+On Wednesday 29 June 2022, we began +calling on all FOSS developers to give up on +GitHub.
+ +
+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 specifically +to replace a proprietary tool (BitKeeper), 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.
+ +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!
+ +There are so many reasons to give up on GitHub, but we list here a few of +the most important ones: + +
Copilot + is a for-profit product — 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 + (according to GitHub's own statements) exclusively with + projects that were hosted on GitHub, including many licensed + under copyleft + licenses. Most of those projects are not in the “public + domain”, they are licensed + under FOSS licenses. These licenses + have requirements including proper author attribution and, in + the case of copyleft + licenses, 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 was + a tweet by their former CEO, in which he falsely claims that + unsettled law on this topic is actually settled. In addition to the legal + issues, + the ethical + implications of GitHub's choice to use copylefted code in the service + of creating proprietary software are grave.
In 2020, the community discovered that +GitHub has +a for-profit software services contract with the USA Immigration and Customs +Enforcement (ICE). 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 even more business with an agency whose policies are +problematic. Regardless of your views on ICE and its behavior, GitHub's + ongoing dismissive and disingenuous responses to the activists who raised this important issue show that GitHub puts its profits above concerns from the community.
While GitHub pretends to be pro-FOSS + (like SourceForge before + them), 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!
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 entire 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 non-profit FOSS hosting sites such +as CodeBerg, who develop their platform + publicly as FOSS.
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 his OSCON +keynote on attacking copyleft and the GPL. 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 even +seen a GitHub employee do this in a GitHub bug ticket directly.
GitHub is wholly owned by Microsoft, a company whose executives have historically repeatedly attacked copyleft licensing.
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 require students to use GitHub.
+ +
+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.
+ +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.
+ +Long term, we'll develop this stable URL (that can always be reached +by GiveUpGitHub.org) 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 adding +this section to your README.md to share your concerns about GitHub with +your users. If you're ready to leave GitHub, you +can use this +README.md template to replace your current one.
+ ++
+千里之行始於足下
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
— 老子 (Lao Tsu) in Chapter 64 + of 道德经 (Tao Te Ching) +
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 Give-Up-GitHub + mailing list.
+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.) +
Add + this section to your README.md to share your concerns about GitHub + with your users.
Respectfully and kindly ask, before you contribute to a project on + GitHub, if they could provide alternative means to contribute other than + using GitHub.
Explain to your employer the dangers of relying on GitHub's proprietary + vendor lock-in products.
Join + the give-up-github + mailing list and start threads about your difficulties leaving GitHub. + This will help us explore solutions with you and add material to this + page.