[Linux-aus] FOSS-as-a-service

[Adam Nielsen]

> The plan to host a github-like instance on a LA VM has been on the
> cards for a while

I don't mean to sound negative, but is an LA-hosted Github clone really
going to provide much of a benefit to the community?

The beauty of git is that every time you download (clone) the code,
your copy is in no way inferior to the other copy.  You can go ahead
and host your copy immediately, and if people decide this is the new
master copy, then everything proceeds from there.

This, in my opinion, is Github's strongest point.  They can never lock
you in to their service, because by simply having a working git
repository on your machine, you have everything you need to move to
another provider (bug tracking, wikis, and other non-git services
notwithstanding.)

Look at how easy it was for the Linux kernel to move to Github and then
back again.

There are certainly many other services that don't give you this level
of freedom, and perhaps some of those are worth having LA host, but I
think git is probably a long way down the list as it provides a lot of
freedom already by its very design.

Not to mention that there is already GNU Savannah, which provides
open-source-powered open-source git hosting already.

Cheers,
Adam.