GitLab acquires Gitorious [LWN.net]

GitLab acquires Gitorious

Posted Mar 9, 2015 11:53 UTC (Mon) by wookey (guest, #5501)
In reply to: GitLab acquires Gitorious by prokoudine
Parent article: GitLab acquires Gitorious

Why are we being down on people running a Free service? Since when did having a good business model become more important than running free software?

It seems to me that gitorious being killed by gitlab is not a good thing. I've used gitorious (and avoided gitlab) precicesly because one was free software and one wasn't. It's depressing how many free-software people don't care at all and just use github by default.

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GitLab acquires Gitorious

Posted Mar 9, 2015 13:44 UTC (Mon) by vonbrand (guest, #4458) [Link] (2 responses)

Since not having a clear view of how to fund said free service, it won't last. Yes, even "completely free" setups like the FSF or Debian have ways to get the monies to make ends meet.

GitLab acquires Gitorious

Posted Mar 10, 2015 14:23 UTC (Tue) by anselm (subscriber, #2796) [Link] (1 responses)

What's wrong with letting these people have a go at what they enjoy, as a hobby? As long as they're up-front about the fact that there are no long-term guarantees I don't have a problem with what they're doing. (Incidentally, what about the stated long-term prospects of Gitorious when it was new? Didn't keep people from putting their stuff there.)

In any case, if their service really takes off and they don't want to call a moratorium on new users they can still look for additional funding. Not everything needs a “business model” from the very beginning. You may recall that the Linux kernel didn't have one at the start, either – and one could argue that it still doesn't have one today, just a dedicated fan base with reasonably deep pockets.

GitLab acquires Gitorious

Posted Mar 10, 2015 16:34 UTC (Tue) by vonbrand (guest, #4458) [Link]

Who says I have anything against them, or them enjoying their hobby? My point is that I can't rely on their hobby, and that is a shame. I might want to, but can't.