How GitHub monopoly is destroying the open source ecosystem (ploum.net)
from pylapp@programming.dev to programming@programming.dev on 14 Jan 2026 08:14
https://programming.dev/post/44009057

#programming

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UnfortunateShort@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 2026 09:12 next collapse

PSA: GitHub does not have a monopoly, you are free to host your stuff elsewhere (or yourself)

SeductiveTortoise@piefed.social on 14 Jan 2026 13:26 next collapse

Yes, and for most of us it’s easy to do so, but I’m not going to explain a noob how to add new repositories. I mean, I did, and I will do in the future, but it’s not my favorite task to do.

I realized my comment was a bit ambiguous. I meant repositories like for Maven, NPM, or package managers. Having stuff on GitHub makes it a lot easier.

irelephant@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 14 Jan 2026 14:33 collapse

Google “network effect”

FizzyOrange@programming.dev on 14 Jan 2026 16:59 collapse

Relatively minor for source code forges.

The reasons everyone uses GitHub:

  • Free, even for private repos. No ads.
  • Free CI - this is huge. Nobody else does this because it costs Microsoft around $100m/year to provide.
  • It’s quite good.

If anyone can ever compete with that then I doubt network effects will keep people there.

irelephant@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 14 Jan 2026 18:17 collapse

Codeberg has free CI if your project has a FOSS license and a readme: codeberg.org/Codeberg-e.V./requests#woodpecker-ci

FizzyOrange@programming.dev on 14 Jan 2026 19:21 collapse

They’re clearly not going to be able to afford $100m/year in free CI.

0x1C3B00DA@fedia.io on 15 Jan 2026 12:52 collapse

Which is one of the reasons behind github's network effect.

FizzyOrange@programming.dev on 15 Jan 2026 22:31 collapse

That’s not a network effect.

0x1C3B00DA@fedia.io on 15 Jan 2026 23:30 collapse

I said its one of the reasons behind the network effect, not the network effect itself. github can offer more freebies, which attracts more users, which makes it more attractive to other users and for existing users to stick around.

Olap@lemmy.world on 14 Jan 2026 10:12 next collapse

forgejo.org

Would be nice to see federated PRs. Git is distributed after all!

[deleted] on 14 Jan 2026 11:52 next collapse
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hosaka@programming.dev on 15 Jan 2026 04:16 collapse

This looks neat, so the repositories are distributed across the people who run the radicale nodes? I’ve been self hosting forgejo for a while, wouldn’t mind trying this out just for fun.

[deleted] on 15 Jan 2026 14:16 collapse
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irelephant@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 14 Jan 2026 14:33 collapse
atzanteol@sh.itjust.works on 14 Jan 2026 13:49 next collapse

I know the solution. Starting this year, students will be forced to contribute to a project they use, care about or, at the very least, truly want to use in the long term. Not one they found randomly on Github.

And they’re still going to find things on GitHub. Because so many things are on GitHub.

They’re blaming the students for the popularity of GitHub. If they want students to not use GitHub then just make that a requirement.

FizzyOrange@programming.dev on 14 Jan 2026 16:55 next collapse

Terrible title. The article is about the risks of everyone using GitHub. That doesn’t mean GitHub is destroying the open source ecosystem. In fact it’s the complete opposite - GitHub massively helps the open source ecosystem. That’s why everyone uses it in the first place!

Chais@sh.itjust.works on 15 Jan 2026 19:52 next collapse

Not quite. GitHub used to help the open source ecosystem. Since it’s been taken over by Micro$lop it’s gradually been shifting towards exploiting it.

FizzyOrange@programming.dev on 15 Jan 2026 22:30 collapse

Maybe slightly, but it’s still way on the helping side.

PokerChips@programming.dev on 15 Jan 2026 20:02 collapse

Sounds more like it became a trojan horse.

PoY@lemmygrad.ml on 15 Jan 2026 05:11 collapse

yes, and add in Cloudflare gatekeeping vast swaths of websites and you’ve got yourself a real shitstorm