
Commits.io – Create a poster from your code - robgering
https://commits.io/
======
ortuna
We will be adding private repo support soon, it's just the mechanics are very
clunky (ssh keys and such). You could however generate a temporary token
(until you have purchased the poster, at which time you can delete it). You
can enter the repo address on the home page as such: [https://<auth-
code>:x-oauth-basic@github.com/user/repo.git](https://<auth-code>:x-oauth-
basic@github.com/user/repo.git)

~~~
michaelmior
Doesn't doing it this way mean that there will be a publicly accessible URL
containing your code? This would be a good caveat to mention.

------
apunic
Nice idea but not sure about the execution, the generated poster looks just
like minified code. Something is missing...

~~~
Untit1ed
My initial reaction was "oh is that all". I mean don't get me wrong, the way
the site works is nice, but I was really expecting it to move the code around
such that the whitespace formed a picture, or have all the lines of code in
random text sizes, or allow you to prioritise different sections so that some
were highlighted or something like that.

As it stands it's not really something I want on my wall.

~~~
dmcginty
This reminds me of Litographs, a company that puts full text of books in
poster form. While the concept works fine for prose it doesn't translate well
for code.

------
arocks
Pretty cool! Was wondering how it would transform a whitespace sensitive
language like Python. The service seems to be slow. But it looks like it would
strip out all the indentation leaving it rather meaningless.

------
tjic
This is great.

I recently shut down two small firms that I've run for years and years - the
opportunity cost of not doing contract work or something else that paid
decently was too much to keep at it.

...but I loved the code base, as clunky as it was. It had warts, scars, and
stretch marks that documented its path through the years. I don't miss running
the firms, but I do miss the code.

I'll be buying posters to hang on the wall and remind me of the good times.

~~~
ortuna
Thanks! It was a fun and rewarding moment when it generated a poster from its
own code this morning.

------
erichurkman
Very cool! Does this use Lob[0] for posters (the size selections line up)?
I've been wondering about their quality for a few side projects and am
interested in any feedback about their quality.

[0]
[https://lob.com/services/sps/posters/pricing](https://lob.com/services/sps/posters/pricing)

------
meilechh
I managed to get something for syncany
[https://github.com/syncany/syncany](https://github.com/syncany/syncany):
[https://commits-io.s3.amazonaws.com/71712d74724.pdf](https://commits-
io.s3.amazonaws.com/71712d74724.pdf)

~~~
binwiederhier
THIS. IS. AWESOME.

------
mijoharas
Looks nice but seems to crash upon clicking the "Do Magic" button. I'm
guessing it might be getting stressed by the traffic from HN.

~~~
ortuna
Server is getting a lot of hits unfortunately. And generations take a lot of
resources. Sorry :(

~~~
mijoharas
Makes sense, you should keep some high resolution pictures on the front page
as examples (ones you could zoom in on to see what they really look like).
That way people can get an idea of what these look like without unduly
stressing the servers.

Other than that, looks great. Well done.

------
mgkimsal
How many passwords will soon be hanging on the walls of various cubes and
conference rooms?

------
fogleman
No full resolution examples that I can look at?

~~~
juddlyon
I just ran their example (Rails):
[https://commits.io/builds/de927875458](https://commits.io/builds/de927875458)

~~~
tinalumfoil
Here's some more:

iojs/io.js -
[https://commits.io/builds/1e68cd56c34](https://commits.io/builds/1e68cd56c34)

progit/progit -
[https://commits.io/builds/12e3174c300](https://commits.io/builds/12e3174c300)

torvalds/linux -
[https://commits.io/builds/c594eefd2a6](https://commits.io/builds/c594eefd2a6)

dotnet/coreclr - Never finished extracting. Waited for 5 minutes.

chromatic/modern_perl_book -
[https://commits.io/builds/028f52f571c](https://commits.io/builds/028f52f571c)

------
dcole2929
Is there some type of estimate of how many character you need to fill up one
of these posters? I wouldn't mind getting one of a particularly tricky module
I wrote as a POC for my presentation at the SAM conference last year but it's
probably only 300 LOC total.

------
euphemize
If anyone wants the linux kernel on their wall :
[https://commits.io/builds/88548595a3c](https://commits.io/builds/88548595a3c)
(or at least a chunk of it)

I find this service a bit expensive for something that can be made in 10
minutes with illustrator - maybe if I get fantastic glossy paper, but it
doesn't seem to mention much about the paper specs.

~~~
lucb1e
> 10 minutes

Basically what it does is grab some files from the repository, removes
newlines and prints it.

    
    
        cat $(find -type f | shuf -n 1) | tr -d '\n' | print
    

That didn't take me 10 minutes to come up with, let alone run.

~~~
quadrature
They should really be caching the poster after each render. I've been staring
at a loading screen for a while now.

------
orph4nus
Awesome idea. Is there are also a similar service in a do-it-yourself way,
without having to put your code into the open as that's a no-go for companies
with private code bases.

For example I work for a game development studio and this seems like a cool
idea to make some posters of our games, but giving our code base to a company
like commit would never be allowed by management.

------
groby_b
I think you should let people know you plan on cloning the entire repo. You
are currently cloning chromium.git, sorry :)

------
s_dev
Server is being hugged to death. Can't seem to do anything at the moment. The
idea is very cool though I would definitely use this, I'd perhaps even pay for
it. Most Devs are fond of their code because they put work in to it. It's a
cool idea for a bedroom or living room talking piece.

~~~
ortuna
Yeah, went to Product Hunt front page and HN front page in the same hour. I
don't think I can do much.

------
cranium
It looks nice, without a doubt. But I'd be more inclined to buy a poster that
I can look at and remember that particular piece of code that was a pain to
write/debug[#].

The poster can be a good thing to get after shipping a milestone!

[#] maybe displayed as a big "snake" with all the code put together

~~~
ortuna
Good insight. Will be working on some of the features people have suggested.
First milestone was the original use case I had. I shy away from changing the
code _too_ much.

------
sippeangelo
Would be nice if it would exclude comments. My poster seems to be mostly made
out of GPL ramble.

~~~
amadeusw
It looks like you can exclude certain files, did you try excluding the
licenses?

~~~
mbel
She/He probably has a GPL "comment header" in every source file, that might be
a little bit more tricky to remove :)

------
fat0wl
Do the repo owners get a cut? :)

I tried it on Clojure then imagined how guilty I'd feel buying it knowing Rich
Hickey wouldn't get any money but the printers would get lots, hah.

------
amolgupta
Nice. Also try
[https://code.google.com/p/gource/](https://code.google.com/p/gource/) for
visualizing the git history.

------
weitzj
It would be nice if you could add Support for IPad. I cannot copy/paste the
url. As soon as I tap on the url field, I toggle the info text box.

~~~
ortuna
Should be fixed

------
Sarkie
Pointed it at Dolphin Emulator:

[https://commits.io/builds/e217f8be3dd](https://commits.io/builds/e217f8be3dd)

Doesn't work.

------
midgetjones
I applaud you not only for this idea, but for keeping the site up because I
imagine everyone will be pounding it just as much as me :)

~~~
ortuna
You don't know the half of it. Hopefully people are understanding and try
again at a later time. Runs flawlessly when the user load is under a thousand
:D.

------
lcmatt
Just a quick heads up, United Kingdom is between Gabon and Grenada.

A few other countries seem to be in the wrong place too when ordering.

~~~
ranit
Perhaps they use country code GB as an internal name for sorting.

------
amadeusw
Sweet! Make sure to allow typing in repository address without the http(s)://
protocol

------
bovermyer
Make the code conform to the form of an image that the user uploads, and I'll
buy a dozen.

------
TobbenTM
This is awesome!

I need this printed on t-shirts!

------
mgkimsal
How do you indicate you want the shape overlays, like the Rails logo and such?

------
Kartificial
Fun stuff, also, is this typo on purpose? "Comming soon"

------
vollautomatisch
This is so cool, I need to get a print of that.

------
vayarajesh
for me it just adds all the code in all the files and displays it in a small
font.. something wrong in my repo?

~~~
splitbrain
you need to click "customize" and add a logo or other graphic

