March 2015 Summaries

GitHub is currently dealing with the largest distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack in its history, which began on March 26 at 2 AM UTC. The attack employs a variety of attack vectors, including both known methods and sophisticated new techniques that exploit web browsers from uninvolved users to generate massive traffic. It is believed that the attack aims to pressure GitHub into removing certain types of content. The company's primary focus is to mitigate the attack and ensure the site remains accessible to users while managing the influx of malicious traffic. Updates on the situation are available on GitHub's status site and Twitter account @githubstatus.

David Newman, writing as @newmerator, announces that he and @danishkhan will be attending RubyConf Philippines and invites attendees to join them for drinks sponsored by GitHub. The informal gathering will take place at Ocean Bar & KTV on Saturday, March 28th, starting after 18:00. The event promises an evening of karaoke and socializing, offering an opportunity for conference-goers to connect and enjoy each other's company.

Mu-An Chiou and John Britton are in Taipei, Taiwan, conducting educational outreach and are organizing a meetup to connect with GitHub enthusiasts. They invite everyone to join them for an informal gathering on Thursday, March 26th, at 7:30 PM at the All Day Roasting Company, located near the Nanjing Sanmin MRT station. The event is open to all, with no restrictions on participation, and is an opportunity to engage in conversations and networking over drinks provided by GitHub.

Kasima Tharnpipitchai invites GitHub enthusiasts in Manila to join a meetup on Tuesday, March 24th at 7:00 PM at VU’s Sky Bar, located in the Marco Polo Ortigas, Manila. The event coincides with Kasima's visit to the city for RightsCon Southeast Asia 2015 and aims to provide an opportunity for local GitHub users to socialize and engage in conversation. The meetup is open to all fans in the area who are interested in meeting and chatting with Kasima.

Branches play a critical role in collaboration within GitHub Flow, and recent updates have made it more convenient to navigate them on mobile devices. The introduction of a new dropdown feature allows users to easily access either the recently active branches or explore all branches of a project, enhancing the overall user experience for managing code repositories on the go.

The platform has expanded its capabilities by enabling the display of PDF documents directly in the browser, in addition to its existing support for 3D, map, and tabular files. Users can now easily view presentations and papers in PDF format without needing additional software. This enhancement is made possible through the integration of PDF.js, a project developed by Mozilla and its contributors. For further assistance, users are directed to consult the provided help article.

GitHub's web notifications feature keeps users informed about the latest activities in repositories they follow directly through their browser, and now extends this functionality to mobile devices. Users will notice a familiar notification indicator at the top right of every page for any unread activities, and can easily filter notifications by repository or specific threads using a switcher. Notifications can be marked as read individually by tapping the checkmark beside them or in bulk using the link in each repository group's header. For those unfamiliar with web or email notifications, customization options are available in account settings to tailor how notifications are received.

On March 21st, 2015, at 12 PM UTC, GitHub planned to upgrade a significant portion of its database infrastructure to enhance speed and reliability, requiring the site to enter maintenance mode for an estimated 15 minutes. During this period, HTTP, API, and Git access to GitHub.com would be unavailable as they updated their MySQL Server version and moved a large portion of data to an isolated cluster, aiming to improve scalability and accommodate data growth. Updates regarding the maintenance progress were to be provided on their status page and @githubstatus at the start and completion of the process.

GitHub's Game Off event invites participants to creatively modify existing games or game jam entries hosted on GitHub, with a focus on the theme "the game has changed." Participants can work individually or in teams to enhance games by altering elements like sprites, soundtracks, or levels, and are encouraged to utilize open-source resources. The only requirement is that the game must be web-based. Interested individuals can explore past Game Off winners and other game jam entries on GitHub to find inspiration. Participants need a GitHub account to fork a game repository and submit their modified game by April 13th. GitHub provides guidance and support for those new to version control, and the event encourages engagement through the Twitter hashtag #ggo15.

Open source software on GitHub is not truly open without a proper license, as licensing explicitly allows others to modify and reuse code, rather than just viewing it. GitHub has observed a consistent trend where only about 20% of public, non-forked repositories are licensed, a number that slightly increases to 30% when including forked repositories. The introduction of choosealicense.com and a license picker in mid-2013 aimed to simplify licensing decisions and saw a spike in the adoption of popular licenses like MIT, Apache, and GPL. While MIT remains the most popular, other licenses are still used by some projects. To help developers license their projects more easily, GitHub uses a Ruby gem called Licensee to identify licenses and has introduced a Licenses API preview to provide detailed information about a project's license. This initiative is part of GitHub's broader effort to encourage open source licensing, offering users templates and tools to facilitate the process, and planning further analyses on how licensing impacts project success. Ben Balter, the author, has a background in managing GitHub's security, compliance, and community management efforts, and has played a significant role in promoting open source adoption.

GitHub has been chosen as a mentoring organization for Google Summer of Code, a program where students are paid to contribute to open source projects. Participants interested in collaborating with a GitHub member on projects can explore a list of ideas, including contributions to the Atom Editor and the Homebrew package manager for OS X. Those with original project ideas can review GitHub's open source projects and propose new ideas or ask questions by opening an issue on the github/gsoc repository. Applications for this opportunity are accepted on the Google Summer of Code website from March 16 to March 27, as stated by John Britton.

Elizabeth Barron (@ElizabethN) and @jatoben are hosting a meetup in Kalamazoo on March 14, coinciding with the Kalamazoo X event, inviting attendees and locals to join them for drinks at Bell's Brewery. The gathering, scheduled for 7 pm at 355 E. Kalamazoo Ave., welcomes everyone and promises the availability of Octocat stickers for participants.

GitHub for Windows now allows users to submit pull requests directly from their desktop to GitHub or GitHub Enterprise, similar to the existing functionality on the Mac client. This feature also supports forks, enabling users to contribute changes to an upstream repository while GitHub for Windows manages upstream branches to streamline the contribution process. Users are encouraged to download GitHub for Windows and start utilizing these capabilities to enhance their workflow efficiency.

Epic Games has experienced significant developments in its Unreal Engine and Unreal Tournament, highlighted by the release of Unreal Engine 4 for free to developers. Over the past year, the company has issued seven major updates to the engine, incorporating numerous community contributions, including a git plugin by @SRombauts and enhanced Linux support. These developments have been facilitated by the decision to open the engine's source code on GitHub, fostering a passionate and vibrant community around the technology. The ongoing collaboration between Epic Games and its community has been documented in the latest OctoTale, capturing the innovative and enthusiastic spirit driving the Unreal Engine's evolution.

CodeConf is making a return for the first time since 2011, with its third installment set to take place in downtown Nashville on June 25 and 26. This two-day, single-track conference will be held at the Bell Tower, focusing on open source, best practices, documentation, and collaboration. Attendees can expect to hear from thought-provoking speakers, interact with the open source community, and participate in workshops led by expert instructors. The event promises insights from GitHub and open source project maintainers, along with opportunities to enjoy local food and music while networking with developers from around the globe. Interested individuals are encouraged to visit the website for updates and follow @codeconf on Twitter.

The GitHub Game Off, a recurring game jam event organized by GitHub, is set to return next week, inviting participants to submit their creative game projects. The theme and specific details of the event will be announced on the GitHub blog on March 13th at 9 am PDT, and there might be unexpected elements introduced this year. Participants and followers can keep up with the event using the official Twitter hashtag #ggo15. The announcement was made by Lee Reilly, a Senior Program Manager at GitHub Developer Relations, known for his involvement in supporting developer communities and organizing hackathons and game jams.

Patchwork hack night, scheduled for March 12, 2015, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is a hands-on workshop designed for people looking to learn Git and GitHub. Co-hosted by Nutshell, the event welcomes beginners who will leave with a merged Pull Request and a contribution to their GitHub graph, while mentors have the opportunity to guide newcomers in open source projects. The evening includes a Hello World tutorial, small group sessions, and a lightning talk by Julie Cameron from Girl Develop It. Interested participants can RSVP as either attendees or mentors, and the venue is accessible and offers food and refreshments.