GitHub has removed the popular pirate streaming app VancedFlix from its servers in response to a takedown notice sent by Sky Italia. The request targets a similarly named repository on the developer platform, as well as the app’s APK file that’s linked under the download button on the official site VancedFlix.
Gitlab.com also follows takedown notices, as do all other hosters based in a jurisdiction with similar rules.
Edit: The devs could send a counter-notice and reinstate their Github page, but that’d open them up to a lawsuit, for which they likely don’t have the resources. It’s the same situation as tge takedown of Tachiyomi.
But I agree, hopefully switching to another code host will solve the issue for the time being.
is there any decentralized alternatives ?
Codeberg develops and uses forgejo, which is working towards adding federation: https://forgejo.org/compare/#focus-on-forge-federation
Then of course git itself is p2p, you can use ssh (no web UI) and host it in many servers (git remote).
git was designed to be decentralized. Everyone can (technically, but it is not too hard to set up if you have some affinity with servers) fork/clone another git repository and serve it up. It has built-in ways to synchronize with any other server. In fact, that synchronizing is what most developers do when they use git.
Of course, that would make it harder to know which repository has the “official” version, but in a way, that is maybe also a benefit of decentralisation. Knowing what code is authentic can be done by signing the commits.
The hubs that we see, are usually a combination of git and a way to serve the code, along with documentation, roadmap, bug tracking, automatic testing and building and the resulting binaries in a visually pleasing way. That does not need to be a part of decentralizing the code, and it is not the only way to do it.
Some of that can also be done with git built-in tracking of files, and the building and testing can probably also done in other locations, as long as there are files describing how to do that bundled with the code (which practically all projects already do).
Sourcehut (https://sr.ht) is one hub that helps developers use simpler tools for those workflows, and I think that’s a good place to find some inspiration.