
Deprecating the GitHub Developer Program - ingve
https://developer.github.com/changes/2019-12-05-gdp-deprecation/
======
shankun
Hi all, this is Shanku Niyogi. I run the Product team at GitHub. I sincerely
apologize for this post. We screwed up. This post was made in error, and we
are retracting it. We are always looking to improve our programs for
developers, and are working on improvements. But this is not the way to make
changes. And it is NOT a goal to end our program. Sorry for the confusion.

~~~
tyingq
If possible, it might be helpful to share a little detail on how it happened.
You can imagine that it did happens signals at the very least that someone
with power/influence got this post out there in the first place.

~~~
outnmbout
They've agreed to deprecate the program but once the post was out and got
terrible feedback, they realized that deprecating a developer program is not
the best idea for something like GitHub, let alone announcing it as such. So
instead of admitting they've made a mistake in deprecating the program,
they're blaming the messenger and pretending it never happened. They went as
far as getting the archive.org pages blacklisted/hidden apparently, which
shows somewhat clearly the mindset involved.

------
slimsag
GitHub appears to be slowly but surely ensuring anyone who extends their
ecosystem is either acquired by GitHub or extinguished -- something I am
pretty sure everyone who works in the space has known for a long time.

It is no coincidence that many of the companies that have used this developer
program: Pull Panda, Dependabot and others like Semmle, Spectrum, etc. have
been acquired by them. It starts looking a lot like going in the trajectory of
an Apple App Store-esque developer platform in terms of lockdown to me.

I know GitLab isn't perfect, but I truly appreciate their openness[1] and
willingness to partner with others in this space that are trying to improve
developer tooling. If we want better developer tools, we need open platforms
for those tools to exist.

[1]
[https://about.gitlab.com/partners/integrate/](https://about.gitlab.com/partners/integrate/)

Disclaimer: I work in the space (@ Sourcegraph) but the words/thoughts here
are my own, I'm not a corporate shill (I hope) :)

~~~
ralph84
How is
[https://about.gitlab.com/partners/integrate/](https://about.gitlab.com/partners/integrate/)
materially different from
[https://developer.github.com/marketplace/](https://developer.github.com/marketplace/)
?

Not trolling, just curious why you think one is open and one is not when they
both provide ways to get a stamp of approval when you write apps to a public
API.

~~~
slimsag
If you want to test your integration with GitLab Enterprise, they will give
you a development license for free because they understand you are
contributing positively to their ecosystem:
[https://about.gitlab.com/partners/integrate/#requesting-
ee-d...](https://about.gitlab.com/partners/integrate/#requesting-ee-dev-
license-for-rd)

It used to be the same case with GitHub Enterprise, they would give you a
development license to test your integration. After this, you will need to
purchase a GHE license which is $2,500/yr (you must first go through their
sales team).

Basically, this shuts out people from developing integrations that can be sold
to other enterprises from what I understand.

------
gregoryl
Seems rather abrupt, and poorly written as far as output from Github goes.
Anyone have inside gossip on whats going on? Smacks of some sort of internal
dispute or a security/liability issue?

~~~
samfriedman
This is exactly why I prefer GitLab's "radical transparency" approach, for all
its warts.

------
maxilevi
The post was deleted, here is a mirror:

[https://web.archive.org/web/20191205225751/https://developer...](https://web.archive.org/web/20191205225751/https://developer.github.com/changes/2019-12-05-gdp-
deprecation/)

~~~
justinclift
"Hrm.

The Wayback Machine has not archived that URL."

~~~
Lord_Nightmare
The calendar view on archive.org shows the page was archived 6 times while
active, but all of those copies seem to have been manually deleted from
archive.org (or perhaps hidden/blacked out?), or something else weird is going
on.

------
nickstinemates
Given the ongoing GitHub / ICE controversy which is ever prevalent on
Twitter.. I have to wonder. Is there a viable alternative for open source
projects with enough of a network?

I see people who are very outspoken on the subject that are maintainers of
projects on GitHub.

Seems rather hypocritical, but maybe there isn't a better option.

~~~
greggyb
Sourcehut: [https://sr.ht](https://sr.ht)

Savannah: [https://savannah.nongnu.org/](https://savannah.nongnu.org/)

GitLab: [https://www.gitlab.com](https://www.gitlab.com)

BitBucket: [https://www.bitbucket.org](https://www.bitbucket.org)

SourceForge: [https://www.sourceforge.net](https://www.sourceforge.net)

If you don't want to be on GitHub, you don't have to be. If you want to avoid
a transitive dependency on GitHub, that might be difficult.

If you're looking for self-hosting options:

Gogs: [https://gogs.io/](https://gogs.io/)

Gitea: [https://gitea.io/](https://gitea.io/)

Also, Sourcehut, Savannah, and GitLab from the service offerings can be self-
hosted.

These are literally off the top of my head, and based primarily on osmosis
from browsing HN. I am sure there are many more.

~~~
wongarsu
Bitbucket can be self-hosted too. It's not open source, but the licence fees
for self-hosted installs are very reasonable.

~~~
greggyb
Thanks for letting me know. As I said, most of my knowledge of these is just
osmosis from comments here.

I've used TFS, Visual Studio Online / Azure DevOps, GitHub, GitLab, and
SourceHut. My knowledge of the others is purely from people like you. I
appreciate it.

------
fhennig
They even say that it has served many people very well, why shut it down then?

The only reason I can think of is that microsoft wants to provide these
features themselves, maybe as a payed option?

~~~
reggieband
It could either be competing products or a wish to re-work the policy terms to
allow them to carve out some enterprise-contract type flexibility. My
experience with Microsoft is that they are consummate enterprise account
managers. They hold the hands of enterprise buyers and their sales teams seems
to love to have special enterprise features/integrations.

My prediction is we will see a newly defined developer program with consumer
tiers which will be the tip of an iceberg of enterprise-ready configuration
below the surface.

------
timdorr
For those worrying, this doesn't mean they're shutting down their API or
locking it down. This was their partnership program for companies building on
their API:
[https://web.archive.org/web/20190928071306/https://developer...](https://web.archive.org/web/20190928071306/https://developer.github.com/program/)

------
xwowsersx
So developers will no longer be able to create integrations?

------
giancarlostoro
> GitHub Developer Program will no longer be accepting new applicants in
> preparation for new programs at GitHub.

Sounds like there will be different tiers. Maybe to generate revenue through
those tiers? Or am I crazy and reading too much into it.

------
sdan
I use the Developer Program to create Personal Access Token pretty frequently,
what will happen to that?

