If you are frustrated with Github being down again, and just want an alternative, the other options listed are better fits. If you have the time to look at doing more than that, then check out fossil https://fossil-scm.org/home/doc/trunk/www/index.wiki - It isn't git - Works best with smaller teams - You need to be ok self hosting (single binary, easy to do) The first point is really the killer. It is revision contro…
I've sorta overlooked Fossil a lot (mostly because it's not git...), but just browsing some instances on chisel and the fossil homepage has me intrigued. If you'll entertain me for a moment... My dream "forge" would just be nice-looking frontend for displaying repos on the web, a public issue tracker (with per-issue permissions), a public way to submit issues, and essentially a single canonical root for repositories…
> My dream "forge" would just be nice-looking frontend for displaying repos on the web, a public issue tracker (with per-issue permissions), a public way to submit issues, and essentially a single canonical root for repositories that users on the team work on.
Fossil will get you the frontend (for some value of nice-looking) for displaying repositories on the Web. It will also get you the issue tracker, which can optionally be public[0].
For products you're developing that involve multiple repositories, it's possible to use a "meta repository"[1] to establish what's called a login group in a way that's vaguely reminiscent of using, say, Kerberos as an adjunct to /etc/passwd. You still have to ensure that the users exist in the user information table on the joined repositories[2], but the password information will at least be synchronized.
> I don't want individual user repos or pages, organizations, or any social stuff. I definitely don't want open registration.
There's some social stuff if you find later that you want it. Fossil development moved from a more traditional mailing list to a self-hosted forum a while ago, but it isn't enabled by default.
You can use tech notes as a sort of micro-logging facility in the same vein as snippets if you're familiar with how Silicon Valley companies sometimes have cultures of personal status updates. I'll admit that I've gotten a fair amount of use out of this.
I'm honestly not sure if open registration is possible. I've never had an excuse to try it.
> How limiting is the custom theme support? It looks like you can just straight up write your own HTML/CSS for everything. If I really want a custom design, will I be disappointed in the long run?
If you stick just to HTML and CSS, you should be fine. The functionality is pretty spartan.
> Also, it looks like it follows that user model I want, where it's "repositories with users" instead of "users with repositories". Is that correct?
Yep. The repository itself is what has the user information.
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0: This is governed by the capabilities assigned to a user. See https://fossil-scm.org/home/doc/tip/www/caps/ and the therein linked https://fossil-scm.org/home/doc/tip/www/caps/ref.html for details.
1: At least, I tend to name mine "meta."
2: Funnily enough, it shares the same pain as administering Plan 9's fossil(4) fileserver. See https://fossil-scm.org/home/doc/trunk/www/caps/login-groups.... for details.