June 2018 Summaries

Animated GIFs, though originally simple and functional, have evolved into a versatile medium for showcasing software capabilities, enhancing online communication, and adding clarity to documentation. At GitHub, the creation of high-quality GIFs involves a thoughtful process that begins with assessing the need for a GIF among other visual aids and extends through planning, recording, editing, and exporting. This involves using various commercial and open-source tools such as QuickTime Player, ScreenFlow, and Adobe Photoshop. The process emphasizes modularity, meticulous editing, and a balance between image quality and file size. The goal is to create engaging, concise animations that effectively demonstrate software features, leveraging techniques like DOM-hacking and augmented browsing for realism and ease of recording. While creating a GIF can be time-consuming, the right tools and methods can transform it into a powerful storytelling device that resonates with users.

Project boards have been enhanced with a feature that allows users to hide cards without deleting them, by archiving issues, pull requests, or notes. This helps maintain a cleaner project board while preserving the history of the removed cards. Archiving is done by selecting the Archive option from the card menu, which moves the card to an archived view accessible through the project board’s menu. Archived cards can be restored to their previous position, although they are excluded from search results within project boards. For more details, users are encouraged to refer to the documentation by Jake Boxer.

GitHub's developer relations team is hosting their first Craftwork event in Amsterdam, providing developers of all skill levels an opportunity to learn how to build GitHub Apps using the GitHub API. Scheduled for July 10, 2018, from 6-9 pm CET at Spaces Vijzelstraat, this hands-on workshop aims to guide attendees through creating their first GitHub App with the help of Probot and Glitch, in a casual and collaborative environment. Participants will work at their own pace with assistance from GitHub staff and will leave with a functional GitHub App ready for deployment. The event is open to both beginners and experienced developers interested in enhancing their productivity with GitHub, and will include food and refreshments, with provisions for dietary restrictions noted during registration.

Participants have until 11:59 pm PT on June 26 to enter the GitHub Learning Lab Explorer Challenge and earn a unique badge for their Community Forum profile, showcasing their commitment to GitHub learning. This exclusive badge is only attainable through this challenge. To participate, users must log into lab.github.com, complete at least three courses, and submit their entries on the challenge page in the Community Forum. Those who have already completed the necessary courses simply need to finalize their submissions to be eligible.

Game Bytes is a monthly blog series that explores the game developer community on GitHub, and this edition highlights ScummVM, a project that allows players to enjoy classic point-and-click adventure games from the 80s and 90s on modern hardware. ScummVM, initially developed for games using the SCUMM engine by LucasArts, now supports a variety of engines and is available as a free, open-source download on multiple platforms, including Windows, macOS, and Android. The project actively seeks contributors for its codebase and documentation and participates in mentorship through Google's Summer of Code program. In addition to ScummVM, the blog mentions other community developments such as the release of Phaser 3.10, which includes new features like multi-touch support, and the Godot Community Game Jam, which encourages open-source game development. Moreover, the GitHub for Unity tool has reached version 1.0, incorporating improvements based on community feedback.

GitHub employs a sophisticated high-availability solution for its MySQL databases, critical to its operations, by utilizing orchestrator for failure detection, Hashicorp’s Consul for service discovery, and GLB/HAProxy for load balancing. This setup replaces the previous reliance on VIP and DNS-based discovery, which had limitations such as potential split-brain scenarios and slower failover processes. The new architecture leverages anycast IP, ensuring uniform IP resolution across different data centers while routing traffic based on client location. Orchestrator nodes use a raft consensus for coordinated failovers, promoting a new primary server when failures are detected, while Consul updates ensure all GLB/HAProxy nodes are aware of the change, minimizing outage times. This system is designed to be data center agnostic, tolerant of isolation issues, and capable of achieving typically lossless failovers, reducing outage times to between 10 and 13 seconds in most cases. Despite its robustness, the setup acknowledges some limitations, such as potential split-brain scenarios during data center isolation, which GitHub is working to mitigate with further improvements like implementing STONITH mechanisms.

The Editor Tools team at GitHub is focused on enhancing the developer experience by understanding how developers use their tools and identifying gaps in their extensions. To achieve this, they are improving their metrics collection and conducting usability studies to gain insights into developers' workflows and collaboration methods. Their goal is to integrate more of the GitHub experience into development environments, thereby supporting developers more effectively. The team is committed to protecting user privacy and is only interested in gathering data that indicates the success of their features. They are actively engaging with the developer community through studies, particularly with users of Visual Studio, and encourage participation in their open-source projects by highlighting "Good First Issues" for newcomers.

GitHub Education has expanded its offerings to provide a comprehensive package that includes free access to GitHub and a suite of developer tools for schools, aiming to enhance educational opportunities for students and teachers. This initiative consolidates resources such as the Student Developer Pack, GitHub Classroom for course management, Campus Experts for student leadership development, and Campus Advisors for teacher training, while also incorporating advanced features like SAML single sign-on. Since its inception, GitHub Education has significantly impacted global education, helping over one million students learn coding and develop technical skills essential for their future careers. The program supports various educational institutions, including coding schools like 42 Silicon Valley and Ubiqum Code Academy, which utilize GitHub to equip students with modern IT skills and improve employability.

GitHub for Unity 1.0 is the official release of a Unity editor extension designed to integrate Git functionalities within Unity versions 5.6, 2017.x, and 2018.x, providing an improved workflow for game development teams. It includes features like support for large files using Git LFS and file locking, allowing for efficient management of large assets and scene files. The update introduces enhancements such as improved file locking management, diffing support, reduced package size, update notifications, email sign-in, and better Git and Git LFS support for Mac users. The extension can be downloaded from the Unity Asset Store, and developers are encouraged to join the community by engaging with the GitHub for Unity repository and participating in discussions on Twitter.

Project boards now offer enhanced functionality by allowing users to view and edit critical information for issues and pull requests directly from the board interface. By clicking on an issue or pull request card, a side panel appears on the right side of the screen, enabling users to add and edit reactions, labels, titles, descriptions, assignees, reviewers, and project associations. This side panel view also includes a link to open the issue or pull request in a new tab, ensuring the project board remains accessible. For further details, users are encouraged to consult the documentation provided by Kevin Sawicki.

A variety of significant open-source releases have been highlighted, showcasing improvements and new features across several projects. Mitmproxy 4.0 enhances speed and compatibility with newer Python versions, while Electron 2.0 adopts Semantic Versioning for desktop app development. VideoJS 7.0 introduces support for modern HTTP streaming protocols, and Rancher 2.0 focuses exclusively on Kubernetes management. Spin.js 4.0 and Nest 5.0 bring performance and lifecycle improvements to JavaScript libraries, and Nuke 7.0 enhances image loading capabilities for iOS and macOS. Pendulum 2.0 refines Python date and time handling, Vapor 3.0 shifts to asynchronous operations in Swift, and Lemonade's Policy 2.0 aims to modernize insurance documents. Polymer 3.0 integrates ES6 modules and npm for web development, reflecting a broader trend towards modernizing and enhancing open-source tools.

In recent updates from GitHub, the platform has introduced a variety of enhancements including a redesigned search feature, improved handling of Marketplace charges, and the availability of GitHub Desktop v1.2.0. Users can now request archives of their repository data and access additional endpoints for GitHub Apps. GitHub has also enhanced its integration capabilities with tools like Travis CI, Microsoft Visual Studio App Center, and Outlook, while introducing cross-platform functionality for GitHub Desktop and improved options for web-based commits. The changelog, which details these updates, is available for subscription or can be followed on Twitter for real-time notifications.

Anisha Gupta, a recent Arizona State University graduate and GitHub Developer Relations Intern, shares her journey of discovering laser cutting and its potential to create inspirational artifacts from GitHub contribution graphs. Initially unfamiliar with laser cutting, Anisha was inspired by a mentor's dedication to open source projects and decided to create laser-cut versions of contribution graphs as a motivational desk accessory. This led her to develop an application that automates the creation of laser-cut contribution graphs, utilizing tools like Puppeteer for screenshots and Ruby gems such as Nokogiri and Octokit.rb for data parsing and API connectivity. The project not only facilitated the production of personalized business cards but also fostered community engagement, highlighting the collaborative spirit of the GitHub community and encouraging contributions to open source projects. Anisha's experience emphasizes the value of connecting with diverse communities and finding inspiration through innovative projects.

Recent updates to project automation provide enhanced control over the management of issues and pull requests within projects, allowing for distinct actions to be specified for each. A new "Bug triage" project board template has been introduced, featuring columns such as "To do," "High priority," "Low priority," and "Closed" to streamline bug management. The "Automated kanban" template has been improved to automatically place new pull requests in the "In progress" column while new issues remain in the "To do" column. Users with write access can manually adjust automation settings for existing projects by selecting "Manage Automation" on the desired columns, or they can apply these changes to new projects by utilizing the updated templates. More detailed guidance is available in the documentation.

For the fourth consecutive year, GitHub is commemorating Pride Month by offering limited-edition Pride and Trans Pride shirts, available until September 30, with proceeds going to LGBTQ organizations. The shirts feature a retro '80s-inspired design, incorporating colors from the pride and trans pride flags, and are intended to support and raise awareness for LGBTQ causes. Proceeds from the shirt sales will benefit several organizations, including Jewish Family & Community Services (East Bay), which allocates funds specifically for LGBTQ refugee services, Trans Lifeline, which focuses on preventing transgender suicide and improving mental health, and the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, which supports LGBTQ individuals and their families. Other beneficiaries include the Billy DeFrank LGBTQ Community Center, which provides community support and advocacy in Silicon Valley, and the UCSF Alliance Health Project, which promotes mental health and wellness for LGBTQ and HIV-affected communities.

Microsoft's acquisition of GitHub marks a significant milestone in the evolution of software development, highlighting the transformation of Git from a niche tool to the most popular version control system and the shift in perception of open source as a viable business model. GitHub, created to facilitate collaboration regardless of code visibility, has grown into a pivotal platform for developers worldwide, aligning closely with Microsoft's vision of an open, accessible, and innovative development ecosystem. This partnership is expected to enhance GitHub's mission to support and make life easier for developers by leveraging Microsoft's resources and expertise, while ensuring GitHub remains an open platform for all developers. Nat Friedman, with his extensive experience in software and open source, will assume the role of CEO, aiming to further expand the GitHub community. The collaboration underscores a shared belief in the importance of developer satisfaction, the future potential of software development, and the power of working together to achieve greater outcomes.