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Why I've built an alternative to Github

blog.codeplane.com

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Re: Why I've built an alternative to Github

#161

Post by edw »

I hadn't gotten around to commenting, and I'm glad it took me a while, because while I first went to Codeplane and set up a trial account, pushed my Github private repos therem and downgraded my account from a paid to an unpaid account — thereby netting myself a free cheap beer a month — I went on to read some of the comments here, set up gitosis, and am now free of any sort of paid git hosting fees beyond my existing Linode virtualized server — upgrading my free monthly drink from a PBR to a Hendrick's martini.

Thank you, fellow Hacker News citizens.

Re: Why I've built an alternative to Github

#162

Post by andrewflnr »

tseabrooks wrote: post #112
encoderer wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still use SVN for a lot of my own personal projects (don't judge me!) and sure I could setup my own SVN server no problem. But I pay a small fee ($50 a year I think.. or maybe $50/6-mos) for SVN hosting. Same situation: I want private repo's. Past that, the only other thing I really want is not to have to worry about ANYTHING. It needs to be secure, backed-up, and quick, without me ever having to give it a 2nd thou…

Why spend money with things like Bit Bucket around? It's a mercurial repo with free private hosting for up to 5 users.

Presumably, he doesn't want to use Mercurial.

Re: Why I've built an alternative to Github

#163

Post by true_religion »

alphakappa wrote: post #152
true_religion wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Github doesn't require you to know how to use tar ... or have any other Linux experience You don't need tar to package a git versioned project. All you need is some kind of zip program, and every major OS has one built in. The difference knowledge it requires to just zip up a directory and send it in an email, versus running a github connection is so minimal its laughable that anyone suggests that you need some kin…

Yes, you can zip up a repo easily. But where do you store it? Do you really want to save it in your email instead of saving it in some kind of source control so that you can use it as such if you need to quickly commit some change? Saving it to S3 is an option, but then you have to create that account too. Why shouldn't you be able to just use one account?

Codespace is in the feature middle-ground between Github and a zipped backup.

It's online and active, but its a CLI only.

To match the functionality of Codespace, you don't need anything as inelegant as S3. If you have a dropbox account, you basically have the same functionality as Codespace offers. And its free.

And as a bonus, you can store other things in dropbox apart from your git repos.

Looking at Codespace, its targeting a space below Github that's already massively serviced by other simpler competition.

Edit:

Let me add. Before using Github, I personally would just open a network drive to my webhost, and save things on there. It was cheap. It was CLI. And as a benefit I could save other things apart from my code there.

Re: Why I've built an alternative to Github

#165

Post by alnayyir »

trustfundbaby wrote: post #144
alnayyir wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have to be a hacker to know how to host a repo now?

Getting a Git repo setup with a web accessible interface is not trivial and for the time spent doing it, you could be doing other things like ... you know ... writing code to make you money.

Gitolite/Gitosis/Gitweb and/or ssh access.

I could do it in ~5 minutes.

I could hack up an MVP of the features that Github has that I care about in maybe a weekend.

That said, I do use and love Github, but I use it for the network effects and general slickness.

If I need a private repo, I get off my fat ass and deploy it in less time than it takes to enter my billing address.

Re: Why I've built an alternative to Github

#167

Post by sirn »

Your blogpost mentioned using Git with Dropbox was too much of a hassle, could you elaborate why? I want to know since all my private repos are `git init --bare` within Dropbox directory, which works very well so far. What's the main benefit if I were to switch to Codeplane?

Re: Why I've built an alternative to Github

#168

Post by M1573RMU74710N »

cool-RR wrote: post #82

I think that anyone who complains about GitHub's price has gotten way too spoiled, or perhaps underestimates the amount of effort required to maintain a service of that quality and reliability. I find this to be another symptom of HN tunnel vision.

I don't think anybody is "complaining about GitHub's prices" per se...at least not the way you are implying. That is, I don't think anyone is saying GitHub is greedy, or not worth it ever or something like that....

However, the fact of the matter is they have a particular pricing plan, and that pricing plan is such that for certain people it becomes not worth it.

When you go to a fast food place, they generally offer you varying sizes of soda.

For most people that's fine....but for some people their needs may fall JUST in between two sizes...for example they want more soda than a medium, but they don't really need a large.

So they start buying a large...because that's a reasonable compromise.

Sure, the large may be a very good deal, but that's completely besides the point. It's more soda than they really need, and they are wasting money by buying it.

When someone offers a size of soda that happens to fit their needs exactly, there's no reason they shouldn't switch to that. If their needs change they can always go back to their old size, or even a newer one.

Or to pick another soda analogy, imagine that the fast food place only charges for the soda cup. It's a dollar a cup for everyone. This is a GREAT deal for most people...they come in pay a dollar and get a cup of soda, with free refills. The fast food place does alright because it all balances out in the end, the people who drink a little soda subsidize the ones who drink a lot. Even people who only drink one cup of soda get a reasonable deal.

Now imagine you come in with 100 kids who only need a thimble-full of soda each (for the sake of argument). You're paying 100$ for the amount of soda everyone else is paying 1$ for! Overall, the pricing plan is reasonable...but for certain people it falls apart.

Why should those people go with a deal that doesn't work for them? It's better all around for them to find a better fit.

The fact that github is awesome and a great deal is completely irrelevant re the issue at hand. The point is some people don't need all the github awesomeness, they just want somewhere to stick their code.

If that's all you need, there's no reason at all not to go with a cheaper option.

That's not to say that the cheaper option is this guy's service....it could be any number of things. For some people this codeplane is a good fit, for others...not.

Re: Why I've built an alternative to Github

#169

Post by fnando »

sirn wrote: post #167

Your blogpost mentioned using Git with Dropbox was too much of a hassle, could you elaborate why? I want to know since all my private repos are `git init --bare` within Dropbox directory, which works very well so far. What's the main benefit if I were to switch to Codeplane?

My problem with Dropbox was when I had to share a repo with someone. How to do that? I created a shared folder. And then it becomes really hard to manage all this stuff. For 1-person usage, Dropbox works really great.

Re: Why I've built an alternative to Github

#170

Post by karanbhangui »

pdenya wrote: post #126

Same feature set as http://repositoryhosting.com with a higher price point (they're at $6/month now for 2GB). They don't have a CLI or anything as far as I know but they do offer more storage space at $1/GB/month which is pretty nice if you just need a little extra.

Have been using these guys for a year or more now, at 3 different companies. Amazingly responsive support. Best thing I've ever spent 6 bucks on.
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