Subject: Re: git-scm.com

From: Junio C Hamano <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2008 16:11:02 -0700

Wincent Colaiuta <[email-masked]> writes:

> I'd like to see the "official" Git homepage as distanced as possible  
> from GitHub. They've taken Git (free as in speech, free as in beer)  
> and built a closed-source commercial product on top of it -- curiously  
> for something which you can do for free yourself anyway ...

I do not share that sentiment.  It is perfectly fine for somebody to offer
managed git repositories as a commercial _service_ to people who want to
just _use_ git.  It is what they could do themselves, but from the end
user's point of view, it's just "outsourcing" and is nothing unusual.

If GitHub folks improved the core part of the system while building their
service, we would want to get the changes back, and we will, _if_ they
distribute their software (i.e. they are not allowed to just distribute
binaries, if it links with git).

At the emotional level, if some people make the world a better place by
building new software around what I wrote, I would like to have the same
kind of access to its source as I gave them access to my sources, whether
they distribute the end product as packaged software or they offer it as a
service to be used by others without ever distributing anything.  But that
is merely my _wish_; it is different from the terms git is distributed
under.

I think you are going a bit too far to hate them for not opening up their
sources they use to implement "managed git repositories service", which is
a _user_ of the core git, but most likely is not a derivative of git
itself.  IOW, it's not your code.