youtube-dl is back

[dstftw]

As everybody already knows our dev repository has been reinstated earlier today. You can read the full story here.

We would like to thank @github for standing up for youtube-dl and making it possible to continue development without dropping any features. We appreciate @github for taking potential legal risks in this regard.

We would also like to thank @EFForg and personally @Mitch77 for invaluable legal help.

We would also like to heartily thank our main website hoster Uberspace who is currently being sued in Germany for hosting our essentially business card website and who have already spent thousands of Euros in their legal defense.

We also appreciate massive amount of support received lately and we are sorry we could not physically respond to everybody.

Finally, we would like to thank all youtube-dl users and contributors for using and improving youtube-dl.

Thank you all.

youtube-dl is back!

[blueray453]

Never heard of someone getting banned over at PluralSight

Please check the quora post link. You will find some evidence there.

[fhajji]

So glad to see such an essential tool as youtube-dl reinstated, and GitHub taking a stand for developers. However, even though this battle was won, the war isn't: DMCA still contains language about anti-circumvention measures, and nothing prevents RIAA or anyone else from invoking them again, including against youtube-dl. Also: nothing prevents RIAA from putting pressure on YouTube to tighten the screws w.r.t. DRM, and then we all lose the ability to download video tutorials, conference talks etc. for offline-viewing. Even if we may succeed in publicly shaming RIAA and their members for their anti-social behavior (doubt it, they stopped caring being a good Netizen a long time ago), smaller obscure rights-groups could just as well do damage here.

This is the moment for Big Tech to join the fight to lobby for a better DMCA. This will be pretty difficult, but with GitHub/Microsoft jumping on the bandwagon, maybe Google/Alphabet could make sure YouTube won't cave in and give to the RIAA pressure to default-DRM everything. This is IMHO the most pressing issue to resolve on the political level: to get Google to join us, and to stick with us. This, and of course, to lobby the hell out of Congress to fix the DMCA and push for a modernization of WIPO.

[toydotgame]

Thanks GitHub for actually listening! RIAA should really re-evaluate what they're doing... They appear to not know what they stand for anymore...

Long live the king youtube-dl!

[za3k]

Please let us know if/how we can do anything to help fund legal defense--I'm glad you're back up, but it's not clear to me this is over.

[aurorataro]

Welcome back!

[sebma]

Welcome back. @dstftw Congratutions for great work you've kept doing so far, we're lucky to have you and your team working so hard on this project ! :+1: God bless you abundantly you, your team and respective families !

[theAkito]

I am so happy! Thanks to everyone supporting the cause in any way!

This is a HUGE win for freedom and against bullshit!

[ghost]

Read EFF's blog here: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/11/github-reinstates-youtube-dl-after-riaas-abuse-dmca Thanks @github and @EFForg

[isfaaghyth]

welcome back! 🎉

[loannaflip]

hello youtube dl. welcome back to the arena!

[xlelou]

开心 哈哈哈哈哈哈

[ghost]

🥳 WOOOO!!!

[Kreijstal]

Yesssssss but... Why still use github?

[mascondante]

Been a good long while since I've heard about a big fight with the RIAA ending in victory. They can be a real pain. Congrats to you folks and big props to @EFForg and @mitch77 for having your backs. All my best to everyone involved and appreciate all you do.

[ftpmorph]

Good on GitHub, the EFF, and everyone else involved for helping common sense to prevail.

As for the RIAA all I have to say is this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnLB8wysMbY

[NielsMayer]

Is there any chance new "open source" video test cases can be something other than "Big Buck Bunny" :-)

[Mhowser]

We could use that blender video with the girl and dog, I forgot what its called.

[antony-jr]

For Blender Reels, Sintinel, Agent 327 and a lot of others.

I read the legal reply to Github. I think the legal help you had was a good one. The wording is just amazing. Kudos to EFForg.

[thebetauser]

Glad to see developers standing up for each other and fighting RIAA's illegal intimidation tactics

[axh2018]

it`s a good news!

[Ativerc]

I cannot overstate how important youtube-dl has been for me for downloading conferences, MOOCs, for offline viewing.

Alpha Mike Foxtrot, RIAA.

[CoWinkKeyDinkInc]

I am so late to the news but I am glad that youtube-dl has returned! :) I am so glad that this project lives on!

[Sorok-Dva]

It's a great victory against RIAA, well done to Gihub and EFF !

[pukkandan]

Does anyone know how we can get our forks of youtube-dl back? Mine is still down https://github.com/pukkandan/youtube-dl

[amcgregor]

@pukkandan GitHub should eventually get around to opening an internal support ticket and sending you an e-mail containing several links to allow you to choose your desired outcome, restoration of your fork, deletion, &c. Given the original repo is back, I went for the "just nuke it, I'll fork again in the future if I wish to share changes again", which I confirmed they were A-OK with.

Notably, they confirmed it's safe to re-fork. In my case, this means nothing in my original fork was lost; I can re-fork, push my local copy, and my two minor changes will re-appear. The message should have the subject:

[GitHub Support] - youtube-dl fork

And will contain a link to your ticket, to respond to, in the form: https://support.github.com/ticket/{id}

If they aren't timely in getting ahold of you, you may be able to open a ticket (or check "My Tickets" on that support site to see if the e-mail got lost) and make your request proactively. There was, additionally, an e-mail with the subject:

An Important Notice From GitHub Trust & Safety

This more generally covered the "overall situation" and provided many, many links to further reading. For full disclosure, here's their initial "important notice" message, and my response, which they fulfilled. The links here, you'll notice, contain "tags". These may be my tags, or they may be a tag for the situation; I wouldn't assume either way. (Open a ticket yourself, not using my links from this Gist. 😉) Edit: Gist updated with their response.

[pukkandan]

@amcgregor thanks for the info

[Aholicknight]

Yay

[TheAwesome98-Real]

let’s fucking GOOOOOOO

[loannaflip]

Thanks All.

[voidpainter]

Welcome back!

[smnthermes]

https://github.blog/2020-11-16-standing-up-for-developers-youtube-dl-is-back/ Read this. GitHub is pretty serious about protecting open source projects developers.

Virtue signaling. Just see what GitHub did to the developers of Pale Moon: https://forum.palemoon.org/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=25435&start=40#p202146

[ProductiveAsparagus56]

eyy welcome back lads

[amcgregor]

@smnthermes "Wow, you sure got your self someone who can spout the social justice party line VERY well" and I stopped reading. Never even really figured out what that thread was about. Saw something about web components, then that. The non-sequitir is real, and relationship to this situation completely obfuscated.

Diving back in…

I do hope that Github becomes defunct…

(Because wishing for the demise of a useful tool is awesome.)

If I were a judge, I'd take it as physical evidence of antitrust law violation... But that's just me.

(I'm glad this fellow is not. Private property, alternatives are available, absolutely no antitrust involvement, here—they in no way have a monopoly within this domain. Was about to write "like they do in X"… but…)

Welp, guess Github is dead.

There isn't a sufficiently 🤣 emoji. It fails to depict the floor being rolled upon.

[BurakParsAydin]

Welcome back! This is great news. I'd like to contribute to the project.

[preyan]

Long Live Open Source !

[enricemcorro]

visca

[MysticMerlin]

I'm very sorry that I missed this at the time. So, like everyone here, Welcome Back youtube-dl & Live Long & Prosper Open Source.

[rautamiekka]

Pretty sure that ain't how it works.

[theAkito]

@jimmy-1000

So, if we expand the abbreviations, we get 'Downloader-download'?

Do you also have an idea how users are supposed to find a specific product, when it has pretty much the most generic name on the internet?

It's obvious you haven't put more than 10 seconds of thought into your comment.

[NoaHimesaka1873]

@smnthermes wow, reading those threads give me a headache

Github Over. Communist Authoritarianism = Very Yes.

Wow, you sure got your self someone who can spout the social justice party line VERY well.

I do hope that Github becomes defunct and people migrate elsewhere

I'd take it as physical evidence of antitrust law violation... But that's just me.

WTF? Using a new technology is not browser neutral, and make you commie? Are they crazy? Seems like there's just a some altrights and RMS-like people.

[TheAwesome98-Real]

The name ""Youtube-dl" was a big error, because 'Youtube' is a trademark. It's necessary to change that name. I think the name can be 'Downloader-dl'.

not how it works but okay

[Kreijstal]

The name ""Youtube-dl" was a big error, because 'Youtube' is a trademark. It's necessary to change that name. I think the name can be 'Downloader-dl'.

not how it works but okay

I can't create an application and to name it 'Netflix Downloader' or 'Netflix-dl', this is not correct. Netflix would use all its power to destroy the app. It's better different name.

you can tho, you wouldn't host it on github tho

[TheAwesome98-Real]

The name ""Youtube-dl" was a big error, because 'Youtube' is a trademark. It's necessary to change that name. I think the name can be 'Downloader-dl'.

not how it works but okay

I can't create an application and to name it 'Netflix Downloader' or 'Netflix-dl', this is not correct. Netflix would use all its power to destroy the app. It's better different name.

you actually can do that but netflix downloader is piracy but youtube downloader isn't because how would it be

[siddht4]

Though youtube-dl is back The issue has resulted to bifurication of youtube-dl into

Ytdl-org youtube-dl and ppawel youtube-dl https://github.com/ppawel/youtube-dl

While ytdl-org is now live,the other branch and it's forks are still in lockdown mode

[rautamiekka]

That's the repo's owner's problem.

[siddht4]

@rautamiekka sure but that has led to fragmentation of youtube-dl into two groups

And almost (10.5 k) 68 percentage of the community is still in DMCA lockdown mode,the rest 32 percent (5.2k) are in these group

[rautamiekka]

If the repo owners just talked to GitHub it would be fixed, it ain't harder than that.

Which reminds me: GitHub shoulda reopened all the affected forks since they had the full list through the DMCA. That makes this weird.

[ghost]

Congrats youtube-dl! Probably one of the best tools ever tbh. Great job to the many corporations that are defending it, too.

Youtube dl is definitely a project that should be hosted on a self-hosted git server, though. These kinds of projects that are heavily dmca'd for almost no valid reasons (we be encouraging piracy omg woah) stand no chance on git servers that have close relations with copyright trash. Github did a good job though.

I might be late to the party, but that won't stop me from celebrating. :tada:

[Pentaphon]

Why has development stalled as of late? Issues and PRs are piling up each week with no end in sight. Is the project in need of a maintainer with more time to devote to the project?

[thedarkfalcon]

Why has development stalled as of late? Issues and PRs are piling up each week with no end in sight. Is the project in need of a maintainer with more time to devote to the project?

The lack of answers about this, and ongoing stalled development has made me jump over to yt-dlp, which has an active community.