done with it. Going after youtube-dl so publicly has a solid Streisand effect. Feel as though the lawyers aren't going to give up easily on this one and will hound them one way or another. Regardless, there is some github alternatives available through tor: Darktea: http://it7otdanqu7ktnt…

Thank you.

I have created the repo at Darktea, feel free to create your anonymous accounts and join the project, until we find a better/decentralized place.

For now this should be sufficient:

http://it7otdanqu7ktntxzm427cba6i53w6wlanlh23v5i3siqmos47pzh...

I will give the main contributors the neccessary access for reviewing/merging/etc.. or will entirely hand over the project if you can prove you are the maintainer.

Re: GitTorrent: A Decentralized GitHub (2015)

#29
post #16

This is a solution to a non-problem. Hosting taken down git repos is easy an due to gits design all developers already have the source code. The real problem is hosting issues and PRs in such a way. Github has an API and it's possible to script the backup but source code gets backup automatically so when the takedown strikes it's not a big problem.

Shameless plug, but that's exactly the aim of https://github.com/MichaelMure/git-bug.

It's a distributed bug-tracker: it stores issues (and one day, PRs) within git. You can work offline and you always have a full copy of everything. It also has bridges for Github, Gitlab and Jira.

Re: GitTorrent: A Decentralized GitHub (2015)

#30
post #14
post #9

Hi! I'm the GitTorrent author. It feels strange to have it show up on the front page whenever GitHub does something bad, more than five years later. Bitcoin and BitTorrent v1 were plausible substrates in 2015, but no longer. I think Radicle ( https://radicle.xyz ) is the project most deserving of attention at the moment. The hardest thing about such a project is economic: how do you handle issue/comment spammers? Or…

Usenet solved this with a Bitcoin precursor, Adam Back's hashcash. In effect you can do the same thing better by using a cryptocurrency with cheap transactions, e.g. Bitcoin Cash's Memo.cash. This way git hosts are compensated while at the same time making it too costly to spam. Longer packfile creation processes will require a greater transaction fee or otherwise be ignored based on heuristics created by the client.…

Wrt crypto, this is the LBRY [1] approach I believe, and seems to work quite well.

[1] https://lbry.tv/

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