Articles about GitHub

A hacker managed to take control of the Github account for Gentoo Linux, going as far as inserting malicious code into the distros. The malware was designed to delete user data.

Although the situation is now under control, an investigation is underway to determine what happened. Anyone who has downloaded a Gentoo distro or other files recently, is warned to "refrain from using code from the Gentoo Github Organization" for the time being.

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Tomorrow is the GIF's 31st anniversary -- exciting, right? Those animated images have truly changed the world. All kidding aside, it is pretty amazing that the file format came to be way back in 1987!

To celebrate tomorrow's milestone, Google releases a new open source tool today. Called "GIF for CLI," it can convert a Graphics Interchange Format image into ASCII art for terminal. You can see such an example in the image above.

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The world is crazy right now. We have a reality TV star in the White House, and day after day, there are unbelievable things being reported in the news. Sometimes I wonder if I am dreaming, but sadly, this is real life. Try as I might, I can't wake up.

You know what else is crazy? The Linux Foundation is officially endorsing Microsoft's acquisition of GitHub! OK, maybe that isn't so crazy nowadays, but if you could get in a time machine and go back, say, 10 years, and you told people that not only was Microsoft an official Linux Foundation Member, but the foundation was endorsing the Windows-maker's purchase of a massive repository that hosts millions of open source projects, you'd probably be put in an asylum.

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Microsoft GVFS (Git Virtual File System) has attracted attention because it's a name that's already in use elsewhere -- and the company had refused to rename it.

Now, however, it seems that Microsoft may be bowing to pressure. The company says it has received a lot of feedback because of the existence of the GNOME GVfs project (Gnome Virtual File System) which has been around for much longer than its GVFS Git extension, and it is looking for suggestions for a new name.

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Microsoft's acquisition of GitHub has paid off for rival GitLab. Many GitHub users were unhappy at the Windows-maker's involvement and promptly jumped ship -- there were over 100,000 repositories imported in the 24 hours following the acquisition, and #movingtogitlab was trending on Twitter.

Looking to make itself even more attractive than just not being owned by Microsoft, GitLab has now made its premium Gold and Ultimate packages free to some users, specifically educational establishments and open source projects.

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Following months of talks and rumors, Microsoft has finally officially revealed that it has agreed to acquire GitHub. The agreement sees the company acquiring the code repository for $7.5 billion in Microsoft stock.

Microsoft says that GitHub will retain its developer-first ethos and will operate independently to provide an open platform for all developers in all industries. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.

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There have long been rumors that Microsoft has an interest in buying GitHub, but in recent weeks it seems that talks between the two companies have been getting more serious.

Talks between Microsoft and GitHub have been going on for a number of years now, and a new report suggests that an acquisition is closer than ever. While Microsoft share prices rose at the news, GitHub users are less convinced that the move would be a good idea.

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It has been a little while since we heard anything from TVAddons, the Kodi addons site that has been embroiled in a series of copyright cases. Recently the site launched its Github Browser as part of its continued attempts to provide "resilient and decentralized" links to Kodi addons.

Now TVAddons has launched Feeds for Git Browser, a new feature that makes it possible for anyone to create a list of their favorite Kodi addons and then share them with friends, family and followers.

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Cast your mind back several years and you'll remember Windows 3.0 and earlier. This was when Microsoft started to bring home computing to the masses, and for anyone raised on modern Windows, the lack of Start menu, taskbar and other components makes the operating system seem antiquated and unusable.

But use it we did! Back then, there was no File Explorer, but File Manager instead -- and it's something that people sometimes feel nostalgic about. A couple of days ago, Microsoft open sourced the File Manager code, and a Windows 10 version has been released.

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When it comes to keyboards, it can be hard for manufacturers to truly create something revolutionary. For the most part, new keyboards just get silly things like RGB lighting, because, well, everything must have lights these days, right? This lack of innovation is sort of OK, because let's be honest, folks -- existing keyboards are already rather wonderful. With that said, my colleague Mark Wycislik-Wilson recently reviewed a rather unique keyboard from AZIO that looks pretty cool.

Last year, Logitech decided to take a stab at creating an innovative new keyboard, and not surprisingly, it succeeded. I was not surprised, because that company is known for well-executed products. The innovative keyboard to which I refer is simply called "Craft" and its revolutionary aspect has nothing to do with typing. Actually, it is the useful rotating "crown" that adds additional control over compatible apps. Unfortunately, that was the rub -- only a small number of apps (albeit great ones such as Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop) were supported. Today, however, Logitech announces support for even more apps like Adobe Lightroom Classic CC and Quicktime. Arguably more significant, there is now an official SDK on GitHub.

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The source code for the iOS bootloader iBoot has been leaked to GitHub, prompting Apple to issue a DMCA takedown notice.

Although the source code is for iOS 9.3 and a couple of years old, it appears to be the real deal and would still cause something of a headache for Apple. Copies of the code have been circulating online despite the takedown notice, and the concern is that it could be used to exploit iOS with malware.

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Today was day one of Google I/O and there was no shortage of news. To name a few, the search giant is bringing its assistant to iPhone, Smart Reply to Gmail on mobile, and voice-calling to Google Home. These things should be very interesting to both consumers and technology enthusiasts.

With I/O being a developer conference, however, not all of the news is necessarily consumer-focused. Case in point, there was some rather big developer news that didn't get as much attention. You see, Google announces that it is making five of its "Firebase" SDKs open source.

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It's no secret that most people are rubbish at choosing passwords -- it's something that's proved time and time again when the annual list of common passwords is released. To help overcome the problem, and hopefully increase the security of people's accounts, a team of researchers from the Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Chicago have created an open source password meter that provides advice about how to strengthen a password.

While it's quite common to encounter online forms that require you to create passwords that meet certain criteria, it still does not necessarily mean they are secure. CyLab Usable Privacy and Security Laboratory (CUPS), in conjunction with the Institute for Software Research, has created a tool that provides real-time feedback that helps to explain why a password is insecure, and offers tips about how to strengthen it.

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Microsoft is closing down CodePlex on December 15, 2017. The company says that its repository for open source software projects has seen a dramatic fall in usage, and points to GitHub as the "de facto place for open source sharing."

With 11 years of service under its belt, CodePlex is not just giving way to GitHub, Microsoft is actively recommending migrating to the renowned service -- and is making it easy to do so.

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Git is a widely used version control system, but it's one that does not cope well with scaling up. As projects and codebases grow, performance can suffer massively, with common tasks taking hours to perform. Today, Microsoft comes up with an answer: GVFS.

Git Virtual File System has come into being partly because of the problems Microsoft itself has encountered with Git. The sheer size of the Windows codebase means that a simple operation such as checkout can take three or more hours. As the V in GVFS, the solution is a virtualization system that works at file system level to make it appear as though all of the files in a repo are present, saving lots of downloading.

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