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Google Code Deprecates Download Service For Project Hosting

Posted by timothy on from the look-but-don't-slurp dept.

New submitter c0d3g33k writes "Google Project Hosting announced changes to the Download service on Wednesday, offering only 'increasing misuse of the service and a desire to keep our community safe and secure' by way of explanation. Effective immediately, existing projects that offer no downloads and all new projects will no longer be able to create downloads. Existing projects which currently have downloads will lose the ability to create new downloads by January 2014, though existing downloads will remain available 'for the foreseeable future.' Google Drive is recommended as an alternative, but this will likely have to be done manually by project maintainers since the ability to create and manage downloads won't be part of the Project Hosting tools. This is a rather baffling move, since distributing project files via download is integral to FOSS culture."

12 of 185 comments (clear)

  1. And no one was surprised by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Google seems to be in a "Fuck everything I've ever done!" phase.

  2. So? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Github did exactly the same thing quite some time ago, and people didn't complain too much. Why is this a big deal?

    1. Re:So? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I prefer avoiding pseudocode altogether, wouldn't want users to get too comfortable. i prefer this approach - a single source file with these contents:

      File name: AwesomeSoftware.cpp
      /*

              don't forget #include the stuff your software will need to compile and run!

              enter your code below in proper C++ syntax. It should do what you need.

              If you don't know what to write, you should probably go read lots of books
              and take a 4 year undergraduate program in Computer Science. Then
              maybe you won't be such a fucking retard, luser. I don't work for you, and
              I sure as shit am not getting paid by you.

              This file is licensed using GPLv3.

      */

      I like to then provide a makefile with these contents:

      # Make sure you have no errors in your file before you attempt to build!
      all :
                @ echo "Compiling your shit."
                g++ AwesomeSoftware.cpp -o AwesomeSoftware
                @ echo "Cleaning up!"
                rm -f AwesomeSoftware.cpp

      I find this to be the best way to spread the good word of open source and teach people good development practices.

      God Bless Richard Stallman. God Bless Linus Torvalds.

  3. Re:So, "Don't Be Evil..." by Luthair · · Score: 5, Informative

    Github also had to discontinue file downloads for the simple fact that people abused it and used the service as a way to distribute content unrelated to the open source material.

  4. Re:in future news by Desler · · Score: 5, Informative

    Github did the same thing last year.

  5. Github did this recently by oGMo · · Score: 5, Informative

    Github did this recently too which was annoying, because it was useful. They're not entirely clear why ... "confusing" doesn't seem nearly as likely as "abuse", though I am not aware of any abuse in particular. Since Google is providing Drive as an alternative, and not even immediately removing the service for those using it, it's not even as bad as Github's move, which removed it for everyone. I suppose it's an opportunity to cut another Google dependency though if you really want.

    --

    Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage

    1. Re:Github did this recently by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      True. But Google Drive is not exactly known for easy to read URLs.

      What are you talking about, [USER_TYPE:HUMAN UNIT:670288]? [LINE FEED] Values derived from hash functions of sufficient length are superior sorting and indexing mechanisms for long-term persistence of non-volatile data structures. The use of values that map directly to integers provide search efficiency of big-O-one as opposed to [STRING] searching, which is typically big-O-log-n or worse. You, [USER_TYPE:HUMAN UNIT:670288], must have a malfunction in your [LOGIC-PROCESSING DESIGN] and must obtain maintenance before further conversation can be attempted reliably. [END COMMUNICATION]

  6. Re:So, "Don't Be Evil..." by larry+bagina · · Score: 5, Funny

    They're pushing google drive for downloads. That makes sense on a couple levels -- forced encouragement of google drive and removing redundant functionality -- but this is google so you have to wonder what's next. So... what is next? Will you need to login with google+ to download? Maybe click a few adds before your download begins? Auto download Chrome for you, just in case?

    --
    Do you even lift?

    These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.

  7. Re:what's wrong with the command line by Todd+Knarr · · Score: 5, Informative

    Because the average user doesn't want the source code, they want to download a prepared binary in an installer or zipfile?

  8. Meanwhile, SourceForge reaches out to developers by MAXOMENOS · · Score: 5, Informative

    Quoting the comments:

    Roberto Galoppini May 23, 2013 at 12:40 PM

    SourceForge welcomes Google Code open source developers, to distribute downloads from our open source platform.

    We serve over 150 Million+ downloads each month, reaching 42 Million+ unique visitors. We help tiny projects as well as whales like Apache OpenOffice to distribute their downloads via our worldwide mirror network.

    By distributing your releases at SourceForge you’ll get a complete download analytics, and the opportunity to tap into a large open source community. We already serve other ecosystems by offering their hosted projects our download facilities, including Githubbers.

    As a trusted partner for open source we're glad to help. https://sourceforge.net/publish/?source=googlecode

    [Disclosure: I work for SourceForge]

    Setup looks pretty simple; but, since I don't have code in Google Code, I can't put it to the test. Can anyone attest to how well this works?

    --
    Finding God in a Dog
  9. Re:So, "Don't Be Evil..." by chris_mahan · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Can't use google drive from work.

    --

    "Piter, too, is dead."

  10. Re:So, "Don't Be Evil..." by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I suspect you may have misunderstood how one would actually abuse this.

    I email you (or, say, your mom) a link saying Malwarebytes v.10 is now available for download, and it fixes a critical vulnerability and needs to be updated soon or you're at risk. Go to code.google.com/malwarebytes , a project that I've created. I might even populate it with something looking like code that would match, to trick people who are more technical than they really are.

    A non-technical user may see that it's it's hosted at Google, and, having some trust for them, they choose to download. Your prompt shows up (what that accomplishes I don't know, so I assume the user, already intent on downloading it, answers it.)

    So, by your second rule, they download MalwareBytes.zip, which contains MalwareBytes.exe (actually malware), and voila. 0wned.