Profile: GitHub
Authors
Rationale
There are so many subjects you could choose to profile, so why did you choose this one? What drew you into wanting to know more about the organization? How did you/your group decide on and agree?
GitHub is used by an enormous variety of hackers, including us, so we wanted to learn more about its origins
Organizational Details
Is the subject of your profile a corporate entity?
Yes
What type?
GitHub is a Corporation Registered in the State of Delaware
When was it founded?
GitHub was founded, April 10th, 2008
By whom?
- Tom Preston-Werner
- Chris Wanstrath
- PJ Hyett
Original founder(s) still active?
All of the original founders are still active with the exception of Tom Preston-Werner.
He left GitHub in 2014 after confirmed [harassment allegations]
Publicly Traded? Since when? Initial Stock Price? Current stock price?
GitHub is a private corporation and isn't publically traded
Has the company made any acquisitions? If yes, which companies, and what were their core products?
GitHub has acquired the following companies:
- Easel - In Browser Web Design Tool Built for Collaboration
- Ordered List - Gauges, Speaker Deck, Harmony
Has the company made any investments in other companies? If yes, which ones?
GitHub hasn't invested in any other companies Interestingly enough the first investment in GitHub was for $100M
Number of employees?
GitHub has 267 employees, some of which work at their HQ:
Where is HQ?
88 Colin P Kelly Jr St (at Brannan St)
San Francisco, CA 94107, United States
Does it have any other offices or locations?
GitHub doesn't have any other locations
Website?
Wikipedia?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GitHub
Does your organization file any annual reports? Please include links to any relevant documents (i.e. 990, Annual Report, Year in Review, etc...)
GitHub does not have any annual reports.
Communications
Social media for GitHub
Does your subject participate in social media? If yes, please list a URL for each account, and reach within that community.
- @github
- @githubstatus (Downtime reporting)
Communications channels for GitHub
What communication channels does your subject use to reach their public?
- GitHub’s press page lists all of their awards that they have received.
- GitHub also has a blog that has lots of interesting posts.
- They also include a Glossary so writers can better report about what the company does.
GitHub Conference Participation
- Does your subject organize or participate in any conferences?
- GitHub hosts "GitHub Universe" which is their own conference about working on open source projects as well as gathering tons of people working in open source.
- GitHub also hosts "CodeConf" a two day conference about open source, best practices, documentation, and collaboration.
- GitHub also attends several other conferences including GDC.
Community Architecture
Github and Government
The project's IRC Channel
N/A
Source Code repository
Mail list archive
N/A
Documentation
The project is entirely documentation
Other communication channels
N/A
Project Website and/or Blog
Describe the software project, its purpose and goals.
Github and Government is a website dedicated to sharing open government efforts that involve Github
Give a brief history of the project. When was the intial commit? The latest commit?
Started January 20, 2013 Most recent commit May 15, 2015 (As of May 17, 2015)
Who approves patches? How many people?
Two people (benbalter and jlord) accept all of the pull requests
Who has commit access, or has had patches accepted? How many total?
benbalter and jlord seem to be the only two maintainers (BDFLs).
Numerous contributors adding individual stories.
Has there been any turnover in the Core Team? (i.e. has the top 20% of contributors stayed the same over time? If not, how has it changed?)
The original developers have remained with the project the entire time.
Does the project have a BDFL, or Lead Developer? (BDFL == Benevolent Dictator for Life)
Are the front and back end developers the same people? What is the proportion of each?
The project is a website, so almost all work is frontend.
What have been some of the major bugs/problems/issues that have arisen during development? Who is responsible for quality control and bug repair?
No real visible issues, the website is entirely documentation
How is the project's participation trending and why?
Development has been active throughout its lifetime
In your opinion, does the project pass "The Raptor Test?" (i.e. Would the project survive if the BDFL, or most active contributor were eaten by a Velociraptor?) Why or why not?
The project would continue fine if one of the two main devs were eaten by a velociraptor
In your opinion, would the project survive if the core team, or most active 20% of contributors, were hit by a bus? Why or why not?
The top 20% of the contributors includes both BDFLs, so the project might not survive
Does the project have an official "on-boarding" process in place? (new contributor guides, quickstarts, communication leads who focus specifically on newbies, etc...)
No onboarding, since most of it is adding information instead of code
Does the project have Documentation available? Is it extensive? Does it include code examples?
Irrelevant, the project is essentially documentation itself.
If you were going to contribute to this project, but ran into trouble or hit blockers, who would you contact, and how?
One of the BDFLs, in an issue on GitHub
Based on these answers, how would you describe the decision making structure/process of this group? Is it hierarchical, consensus building, ruled by a small group, barely contained chaos, or ruled by a single or pair of individuals?
Ruled by a pair of individuals who try to make sure data is complete and accurate
Is this the kind of structure you would enjoy working in? Why, or why not?
This structure is well-suited for this project, but maybe not for a code-based project
Technology/Product
Section adapted from EFF Worksheet
Who invented, created, or sponsored the technology?
GitHub is powered completely by Git, a distributed source control system.
- Git was originally started by Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux kernel.
- Git was initially started to track the Linux kernel and was then used by other projects.
What is the technology designed to do? How is it used?
- Created to be a highly distributed SCM, GitHub based their entire product on using Git.
- GitHub now uses git as the tool it uses to track most of their repos and interface with GitHub.
- Contrary to popular belief, Git existed before GitHub. GitHub created a nice visual front end and a great central area for code repos.
Who would benefit from using this technology?
Lots of people interested in working on the same set of files or tracking changes in files could potentially use Git.
What kinds of companies or organizations (stakeholders) might have been concerned about th e development of this technology? Why?
Companies that market proprietary revision control systems would probably have been concerned about a free alternative that gained traction extremely quickly.
Does/Did an aspect of copyright law play a role in controversies about the technology? How?
- The Linux kernel was originally tracked in BitKeeper, a properitary SCM.
- Devs of BitKeeper resciended license to use it and the kernel was left in the cold.
- Linus became fed up and created his own that would be FOSS so that incident could never happen again.
- GitHub is not open source, leading to an ironic situation that one of the most central sites for FOSS software isn’t FOSS itself.
- GitHub also has a default license that has been controversial over some of its terms.
Business and Revenue Model
How was this organization funded originally?
Angel investors
How does this organization make revenue?
Subscriber service allows private repositories and other perks in exchange for monthly payments
Which specific Open Source Revenue Models are utilized?
Subscriber model
What investments/acquisitions has the organization made?
GitHub hasn't invested in any other companies.
Acquisitions:
- Easel
- Ordered List