Rethinking how I use git and reduce my dependency on Github

I have been wanting to reduce my usage and dependency on Github for quite some time now.

My first initiative was to join [codeberg.org]](https://codeberg.org/lgatto), on 9 June 2024. I am really happy I did so, but Codeberg is a non-profit association and has storage limits, and rightly so. But my usage of Github exceeds what they can offer, so I had to (1) carefully choose what to migrate and (2) adapt what/how I store files in my repos (by switching to git-annex for larger blobs, for example).

My university has a Gitlab server but with a limited number of private projects. Ignoring this limitation, it is the right place for (a limited number of) projects related to my teaching activities, for example.

I concluded that my best solution was to self-host private repositories that are not meant to become public. Yesterday, I experimented a bit with gitolite, but today I realised how trivial it is to self-host git repositories once you have a server with ssh access: this video and the git book show how.

Github is still inevitable: I have many projects/software that have been there for a long time, and that are expected to remain there. Githun is still the de facto infrastructure for many collaborative projects, and that is unlikely to change.

Ironically, you (still) read this page served on Github. I will eventually migrate my personal page and other websites to codeberg. It’s still a work in progress, but since I started cleaning up in October 2025, I have deleted hundreds of repositories and even two inactive organisation - I have now less than 100 (mostly public) repos.