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<h1>Give Up GitHub!</h1>

<p>On Wednesday 29 June 2022, we <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2022/jun/30/give-up-github-launch/">began

calling on all FOSS developers</a> to <strong>give up on

GitHub</strong>. </p>

<div class="picture-small right">

<img src="{% static 'img/GiveUpGitHub.svg' %}" alt="A parody of the GitHub logo, walling off user rights and demanding payment"/>

</div>

<p>We realize this is not an easy task; GitHub is ubiquitous. Through their

effective marketing, GitHub has convinced Free and Open Source Software

(FOSS) developers that GitHub is the best (and even the only) place for FOSS

development.  However, as a proprietary, trade-secret tool, GitHub itself is

the very opposite of FOSS.  By contrast, Git was

designed <a href="http://www.h-online.com/open/features/The-saga-of-Git-Lightning-does-strike-twice-1051559.html">specifically

to replace a proprietary tool (BitKeeper)</a>, and to make FOSS development

distributed — using FOSS tools and without a centralized site.  GitHub

has warped Git — creating add-on features that turn a distributed,

egalitarian, and FOSS system into a centralized, proprietary site.  And, all

those add-on features are controlled by a single, for-profit company. By

staying on GitHub, established FOSS communities bring newcomers to this

proprietary platform — expanding GitHub's reach. and limiting the

imaginations of the next generation of FOSS developers.</p>

<p>We know that many rely on GitHub every day.  Giving up a ubiquitous,

gratis service that has useful (albeit proprietary) features is perennially

difficult.  For software developers, giving up GitHub will be even harder

than giving up Facebook!  We don't blame anyone who struggles, but hope you

will read the reasons and methods below to give up GitHub and join us in

seeking better alternatives!  Also, please check back to this page regularly,

as we'll continue to update it throughout 2022 and beyond!</p>

<h2>Why Give Up GitHub?</h2>

<p>There are so many reasons to give up on GitHub, but we list here a few of

the most important ones:

    <ul>

    <li><p><a href="https://github.com/features/copilot" rel="nofollow">Copilot

    is a for-profit product</a> &mdash; developed and marketed by Microsoft

    and their GitHub subsidiary — that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI)

    techniques to automatically generate code interactively for developers.

    The AI model was trained

    (<a href="https://github.blog/2021-06-30-github-copilot-research-recitation/"

    rel="nofollow">according to GitHub's own statements</a>) exclusively with

    projects that were hosted on GitHub, including many licensed

    under <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/glossary.html#copyleft">copyleft</a>

    licenses.  Most of those projects are not in the “public

    domain”, they are licensed

    under <a href="https://opensource.org/licenses"><acronym title="Free and

    Open Source Software">FOSS</acronym> licenses</a>.  These licenses

    have <em>requirements</em> including proper author attribution and, in

    the case of <a href="https://copyleft.org/"><em>copyleft</em>

    licenses</a>, they sometimes require that works based on and/or that

    incorporate the software be licensed under the same copyleft license as

    the prior work. Microsoft and GitHub have been ignoring these license

    requirements for more than a year.  Their only defense of these

    actions <a href="https://twitter.com/natfriedman/status/1409914420579344385">was

    a tweet by their former CEO</a>, in which he falsely claims that

    unsettled law on this topic is actually settled. In addition to the legal

    issues,

    the <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2022/feb/03/github-copilot-copyleft-gpl/">ethical

    implications of GitHub's choice to use copylefted code</a> in the service

        of creating proprietary software are grave.</p> </li>

    <li id="ICE-contract-details"><p>In 2020, the community discovered that

GitHub <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/01/ice-contract-github-sparks-developer-protests/604339/">has

a for-profit software services contract with the USA Immigration and Customs

Enforcement (ICE)</a>.  Activists, including some GitHub employees, have been

calling on GitHub for two years to cancel that contract.  GitHub's primary

reply has been that their parent company, Microsoft, has sold Microsoft Word

for years to ICE without any public complaints.  They claim that this somehow

justifies <em>even more</em> business with an agency whose policies are

problematic.  Regardless of your views on ICE and its behavior, GitHub's

        ongoing <a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2020-06-12/github-ceo-black-lives-matter-employees-demand-end-ice-contract">dismissive and disingenuous</a> responses to the activists who raised this important issue show that GitHub puts its profits above concerns from the community.</p></li>

<li><p>While GitHub pretends to be pro-FOSS

  (like <a href="https://lwn.net/Articles/17822/">SourceForge before

    them</a>), their entire hosting site is, itself, proprietary and/or

  trade-secret software.  We appreciate that GitHub allows some of its

  employees to sometimes contribute FOSS to upstream projects, but our

  community has been burned so many times before by companies that claim to

  support FOSS, while actively convincing the community to rely on their

    proprietary software.  We won't let GitHub burn us in this same way!</p></li>

<li><p>GitHub differs from most of its peers in the FOSS project hosting

industry, as GitHub does not even offer any self-hosting FOSS option.

Their <em>entire</em> codebase is secret.  For example, while we have our

complaints about GitLab's business model of parallel “Community”

and “Enterprise” editions, at least GitLab's Community Edition

provides basic functionality for self-hosting and is 100% FOSS. Meanwhile,

    there are <em>non-profit</em> FOSS hosting sites such

as <a href="https://codeberg.org">CodeBerg</a>, who develop their platform

    publicly as FOSS.</p></li>

<li><p>GitHub has long sought to discredit copyleft generally.  Their various

CEOs have often spoken loudly and negatively about copyleft, including their

founder (and former CEO)

devoting <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bAAlPXB2-c">his OSCON

keynote on attacking copyleft and the GPL</a>.  This trickled down from the

top.  We've personally observed various GitHub employees over the years

arguing in many venues to convince projects to avoid copyleft;

we've <a href="https://github.com/BenKallos/legislation/issues/2#issue-46911010">even

seen a GitHub employee do this in a GitHub bug ticket directly</a>.</p></li>

    <li><p>GitHub is wholly owned by Microsoft, a company whose executives have historically repeatedly attacked copyleft licensing.</p></li>

    </ul>

<h2>How Do I Give Up GitHub?</h2>

<p>The reason that it's difficult to leave GitHub is a side-effect of one of

the reasons to leave them: proprietary vendor lock-in.  We are aware that

GitHub, as the “Facebook of software development”, has succeeded

in creating the most enticing walled garden ever made for FOSS developers.

Just like leaving Facebook is painful because you're unsure how you'll find

and talk with your friends and family otherwise — leaving GitHub is

difficult because it's how you find and collaborate with

co-developers. GitHub may even be how you find and showcase your work to

prospective employers.  We also know that some Computer Science programs

even <em>require</em> students to use GitHub.</p>

<div class="picture-small left">

<img src="https://sfconservancy.org/img/GiveUpGitHub.svg" alt="A parody of the GitHub logo, walling off user rights and demanding payment"/>

</div>

<p>Accordingly, we call first on the most comfortably-situated developers

among you — leaders of key FOSS projects, hiring and engineering

managers, and developers who are secure in their employment — to take

the first step to reject GitHub's proprietary services.  We recognize that

for new developers in the field, you'll receive pressure from potential

employers (even those that will otherwise employ you to develop FOSS) to

participate on GitHub.  Collective action requires the privileged developers

among us to lead by example; that's why we're not merely asking you leave

GitHub, but we're spearheading an effort to help everyone give up GitHub over

the long term. You can help protect newcomers from the intrinsic power

imbalance created by GitHub by setting the agenda for your FOSS project and

hosting your project elsewhere.</p>

<p>As such, we're speaking first to the hiring managers, community leaders,

and those in other positions of power that encourage the use of GitHub to new

contributors and existing communities. Once someone in power makes the choice

to host a project on GitHub, the individual contributors have little choice

but to use these proprietary and damaging products. If you are making

decisions or have political power within your community and/or employer, we

urge you to use your power to center community efforts through FOSS platforms

rather than GitHub.  If you're an individual contributor who feels powerless

to leave GitHub, read our (growing) list of recommendations below on how to

take the first steps.</p>

<p>Long term, we'll develop this stable URL (that can always be reached

by <a href="https://GiveUpGitHub.org">GiveUpGitHub.org</a>) to include links

to resources to help everyone — from the most privileged developer to

newcomers and members of underrepresented groups in FOSS — to give up

on GitHub.  If you don't feel that you or your project can yet leave GitHub,

we ask that you raise awareness

by <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/docs/SupportGiveUpGitHub-README-snippet.md">adding

this section to your README.md</a> to share your concerns about GitHub with

your users.  If you're ready to leave GitHub, you

can <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/docs/GiveUpGitHub-README.md">use this

README.md template</a> to replace your current one.</p>

<p>

<blockquote><p>千里之行始於足下<br/>The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.</p></blockquote>

<div style="text-align: right"><p> &mdash; <cite>老子 (Lao Tsu) in Chapter 64

      of 道德经 (Tao Te Ching)</cite>

</p></div>

</p>

<h2>Resources to Give Up GitHub</h2>

<p>Here are some resources to help you quit GitHub.  We'll be expanding this

list regularly as we find more resources.  If you'd like to suggest a

resource not yet listed, you can discuss it on

the <a href="https://lists.sfconservancy.org/mailman/listinfo/give-up-github">Give-Up-GitHub

    mailing list</a>.</p>

<ul>

<li>Alternative Hosting Services:

    <ul>

    <li><a href="https://codeberg.org">CodeBerg</a></li>

    <li><a href="https://sourcehut.org/">SourceHut</a></li>

    </ul>

 <li>Self-Host (or join a group that self-hosts).  A few options:

        <ul><li><a href="https://gitea.io">Gitea</a></li>

        <li> <a href="https://gitlab.com/rluna-gitlab/gitlab-ce">GitLab

        Community Edition</a> (note, the GitLab Enterprise Edition, which is

        provided to the public on gitlab.com,  is (like GitHub) trade-secret,

          proprietary, vendor-lock-in software)</li>

        <li><a href="https://sr.ht/~sircmpwn/sourcehut/">SourceHut</a></li>

 </ul></li>

    (We'll be adding tutorials soon on how to self-host!)

    </ul></p>

<h2>Ways To Help Even <em>Before</em> You Give Up GitHub</h2>

<p>Here are some ideas of how you can help raise the importance of this issue

even while you're still a GitHub user.  (We'll publish longer tutorials in

future about these and other ways to help.)

<ul>

<li><p><a href="https://sfconservancy.org/docs/SupportGiveUpGitHub-README-snippet.md">Add

    this section to your README.md</a> to share your concerns about GitHub

  with your users.</p></li>

<li><p>Respectfully and kindly ask, before you contribute to a project on

  GitHub, if they could provide alternative means to contribute other than

    using GitHub.</p></li>

<li><p>Explain to your employer the dangers of relying on GitHub's proprietary

    vendor lock-in products.</p></li>

<li><p>Join

  the <a href="https://lists.sfconservancy.org/mailman/listinfo/give-up-github">give-up-github

  mailing list</a> and start threads about your difficulties leaving GitHub.

  This will help us explore solutions with you and add material to this

    page.</p></li>

</ul>

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