It's not your code or data, it's your previous employers IP and they determine who has access and who doesn't and what licenses do or don't apply. Forks have worked like this for awhile and I consider it a feature, especially in cases like this.
Tell HN: GitHub will delete your private repo if you lose access to the original
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Re: Tell HN: GitHub will delete your private repo if you lose access to the original
#32It's not your code or data, it's your previous employers IP and they determine who has access and who doesn't and what licenses do or don't apply. Forks have worked like this for awhile and I consider it a feature, especially in cases like this.
That's not how MIT license works
Re: Tell HN: GitHub will delete your private repo if you lose access to the original
#33This unfortunately makes sense because it is a private repo. Even if a repo is labeled as being MIT and has an MIT license in it, it still may contain other code of a different license.
Github could do better by warning the repo owner when they delete a private repo. Github could ask the repo owner if they want to convert it to public first (a "set it free" option) or otherwise give the option to avoid deleting the forks of others.
Re: Tell HN: GitHub will delete your private repo if you lose access to the original
#34I have a number of git repos that the original developers deleted - because I sync’d them to a usb stick with gitea. I think that is how you have to do it - never entrust a service, especially a free one, with your only copy of anything you value. If the YouTube algorithm nukes your account and all your videos, you should be ready to upload them to a new account. Same with anything else digital. My current is standar…
> If the YouTube algorithm nukes your account and all your videos, you should be ready to upload them to a new account. Same with anything else digital. Do you know if this is a common occurrence? Also, I'm only a YouTube viewer and am not familiar with all the creator tools, problems, communities, etc. But would a creator really re-upload all their back-catalog if deleted? Just to try to get back to views and things…
A few weeks ago, youtube changed their swearword policy. A creator I follow basically had to delete half their channel or risk termination.
Re: Tell HN: GitHub will delete your private repo if you lose access to the original
#35Why a mail saying that something was deleted instead of a warning that something will be deleted??
If you worked at a company and had a fork of a private repo that company maintained of some software... do you want employees who have left to have their access to the repos removed? or an email that says that it will be removed?
Re: Tell HN: GitHub will delete your private repo if you lose access to the original
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, it's not reasonable to me, but we'll just have to respectfully disagree on this.
It probably seems more reasonable to the people who own the repo.
I don't think the people who removed my access had any intention of deleting private repos. It's just somebody cleaning up ex-employee access from GitHub.
Re: Tell HN: GitHub will delete your private repo if you lose access to the original
#37It's not your code or data, it's your previous employers IP and they determine who has access and who doesn't and what licenses do or don't apply. Forks have worked like this for awhile and I consider it a feature, especially in cases like this.
That's not how MIT license works
So you're suggesting GitHub should determine the total "average" license of a private repo and determine if your fork is indeed valid or not, before revoking access.
Re: Tell HN: GitHub will delete your private repo if you lose access to the original
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's not how MIT license works
So you're suggesting GitHub should determine the total "average" license of a private repo and determine if your fork is indeed valid or not, before revoking access.
Instead, you might just want to reach out and ask for access or a zip file from the owners
Re: Tell HN: GitHub will delete your private repo if you lose access to the original
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
“But the plans were on display…” “On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.” “That’s the display department.” “With a flashlight.” “Ah, well, the lights had probably gone.” “So had the stairs.” “But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?” “Yes,” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Bew…
To clarify the appropriateness of this analogy: This is unexpected behaviour from Github here which may (and has, by the anecdote of OP) cause permanent data loss. Documentation is not good enough, as users should not have been expected to have read the entire documentation.
I guess this is a question of who should have been given further information. For example, whoever at the organization deleted the repo would have been given a very clear warning screen including the number of forks that would be deleted by their action prior to them doing it.
On that note, an organization admin can _directly_ delete your private fork without even deleting the source repository if they want. GitHub's permission model is fairly direct that private forks you make through your membership in an organization are more the organization's property than the forker's.
Re: Tell HN: GitHub will delete your private repo if you lose access to the original
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's why I usually don't use the official "fork" feature, but clone and push the repository manually instead. I would like to keep the fork network connection on Github, but I don't want to see my fork deleted because of an error, malice or simply lack of knowledge.
It will only be deleted if the repo you fork from is a private repository. The documentation [1] covers the other scenarios, in all of which you keep your copy of the code (including when the public repository is made private later). [1] https://docs.github.com/en/pull-requests/collaborating-with-...
> It will only be deleted if the repo you fork from is a private repository
This makes sense. Thank you for clarifying that important detail. It seems to be missing from the parts of the discussion I've read here.