Why look for a GitHub alternative?
- Privacy. Private repositories on a cloud service still live on someone else's computers, under their terms.
- Control. Your own server keeps working when a cloud service has an outage, changes its prices or its rules.
- Work you don't want to share. Client code, unreleased products, research: some code simply belongs in-house.
What you get with SORN GIT
- One command to install on a small VM or a mini PC, with HTTPS and SSH set up for you.
- Normal Git. Clone, push and pull as you do with GitHub, plus Git LFS for big files.
- Browse code in the browser: files, history, blame, branches and downloads.
- Security by default: two-factor sign-in, optional passkeys, secret scanning on push and a tamper-evident audit log.
- Backups you can trust: nightly, practice-restored every week, with encrypted off-site copies.
Moving your repositories from GitHub
In SORN GIT press New repository, go to Import from another server and paste the GitHub address. The full history comes across, and Git LFS files too. Tick Keep it in sync to make it a read-only mirror that follows GitHub until you're ready to switch. Then point your computer at the new home:
$ git remote set-url origin git@git.your-domain.com:you/project.git
Want to keep a public copy on GitHub? Add a push mirror, and every push to SORN GIT is copied there.
What GitHub still does better
GitHub has GitHub Actions for builds, a huge open-source community, and issues and pull requests today. SORN GIT's issues and pull requests are coming in v1.1. If public collaboration is the point, stay on GitHub, or use both: SORN GIT as the original, GitHub as the public mirror.
Questions
Can I move my repositories from GitHub to SORN GIT?
Yes. SORN GIT imports a repository from GitHub with its full history and Git LFS files, and can keep it in sync as a mirror.
Do I need to change how I use Git?
No. You clone, push and pull with the same Git commands over HTTPS or SSH.
Is SORN GIT free?
Yes. SORN GIT is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence.