Project status

[tkashkin]

My GitHub account has been restricted due to US sanctions as I live in Crimea. I may not be able to continue maintaining GameHub in future.

---

I haven't been able to find an actual restrictions list. https://help.github.com/en/articles/github-and-trade-controls only states that:

For individual users, who are not otherwise restricted by U.S. economic sanctions, GitHub currently offers limited restricted services to users in these countries and territories. This includes limited access to GitHub public repository services for personal communications only.

I don't know what can and can not I do. Here is the list of restrictions that I have noticed:

• I can't create new private GitHub repositories

  
• My existing private repositories are disabled. Nothing can be accessed in web UI. git clone returns 403.

  
• I can create public repositories but can not delete them Update: now for some reason I can delete repos, how does that even work 😕

I'll update this list if I notice something else.

[Saroufim]

Is it possible to continue development on other platforms such as Gitlab? Perhaps GNOME's gitlab can be a suitable home.

[tkashkin]

Is it possible to continue development on other platforms such as Gitlab?

I'll see if there is anything other than blocked GitHub Pages preventing me from continuing to use GitHub.

GitLab may be a suitable solution. However that depends on GitLab instance:

• https://gitlab.com is not working here without a VPN since they moved to Google cloud some time ago. Even if it worked now there's a risk of similar sanctions being applied in future.
• https://gitlab.gnome.org works. Does their instance actually allow to host non-GNOME-related projects?

[Saroufim]

* https://gitlab.gnome.org works. Does their instance actually allow to host non-GNOME-related projects?

Yes, check this out: https://gitlab.gnome.org/World

Apparently, they allow 3rd party apps that are designed for or affiliated with GNOME. If this fits the project scope then you can host it there. If you would like, I can look into more options for github alternatives. It would be sad to see this project end due to a political issue.

[ghost]

Perhaps we could raise money for a cheap VPS not located in the US and host gitlab on there?

[tkashkin]

@3n-k1 I think I have enough money to buy a VPS myself. However some people have asked about ways to donate so it's an interesting idea.

Alternatively I can try to host it myself. I have a public IPv4, 300 Mbit/s internet channel and unused old hardware lying somewhere.

But I don't think there's much sense in trying to self-host a single git repo. GitHub has many useful features and it's safe to assume that many of people interested in GameHub already use GitHub. Discoverability is also a very important factor. I don't think many people will find GameHub on a self-hosted server somewhere and I don't think many of them will report issues there either.

[zebh]

Might be worth mailing the legal teams for gitlab.gnome/gnome to see if they are forced to abide by US trade sanctions.

Another option might be bitbucket since they are run by Atlassian, an Australian company. Likewise I would suggest sending a mail to verify.

@Saroufim unfortunately Gitlab is a US-based company as well, so even if tkashkin could access it, the same problem would likely materialise. :slightly_frowning_face:

[Joshua-Ashton]

You can always use https://git.froggi.es at least as a mirror.

I'm willing to offer you automatic, non-expiring builds for every push if that interests you at all.

🐸 ❤️

[tkashkin]

@Joshua-Ashton Thanks, I'll keep that in mind if I decide to migrate from GitHub.

[Kabouik]

Discoverability is also a very important factor. I don't think many people will find GameHub on a self-hosted server somewhere and I don't think many of them will report issues there either.

I also think that this is a very important aspect. Reporting a bug with your pre-existing account that you use for many other things is very different from subscribing somewhere obscure (and anything less famous than Github can be considered obscure when one has to register; hence everything), filling in your e-mail address, waiting for the confirmation e-mail, and then reporting a bug where you expect fewer people will comment.

On the one hand, I really hope the Github restrictions are manageable, but on the other hand working with suboptimal tools and the risk of having even more drastic restrictions on your project in the future really is not motivating. And given the limitations you already noticed, it doesn't look particularly encouraging with Github.

I suppose Gitlab and Bitbucket are the best alternatives in terms of number of users, but would be surprised if the user base was even remotely comparable to Github's. There is also https://teknik.io/, which I'm pretty sure is not hosted in the US, but I don't remember where are the servers and could not find the information now.

Alternatively, are there any tools out there to automatically mirror a project on two different platforms, and maybe synchronize issues too? This would allow moving the project on a platform where you have no restrictions, but have a tool automating synchronization on Github to keep it running here too and keep the user base. You would still get the Github coverage, the project would look like it is maintained here, and it would, but in case the restrictions get worse in the future, everything would be on your other repository too, including issues. This is probably stupid, excuse my ignorance.

Or something like this, if it's not too much extra hassle: https://moox.io/blog/keep-in-sync-git-repos-on-github-gitlab-bitbucket/

[Joshua-Ashton]

Understandable, I wasn't proposing it to be the primary source.

Github is still the primary source for D9VK... but I still mirror on Frog Git and provide builds for every commit going back since the start through that 😄

🐸

[kybernetyk]

oh wow, centralization is bad. who would have thought.

[Joshua-Ashton]

oh wow, you're an idiot. who would have thought.

The very idea of git is that things are decentralized and pushing elsewhere is simply just adding another remote.

[kybernetyk]

reported

[skull-squadron]

@3n-k1

Perhaps we could raise money for a cheap VPS not located in the US and host gitlab on there?

You're potentially advocating violating sanctions, which would possibly be a crime. IANAL.

[chr15m]

Use Tor:

https://github.com/chr15m/gitnonymous/

This could possibly help in your situation.

[The-King-of-Toasters]

You could use Sourcehut, but the terms of service does state:

You must obey all local and US laws in the course of using the service.

Don't know if that means restricting Crimean accounts though, @ddevault can you confirm?

[ddevault]

I apologise, but I cannot host you on Sourcehut.

[skull-squadron]

Is there a git hosting service in Iceland, Norway, Sweden or Russia that doesn't / minimally discriminate/s against users? If not, self-hosted in one of those countries might be a Good Thing™.

[skull-squadron]

Sanctions are worse than useless: they only hurt people who can't do anything about their government/politics and cause problems, and never solve any problem. Unfortunately, violating them, knowingly or not, often traps people in messy, severe legal problems. Please tread lightly and ask a lawyer. IANAL.

[komali2]

Sanctions are worse than useless: they only hurt people who can't do anything about their government/politics and cause problems, and never solve any problem. Unfortunately, violating them, knowingly or not, often traps people in messy, severe legal problems. Please tread lightly and ask a lawyer. IANAL.

Same as war

[303248153]

You could use gitea instead of gitlab which not controlled by US company.

[ghost]

they only hurt people who can't do anything about their government/politics

You can participate in local elections and support local democrats to at least try to change the situation, if you don't like it. Otherwise you must understand the risks of living in a place govern or occupied by a dictator.

[Joshua-Ashton]

Is there a git hosting service in Iceland, Norway, Sweden or Russia that doesn't / minimally discriminate/s against users? If not, self-hosted in one of those countries might be a Good Thing™.

Frog Git (http://git.froggi.es) is hosted in the UK, and you're more than welcome to host GameHub or a mirror of it on there.

If it's a big enough issue and you aren't OK with that, then I can see about getting some hosting in those regions 😄

🐸 ❤️

[alexinea]

Hi, maybe you can use the Chinese company's Gitee.com, you can synchronize the GitHub project to Gitee with one click. It is very convenient.

[moon-chilled]

I recommend trying https://repo.or.cz/. They are in the czech republic.

[Ahmdrza]

@alexinea All projects are in Chinese. Is it just for Chinese?

[laosb]

@Ahmdrza mostly yes. I don't recommend gitee for its lack of community and i18n.

[alexinea]

@Ahmdrza Gitee is hosted by OSChina (Open Source China). But it also has English projects, the page can be switched to English (the bottom of the page can be switched to Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and English)

[primalmotion]

What about https://framagit.org ? It's hosted by a non profit in France

[armonge]

@procedural seems to think that there's any choice in the "living in a place govern or occupied by a dictator.". For most in those countries leaving it's not an option

[neilmcgovern]

For information, the GNOME Foundation is a US entity, and is subject to export restrictions. However, this is just for EAR restricted items, and open source software has a number of exemptions. Drop me a mail (neil@gnome.org) and we can have a look.

[ghost]

@armonge that's why the first part of my comment addresses that option.

[zurp]

@tkashkin I can offer you free hosting on my Gitea instance (https://git.pet) or otherwise donate to the project. If you do setup donations please post in this issue.

This sucks, we use GitHub for the community, not because we don't prefer hosting our repos. Engagement is going to plummet, and less people who are able to contribute will discover the project.

This is the world we live in.

[skrzyp]

No one mentioned http://repo.or.cz which will probably just simply host you without any sort of mitigations or lawyers’ speak.

[zurp]

No one mentioned http://repo.or.cz which will probably just simply host you without any sort of mitigations or lawyers’ speak.

Mentioned above.

[BaRRaKudaRain]

So. Anyone knows how to export data from private repository? Export data at all?

[shchypylov]

Waiting for you in Kyiv, mate!

[mladenko]

You can migrate your project to bitBucket. I also have my private GitLab server and you can migrate your project there.

[ghost]

When they finish fucking us with their fucking economic and political war ...

We just want to share some code. To oppose this kind of bullshit, I'm going to migrate somewhere else.

[Saroufim]

So far, I think the ideal outcome would be if Neil McGovern and tkashkin work it out to host the project on GNOME's gitlab and then mirror everything back to GitHub like the GNOME project does. That would ensure that the project is still discoverable on GitHub and people can report issues if tkashkin would like that and that development can continue unhindered on the GNOME infrastructure.

[skejeton]

Hmm that stinks, I don't know much github alternatives, but perhaps bitbucket, although, it's US company again. The best solution I can come up with is to host gitlab yourself, but you need quite some money.

[kellpossible]

Self host a gitea instance on a cheap vps?

[jhautefeuille]

I suggest you host this yourself in a more accommodating country : Switzerland, Russia, Netherlands.

The United States is one of the worst dictatorships on the planet. Americans think they are at home everywhere. It is a nation that causes wars all over the world. But fortunately, they lose every time because they are a nation of illiterate obese people.

[rubyFeedback]

I think one part is the political aspect; the other the technical.

I'll skip the political aspect here, but I should add that I don't think any country should be able to terrorize other countries from outside their country borders via any laws of restriction - including state censorship such as is the case here.

From a technical point of view, the biggest problem here is that git is de-centralized, but GitHub is not - it is owned and operated by Microsoft. So this clearly shows a limitation of GitHub.

There will have to be solutions to this latter problem in the long run. It can not be that people are restricted by local laws in OTHER (!) countries. Since that will probably take a long time before the laws become sane (lobbyists work in favour of insane laws, for example, so the flow of money controls which laws are made), I think the only solution that will be feasible is to enable de-centralized services that can be as convenient as GitHub - e. g. in regards to issue trackers and similar.

As long as private interests are the core aspect, this will continue to fail.

[thibaultamartin]

I'm not affiliated with the project at all, and it seems to be in a way too early state to be usable, but ForgeFed seems to address Github's centralisation issue. Certainly worth keeping an eye on

[aveao]

We host a small, free, non-profit (not registered anywhere) public gitea instance over at https://gitdab.com, you can use it if you want.

If anything causes it to get blocked, you can contact me and I'll do my best to get it unblocked.

[smkplus]

OpenSource Community should be freedom of politics

[Dashadower]

I'm personally against this since it directly conflicts the core concepts of the Internet itself and open source movement. No central authority should have control who get access to the web. I hope you can find a solution. This will remind that the Net is truly not borderless and independent.

[NoahJelen]

Have you tried using GitLab for GameHub? I'm pretty sure they don't do the same BS as GitHub.

[aveao]

Have you tried using GitLab for GameHub? I'm pretty sure they don't do the same BS as GitHub.

As a person who uses gitlab a lot (also has a single letter username, /a), I can assure you that gitlab.com is not the solution as they are a US company too. A custom gitlab instance would work though.