GitHubbub! GitHub Does Not Value Free Software

Free software guarantees your freedom to study, modify, and share the software that you use. We value these freedoms on the desktop, so why should we compromise when websites serve proprietary JavaScript just because it creates the illusion of remote execution? When you visit a website that serves JavaScript to the client, your web browser is automatically downloading and executing (often without your permission) ephemeral, unsigned, untrusted software. If that JavaScript is not freely licensed, then the software running in your web browser is proprietary.

When you visit github.com, you download over 200kB of obfuscated code, much of which is proprietary. This code provides many website features that are fairly essential, and do not work with JavaScript disabled:

• Change repository names or descriptions;
• Delete repositories;
• Add an SSH key to your account;
• Fork repositories;
• Create pull requests;
• Enable and disable project features;
• Use the wiki and issue trackers;
• View graphs of statistics;
• And others.

That is—GitHub forces you to run proprietary software in order to use much of their website. This is a bit startling for a host that owes its very existence to the success and development of free software.