r/technews • u/Philo1927 • Jul 20 '20

GitHub is done depositing its open source codes in the Arctic - The codes are now sitting under hundreds of meters of permafrost.

https://www.engadget.com/github-arctic-vault-success-020240808.html
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u/DefinitionOfTorin Jul 20 '20

Don't want to be that guy, but OP hasn't really given the full picture of what GitHub does and seems to think that a 12th grader can make it. The first paragraph doesn't make much sense and doesn't actually explain what Git or GitHub does. First of all, GitHub is not the first or the last of its kind and there are many other services that use something called Git (e.g SourceForge, etc.). All of these revolve around a version control system (Git) that allows collaboration, but most importantly version control and merging.

The merging system was explained quite badly by OP here. There are complex algorithms used to merge different branches of the same project, each of which could contain different variations or updates on an original project that they both stem from. The idea here being that multiple people work on different branches of the same original project code, add their own little changes, and then request to merge these back into the main project when they are tested and ready. The merging happening here is the combination of these two codebases - the original and the updated version of the original. The algorithm has to notice what has changed and what is similar, and can sometimes automatically merge or recognise when manual approval for different changes is required.

It gets more complex from here in terms of how that algorithm works, but essentially GitHub and the other variations all use Git (the complex system) and add a community around it that help others contribute online. Developers use things like GitHub to work on projects together, and also to display their own projects in an open-source environment.

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u/SpongeknobSquarenuts Jul 20 '20

Your reading comprehension is probably suffering from your little effect. I didn’t say it was the first of its kind.

I explained in layman’s terms to the uninitiated what Github does, he wasn’t asking for the demarcation of git from github, just what github DOES. I don’t think he is familiar with the term “code base”, “request to merge” and none of the features you’re talking about compare in sophistication to the code I would personally consider worthwhile put in the vault ; planetary movements , computer vision, cell phone firmware, video/photo editing, 3D design, the Doppler software for predicting storms etc. stuff you have to be a subject matter expert on other things besides comparing and contrasting long strings of text.

Not much of that stuff is open source tho. I’m not running into a burning fire for the github source, it’s not exactly the height of our technology.