Live data from Hacker News

Self-hosted Git Server

petekeen.net

41–50 of 62 posts

Re: Self-hosted Git Server

#41
post #31
post #30

I checked out this guy's site. I understand he is reinventing the wheel. I respect that and do not mean anything negative about that. A lot of us are here to understand the wheel and build for ourselves. There is good value for that. What I do not understand, with all due respect, is the value of Github, and to a lesser extent Bitbucket, is in the features outside of the VCS core and how most people realize there is…

It's simple: discoverability of open source code. Good look getting attention on your self-hosted project.

But why do we care? Does everyone post to Github for the circle jerk of attention?

I come back to programming again and again to solve problems or deepen understanding. Popularity is nice, but I post to Github because it is a public place, not to gain popularity. You will never see my code there, I am sure. Most Github repos I stumble upon are through other media and social networks mentioning cool stuff, just like HN. I use plenty of self-hosted tools and I respect those people just the same, maybe even more because they got their somehow without recommendations on the side of a page or trending repo notifcations and email updates.

However, what do I wish I saw more of, like a lot now that I read up on Common Lisp, is people mirror aggressively on repo.or.cz, Github, Bitbucket and the like, when their site goes down or they lose interest. Github makes that easy, but we should not throw out the baby with the bath water: Git and tools like it encourage this simple reproduction of effort. I love open source because it is the only human organization I am familiar with that makes this and transparency such an important mantra (I am biased).

In short, I will never get attention, but I hope to get understanding. I understand some people contribute for different reasons, but if you are on Github to get attention, the rest of "normalized" society is laughing at us anyway.

I work in an IT department, and when I mention Github and source code and different languages, people stare at me like an alien. I will never get attention anywhere, but Github is not making that better or worse.

(And to be fair, I know I am vastly oversimplifying your argument and I know I am overemphasizing it. This is not meant to troll, but I see a lot of people these days on Github and places who embody your one comment much more grandiosely, and it pisses me off. Who does open source for attention? Haha.)

Re: Self-hosted Git Server

#42
post #7

Also check https://github.com/takezoe/gitbucket Installation is as easy as downloading it and running: java -jar gitbucket.war

Disingenuous. What happens when you need to restart your server because of some extreme necessary security patch? How do you manage backups? Since it's running on java, you probably don't want to expose this server to the internet unless you actively want to maintain updates to JDK versions. So now you're on the hook for that. Self-hosting is never "simple".

Fair points.

1. If you need to restart your server because patches, then you restart it. :)

2. Backups: AFAIK you can simply just backup /home/user that runs GitBucket. "To upgrade GitBucket, only replace gitbucket.war. All GitBucket data is stored in HOME/.gitbucket. So if you want to back up GitBucket data, copy this directory to the other disk."

3. "Since it's Java ... therefore security" yeah, you need to keep it updated, same goes for ALL software. Luckily I'm using an enterprise class distro which provides timely security updates and pays particular attention to Java (RHEL/CentOS).

Nothing is ever "simple", but running stuff yourself is not as hard as many people think, you just need to get a bit involved.

Re: Self-hosted Git Server

#43
post #30

I checked out this guy's site. I understand he is reinventing the wheel. I respect that and do not mean anything negative about that. A lot of us are here to understand the wheel and build for ourselves. There is good value for that. What I do not understand, with all due respect, is the value of Github, and to a lesser extent Bitbucket, is in the features outside of the VCS core and how most people realize there is…

What about Attlassian's JIRA + Stash + Confluence combo?

Re: Self-hosted Git Server

#44
post #41
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's simple: discoverability of open source code. Good look getting attention on your self-hosted project.

But why do we care? Does everyone post to Github for the circle jerk of attention? I come back to programming again and again to solve problems or deepen understanding. Popularity is nice, but I post to Github because it is a public place, not to gain popularity. You will never see my code there, I am sure. Most Github repos I stumble upon are through other media and social networks mentioning cool stuff, just like H…

>But why do we care? Does everyone post to Github for the circle jerk of attention?

Ugh, I hate that the term "circle jerk" is being applied to "a place where people share things they have made."

Github is a self-described "social coding" website. If people did post code simply to show it off to others, do you feel this is better or worse than Facebook-esque low-content narcissism? I feel like you come to this with a feeling of superiority for some reason.

>In short, I will never get attention, but I hope to get understanding. I understand some people contribute for different reasons, but if you are on Github to get attention, the rest of "normalized" society is laughing at us anyway.

So what if people are on Github to get attention? Self-promotion can help you get a better job or help establish a reputation. The programming community is small and there's nothing wrong with wanting to participate.

However, I posit that people push to public-read Github so that their code gets attention. When I post code to my tech blog, the broadcast audience is small. When I post it to Github, anyone can see/critique/benefit/suggest changes/easily discuss it with context. That's pretty cool.

>I work in an IT department, and when I mention Github and source code and different languages, people stare at me like an alien.

If you work in an IT department where Github or code-review is strange, that's a different issue.

>I will never get attention anywhere, but Github is not making that better or worse.

I don't even know how to respond to this.

Re: Self-hosted Git Server

#45
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is my point exactly. Self hosting is maintenance. In the time you got 502s, my github pages stayed up. It is grossly inefficient to host your own source control. Libraries and third party services exist for a reason.

Life is built of tradeoffs and compromises. For you, github pages makes total sense. For me, not so much. Saying that my little VPS is "grossly inefficient" compared to your GitHub repositories is like comparing apples to... I dunno, like a rock? or a monkey? Something else entirely, that's for sure.

It only proves you did not build your solution with scalability in mind. Once you get more traffic and the hosting bill goes up, i'm pretty sure you'll reconsider self hosting for the sake of self hosting.

Re: Self-hosted Git Server

#46
post #44
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But why do we care? Does everyone post to Github for the circle jerk of attention? I come back to programming again and again to solve problems or deepen understanding. Popularity is nice, but I post to Github because it is a public place, not to gain popularity. You will never see my code there, I am sure. Most Github repos I stumble upon are through other media and social networks mentioning cool stuff, just like H…

>But why do we care? Does everyone post to Github for the circle jerk of attention? Ugh, I hate that the term "circle jerk" is being applied to "a place where people share things they have made." Github is a self-described "social coding" website. If people did post code simply to show it off to others, do you feel this is better or worse than Facebook-esque low-content narcissism? I feel like you come to this with a…

>> But why do we care? Does everyone post to Github for the circle jerk of attention?

> Ugh, I hate that the term "circle jerk" is being applied to "a place where people share things they have made."

Well, I did not mean to sound superior. I do not think I can code well enough to look down at other people for coding ability. I just feel that people increasingly, like any social network, will work on projects on Github for attention and the content is questionable or strange. Social is transforming to a place to socialize, and the latter I do not like for Github or anywhere else for enthusiast programming.

Recently, I had an idea because I got sick of TinyTinyRSS, a PHP-based feed reader with some good mobile app integration. I wrote a small README, uploaded a SVG of the MySQL DB structure to get an idea, and had not written any of the Python I described. I received three stars a week later, and not a single line of code yet. How does that even make sense? My point is people go around look for attention without effort. Yes, I know this describes every social network. I dislike them. You can balk at that ironically, because I am here, ostensibly another social network in different orange wrapper. Nonetheless, the kind of voting and sometimes absurd comment threads in nerd wars, like the whole Node.js commit changing gender and the Joyent employee who lost his job over it, were disgusting. I understood both sides of that issue, but people were declaring there sides with superfluous commentary in the pull request comments, and the hundred or so comments supporting various views on women and IT and superfluous garbage showed it was a hot topic. No one wanted to debate the merits of the commit or how to handle the issue as it pertained to the Node community with that specific issue, of course. It was just an angry Facebookesque flameware on Github. I hoped I would not see Github turn into that. I foolishly assumed it would be a long time before I saw that because, like it or not, computer culture, especially open source stuff, is still fringe.

It is this that bothers me. Some people write cutesy meaningless libraries to get attention. I probably write garbage, code far worse than anyone of that ilk. But what I do not like is the stress Github is now turning the celebration of open programming and collaboration into, merely a celebrity contest. I cannot find the talk by one of the Node guys talking about how he started to be really affected by the number of stars he received on projects (and this is a guy that had projects in Node with sometimes three or four digits in his star count! I never broke more than 1, on anything). He said it ruined his focus drive and he had to re-center himself.

My point here, whether you disagree or not, is that a social network for coding does not mean a socializing network where it is playground for different cliques, with random bullies and popular kids looking down at you. Github is not that yet, but my point was that prioritizing attention-getting when working in open source projects seems quite contrary to me.

Ask Richard Hipp.

Re: Self-hosted Git Server

#47
I have registered in January 27 2009 to github, but I have been running my own git repository on a dedicated server for quite some time. I have never really been active at github or any other third party repository service. The reason I want to self manage my hosting is that I can get cheaper private repositories.

Re: Self-hosted Git Server

#48
post #46
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>But why do we care? Does everyone post to Github for the circle jerk of attention? Ugh, I hate that the term "circle jerk" is being applied to "a place where people share things they have made." Github is a self-described "social coding" website. If people did post code simply to show it off to others, do you feel this is better or worse than Facebook-esque low-content narcissism? I feel like you come to this with a…

>> But why do we care? Does everyone post to Github for the circle jerk of attention? > Ugh, I hate that the term "circle jerk" is being applied to "a place where people share things they have made." Well, I did not mean to sound superior. I do not think I can code well enough to look down at other people for coding ability. I just feel that people increasingly, like any social network, will work on projects on Githu…

>I do not think I can code well enough to look down at other people for coding ability.

That's kind of the point of social coding. If I care and think that I can help your project, I'll suggest a solution that I'm capable of implementing (pull request).

>Social is transforming to a place to socialize, and the latter I do not like for Github or anywhere else for enthusiast programming.

No one is forcing you to do anything. You can post your code for others to see without interacting.

>I wrote a small README, uploaded a SVG of the MySQL DB structure to get an idea, and had not written any of the Python I described. I received three stars a week later, and not a single line of code yet. How does that even make sense?

Maybe someone liked your idea or starred it as a reminder to come back later.

>and the hundred or so comments supporting various views on women and IT and superfluous garbage showed it was a hot topic.

Political opinions don't require an understanding of the issue or any ability. To talk about code, the amount of ability and understanding increases with the complexity of the sample. Which is to say, of course the noise political discussion drowns out talk about coding because there's more potential participants.

>Some people write cutesy meaningless libraries to get attention.

So what?

>But what I do not like is the stress Github is now turning the celebration of open programming and collaboration into, merely a celebrity contest.

Do you think that this behavior comes from Github or its users?

>I never broke more than 1, on anything)

Earlier you said that you received multiple stars for a project you hadn't coded.

I'm going to stop responding because you're responding with anecdotes, some of which are fictitious.

Re: Self-hosted Git Server

#49
I also use my private repositories (simply setup using gitolite), but I simply also push to GitHub for the added discoverability.

I tend not to like GitHub however. The wiki/issue tracker actually require you to be online, which is the best thing about git: being able to work without network connection.

I'd like to find some project that syncs github issues with sd (http://syncwith.us/sd/) or bugseverywhere (http://www.bugseverywhere.org/), so that I could actually work on the issues without being online (the bigger pain point are attachments which need to be downloaded).

Another thing which I consider inferior to patches by mail are pull requests. Honestly, it's very rare that I can accept a patch without some reformatting or minor corrections. I also never ask people to do such minor reformatting just to be able to click 'accept'. Again, pull requests cannot be worked-on or accepted offline. Similarly, my patches sent to other projects are similarly handled by other authors.

Re: Self-hosted Git Server

#50
post #30

I checked out this guy's site. I understand he is reinventing the wheel. I respect that and do not mean anything negative about that. A lot of us are here to understand the wheel and build for ourselves. There is good value for that. What I do not understand, with all due respect, is the value of Github, and to a lesser extent Bitbucket, is in the features outside of the VCS core and how most people realize there is…

Early last year (2013), I decided to use BE and am working a Java client-library, Mylyn connector and Trello-like kanban web-interface integrated into BE. Recently I saw the (Scala-based) GitBucket and immediately thought it would be very cool if the back-end for issue tracking was just BE.

The missing pieces (from my perspective) on GitBucket is that I can't use ssh keys for identification/authorization. I think GitHub, Gitolite, etc do this part right.

EDIT: Fossil always seemed interesting, and now there's Veracity which is missing IDE integration but seems to have all the server-client parts done correctly.

Post reply on HN