---
title: "Migrating from GitHub to SourceHut"
date: 2024-11-05T12:21:55-05:00
draft: false
references:
- title: "Switching to SourceHut Builds - Tim Hårek"
  url: https://timharek.no/blog/switching-to-sourcehut-builds
  date: 2024-11-01T03:59:37Z
  file: timharek-no-becx2e.txt
- title: "Cryptocurrency is an abject disaster"
  url: https://drewdevault.com/2021/04/26/Cryptocurrency-is-a-disaster.html
  date: 2024-10-31T20:10:12Z
  file: drewdevault-com-yuxzdw.txt
---

I've moved this site's repository from [GitHub][1] to [SourceHut][2], an alternative, open-source Git host. I thought I'd take a few minutes to explain the why and the how.

[1]: https://github.com/
[2]: https://sourcehut.org/

<!--more-->

I've been on GitHub since 2008, and I still use it every day as part of my job. I've no major complaints -- I'm still worlds happier using it than when I'm forced to use Jira or similar. Still, something has shifted in the last 16 years.

I get regular emails from their salespeople trying to upsell us on more expensive enterprise plans; that's how it goes in a capitalist society, but I prefer my tech a little scrappier. I'm not crazy about Git -- open-source, decentralized technology -- becoming largely synonymous with a closed-source, centralized platform owned by a three-trillion dollar company, nor about my work and personal coding activity being all mixed up together. Furthermore, the way they've used open-source code to train up their LLM (Copilot) that they then sell back to developers doesn't sit right with me.

I learned about SourceHut from [Tim Hårek][3] and have been following along for a few years. A thread on Mastodon (alas, lost in the void) about Copilot finally motivated me to sign up. I happily paid $20 to support the effort as well as to get access to SourceHut Builds, their GitHub Actions equivalent ([this post about why they require a paid account to use CI][4] is a gem).

[3]: https://timharek.no/blog/switching-to-sourcehut-builds
[4]: https://drewdevault.com/2021/04/26/Cryptocurrency-is-a-disaster.html

After a few evenings of tinkering, I've got this site (as well as my [Markdown link renumbering tool][5]) moved over. I'm pretty anti-[bikeshedding][6] at work, but this is my place to be exactly as fussy as my heart desires.

[5]: https://git.sr.ht/~dce/mdrenum
[6]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_triviality

### Setting up SourceHut Builds

Adding a new remote is as simple as

```sh
git remote rename origin github
git remote add origin git@git.sr.ht:~dce/davideisinger.com
git push origin main
````

But switching from GitHub Actions to SourceHut Builds took some doing. A few things to note:

* There's no analog to GitHub's [Actions Marketplace][7]. You've got what's available via the OS package manager, and beyond that, you'll need to install things by hand. [Here's how I install Bun][8], for example.

[7]: https://github.com/marketplace?type=actions
[8]: https://git.sr.ht/~dce/mdrenum/tree/main/item/.build.yml#L14

* `&` doesn't work for starting background tasks. Building this site requires starting a local [image server][9] and then calling it from Hugo. On GitHub, I could start the server with `bundle exec ruby dither.rb &`, but SourceHut seems to strip off the `&`, starting the process in the foreground and thus hanging the build. Switching over to `rackup` with the `--daemonize` option works fine.

[9]: /journal/encrypt-and-dither-photos-in-hugo/#2-build-a-tiny-image-server

* Secrets go in files, not environment variables. If you need a secret as an environment variable, do [something like this][10]. Be sure to disable logging before you do this -- it's verbose in surprising ways (see ["Keeping your secrets a secret"][11] in the docs).

[10]: https://git.sr.ht/~dce/davideisinger.com/tree/main/.build.yml#L38
[11]: https://man.sr.ht/builds.sr.ht/#keeping-your-secrets-a-secret

* Add stuff to `~/.buildenv` (which runs before every step) to reduce duplication. See [docs][12] and examples for [this site][13] and [mdrenum][14].

[12]: https://man.sr.ht/builds.sr.ht/#build-environment
[13]: https://git.sr.ht/~dce/davideisinger.com/tree/main/.build.yml#L21
[14]: https://git.sr.ht/~dce/mdrenum/tree/main/item/.build.yml#L15-17