Leaving GitHub

By
GeorgeT
Published 2026-08-12
Leaving GitHub. A Decentralized Git Alternative on Nostr.

The Concern

Here is the worrying concern: GitHub is one company, one jurisdiction and one takedown notice away from your project becoming a 404.

This recently reared it's head. On July 23, India's Cyber Crime Coordination Centre gave GitHub three hours to disable three repositories. The repositories were bitchat, a messaging app that works over a Bluetooth mesh without an internet connection. The notice came from a body under the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs, citing sections contravening the Information Technology Act.

GitHub, being a centralised repository and owned outright by Microsoft became exposed to all developers worldwide, understanding the risk posed by having repositories removed due to legal intervention.

The Solution

Is there a solution? Indeed there is, read on.

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