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SourceForge Debuts New UI and GitHub Sync Tool (sourceforge.net)

Posted by msmash on from the moving-forward dept.

SourceForge on Tuesday introduced an overhaul of its website to give it a new look and add new features. Among the most notable additions, the popular repository, which hosts over 430,000 projects and 3.7 million registered developers, said it was creating a GitHub Importer tool which would enable developers to import their GitHub project to SourceForge and also sync their GitHub project file releases on SourceForce so they "can take advantage of the strengths of both platforms." In a blog post, the team wrote:We believe the open source community is always better served when there are multiple options for open source projects to live, and these options are not mutually exclusive. More improvements and new features are on track to be released throughout the year, the team wrote.

121 comments

  1. Pop-ups... by QuietLagoon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Hopefully they got rid of that annoying pop-up that appears every time I'm sent to the site to download something. There's no way I'd want to use such a site if that is how my visitors would be treated.

    1. Re:Pop-ups... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      Yeah, you just had to get that Fr0st P1st instead of actually reading the article to see if your concern is addressed. But I'm sure some idiot will mod-up this obvious attempt at karma-whoring.

    2. Re:Pop-ups... by Tailhook · · Score: 2, Informative

      Nope. Still there. Same spammy looking site it's been for 15 years. Still a pain to find the link to source code as well, when code should be what appears in front, on top, by default. Want to see changes? Can't find that list anywhere either.

      Nope. Nope. Nope.

      --
      Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
    3. Re:Pop-ups... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I actually quite liked the old style Sourceforge, where each project main page was a description with links to code browsers, wikis, forums, and the website. Github is a bit of a pain in the arse by comparison if I'm flicking through search results looking for a suitable module or project to look at (which is the usual way I'd arrive at either site).

      I had a bunch of stuff on SF for years but nothing that's been actively developed for the last decade. Back in the day they had the best infrastructure (shell servers where you could create doc-gen cron jobs, for eg), but they've slowly whittled down the feature set, added a couple and aggressively added advertising wherever they could (including some software installers). Much of the cool stuff you used to be able to do there is either gone or easy and cheap to DIY with a VPS or AWS instance.

    4. Re:Pop-ups... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are a fuckin faggot

    5. Re:Pop-ups... by QuietLagoon · · Score: 1

      ...Nope. Still there.

      Oh well. At some point websites are going to start realizing that the best way to have more participation, is to stop chasing away potential participants with annoying web site "features."

    6. Re:Pop-ups... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Even if that were true, that doesn't change the truth of the comment to which you replied. That, dear sir, is called an ad hominem attack.

    7. Re:Pop-ups... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I love fucking faggots. They give the best head. Most women don't know what to do with a cock. Ask yourself - have you ever had a *good* blow job from a woman? Probably not! Chances are she won't put her mouth any where near your johnson (and don't even ask about a rim job). And if she does, it's about the same level of enthusiasm as when she goes to the dentist. Even if you're not a turd burgler, you should let a fairy suck your cock once so you know what you're missing.

    8. Re:Pop-ups... by sg_oneill · · Score: 1

      The best way these days to find packages for languages , imho are the "Awesome " compilations you'll find in various githubs. Check it. If your a C# dude, look for "Awesome C#". If your a python dude, look for "Awesome Python". They tend to be well curated and work on submissions and review, so MOST of them are fairly trusty.

      However different languages have their own discovery mechanisms too. For PHP, use Packagist, and similar things exist for Gem, Pip , NPM etc.

      --
      Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.
    9. Re:Pop-ups... by snookiex · · Score: 1

      What are you talking about? There's a huge tab called "Code" in every project page. If that's a pain for you to find, I can't imagine how painful it is to read the actual code. Also, I think most people want to know what's the project about (the summary) and perhaps see a few screenshots, the code, for most users, is secondary.

      --
      Open Source Network Inventory for the masses! Kuwaiba
    10. Re:Pop-ups... by LesFerg · · Score: 1

      Can't you just pull the project down and use your local GIT to view changes?

      --
      If I had a DeLorean... I would probably only drive it from time to time.
    11. Re:Pop-ups... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      I don't get pop ups, FWIW.

      I can see that SF could serve a useful role as an end user oriented site, to complement sites like GitHub that are more developer oriented. I'm just not sure about things like having two bug trackers or if it's a viable business model.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  2. Too little, too late by brendan.robert · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There's literally nothing they can do to rebuild the confidence that was lost, short of just rebranding and building a new community. I don't know of anyone who has still forgiven them for injecting adware into downloads. I agree with them that developers are best served with as many options as possible, and that's why so many people have ditched them years ago. I appreciate the challenge of providing a community free service and having to find affordable ways to keep the lights on. But they botched it. Game over, man. Put a fork in it because it's done.

    1. Re:Too little, too late by whipslash · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Yeah I didn't like them adding adware to downloads either so I bought SourceForge and removed the adware. Doesn't really matter if we convince anyone else, we're just gonna do right by the 1 million daily users and 430,00 projects there

    2. Re:Too little, too late by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      How many of those users are actually committing code? I've gone to SF a few times recently to look at the code for orphaned projects and see if they're worth reviving, but that's about it. I'd love to see some serious competition to GitHub, but I'm not convinced that SF is in a position to provide it. GitHub at least has a solid business model (get people hooked on the free service, then sell them various degrees of hosted service).

      The main advantage for a project using GitHub is the network effect. I have a couple of things hosted there and get a lot of interaction with users via the issue trackers, because the barrier to entry is tiny. Similarly, these days I am far more likely to report a bug if the project is on GitHub, because I already have an account and it's easy.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    3. Re:Too little, too late by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can mod him flamebait all you want, but he's right. Sourceforge has had a redirect to localhost on my network for quite some years, now.

    4. Re:Too little, too late by whipslash · · Score: 4, Interesting

      GitHub lost $66 million last year so it's not quite solid yet. There's a lot of active projects committing code on SF despite the fact that there are a lot of inactive ones. We will make it easier to see which ones are active soon.

    5. Re:Too little, too late by whipslash · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I actually didn't mod him at all. It sucks that some networks still have SourceForge blocked. Hopefully in time that will change but we're just focused on improving the product and catering to our current users. It was a shame what happened to SourceForge in the first place but we had nothing to do with that and part of the reason we bought it was to get rid of the adware

    6. Re:Too little, too late by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

      Yeah I didn't like them adding adware to downloads either so I bought SourceForge and removed the adware. Doesn't really matter if we convince anyone else, we're just gonna do right by the 1 million daily users and 430,00 projects there

      That's like buying the Chicken Ranch and trying to convince people that it's just a bar and hotel now. While still calling it the Chicken Ranch.

      I mean yeah, it might work ... but good luck.

    7. Re:Too little, too late by whipslash · · Score: 2

      Not really. It's like buying an open source repository that has over 30 million users per month and doing right by the people that still use it. If we get new people, great.

    8. Re:Too little, too late by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So you're telling us that someone pulled the funding to BizX to spread the anti-Russian FUD and now you have to work on real projects?

    9. Re:Too little, too late by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      Cool story, Trump.

    10. Re:Too little, too late by Kernel+Krumpit · · Score: 1

      ....mod him flamebait all you want, but he's right. Sourceforge has had a redirect to localhost on my network for quite some years, now.

      ... short of just rebranding and building a new community. I don't know of anyone who has still forgiven them for injecting adware into downloads.

      ... Same spammy looking site it's been for 15 years. Still a pain to find the link to source code as well, when code should be what appears in front, on top, by default. Want to see changes? Can't find that list anywhere either.

      Nope. Nope. Nope.

      "Fool me once.......twice, shame on me."

      --
      May the lies we live by make us strong, healthy, happy and wise - Kurt Vonnegut.
    11. Re:Too little, too late by whipslash · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yeah that makes sense to be skeptical of the previous ownership's decisions but we had nothing to do with it. If a building is burning down and ruining the contents inside due to the owner's neglect, do you then fault the person who buys it and puts out the fire?

    12. Re:Too little, too late by macklin01 · · Score: 1

      Just please make sure that the measure of activity is not just by commits, code changes, etc. Some projects are just "feature complete / done" and shouldn't be de-listed or downranked in searches.

      --
      OpenSource.MathCancer.org: open source comp bio
    13. Re: Too little, too late by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "We will make it easier to see which ones are active soon"

      I'd appreciate if you do it in a way that doesn't declare projects *dead* just because they don't get many commits, or put out new releases. There is such thing as stable and feature complete software!

    14. Re:Too little, too late by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, you're admitting that your mom works at the Chicken Ranch?

    15. Re:Too little, too late by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Kudos on the ability to find the download and source code quickly (contrary to another poster, i was able to find and browser source code very quickly). However, there are still way too many ads on the project pages. For example: https://sourceforge.net/projects/codeblocks what percentage of real-estate is dedicated to ads? It's very distracting. Do you really need ads at the top, side, middle, AND bottom? All that does it contribute towards making the site look spammy.

    16. Re: Too little, too late by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dice did a lot of damage to the SourceForge brand, and it takes time to undo that damage. You've asked to be judged by your actions and not those of the previous ownership, which is a fair request. To your credit, you have addressed the most egregious issues with SourceForge and tried to improve it. I do appreciate that.

      In fairness, you purchased Slashdot, and it's fair to judge you by what you do here. I won't hold you responsible for the actions of the previous ownership, but judge you by what you do or don't do. When you bought this site, you frequently posted, and at first, enthusiastically interacted with users. You also promised a lot of changes to this site, and few of those improvements have actually materialized. You have owned this site for awhile, so I think it's fair to say that you haven't made a lot of changes that are visible to users. You've also been notably absent in recent times.

      When Rob Malda owned the site, he didn't comment a lot in the stories. However, he was always tinkering with stuff and trying out new projects, which he wrote about in his journal. This was Malda's blog, and even after it had expanded far beyond that, it was still a project that he was personally invested in. When you're not posting here, not communicating with users on this site (though perhaps by email), and updates aren't happening, users will think you've lost interest in this site. That's certainly how it seems to me. Malda maintained a journal about the projects he was working on. He also occasionally posted meta stories to discuss the status of Slashdot with its users. Those are ideas to let users know you're engaged and how you're planning to improve the site.

      Finally, for many years, SourceForge was good enough to host Slashdot's own source code. That code hasn't been updated in many years, and users would have great difficulty making it work on a modern Linux system. One of the best gestures you could make, both to the open source community and in support of SourceForge, would be to once again post updated Slashdot source code there. As the expression goes, you should eat your own dog food. You might also find that people are willing to contribute code to improve Slashdot, and help you implement those new features.

      Thank you for reading and for trying to improve SourceForge. Best of luck, sir.

    17. Re:Too little, too late by whipslash · · Score: 2

      Hey Paul! You're right and we don't downrank just from lack of commits

    18. Re:Too little, too late by datavirtue · · Score: 1

      Why in the fuck do the Code, Donate, and Forums tabs ATTEMPT to open in another tab?

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
    19. Re:Too little, too late by datavirtue · · Score: 1

      Agreed. SF is essentially dead to developers. It could be nice place to distribute binaries or direct users to the various app stores however.

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
    20. Re:Too little, too late by datavirtue · · Score: 1

      If the current users mattered you wouldn't have needed to rethink or rework the site. Think long and hard about what it would take to get developers to use SF again. I used to be a daily visitor that relied on SF projects. Now I cringe with paranoia and disgust each time I land on the site.

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
    21. Re:Too little, too late by datavirtue · · Score: 1

      What the fuck are you talking about?

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
    22. Re: Too little, too late by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      One of the best gestures you could make, both to the open source community and in support of SourceForge, would be to once again post updated Slashdot source code there.

      Dude has a point. You can't keep making the "clean slate" argument year after year. At some point you have to put up or shut up.

    23. Re:Too little, too late by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What the fuck are you talking about?

      1) previous owner of SF put malwares in the downloads
      2) whiplash buys SF from those owners and removes the malware crap
      3) people still mistrust SF
      4) ...
      5) Profit?
       

    24. Re:Too little, too late by whipslash · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's not that hard to understand. We are not the ones who were bundling adware. We are the ones who immediately ceased that practice. My analogy is apt.

    25. Re:Too little, too late by whipslash · · Score: 2

      We have plenty of improvements coming for developers.

    26. Re:Too little, too late by brendan.robert · · Score: 1

      I applaud your efforts, and I think that you're making valid decisions and are doing very good things to salvage the brand. Redesigning the site is a good step in rebuilding the brand. You might want to make it more apparent that the site is under new management with the new manifesto very clearly spelled out from page 1. Sorry if I came off really harshly, I actually didn't know the site changed ownership and I've had projects hosted there (now defunct) for well over a decade. I really hope you are successful in your efforts, but the brand took massive damage so I'm still skeptical at your odds to be frank. But don't let that deter you -- ultimately I'm still just another jerk on the internet with his own opinion. ;)

    27. Re:Too little, too late by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For the user, sourceforge did molest him adding 4 things:
      1. These links (of the files for download) are re-directed negatively to a weird web page of sourceforge.
      2. Many adwares in the download of files.
      3. Waiting aprox. 5 seconds or more depending of higher latency of the mirror services before of the definitive download.
      4. The modification dates of the files are wrong negatively.

    28. Re:Too little, too late by Kjella · · Score: 1

      It's more like you took over a franchise restaurant but it still has the same name and the same product it's just "under new management". For many people it's still "the place that was full of rat turds", to be honest I don't quite understand the value of tarnished brands but it seems the whole marketing world disagrees with my valuation so maybe they're on to something. I'd probably say okay let's take the system, users, code and all that but let's make a brand do-over, this is not SourceForge anymore it's a new service run by different people and we'll treat you better. I mean kudos for wanting to "restore" the SourceForge name to honor but I'm not sure it was worth saving. But hey it's your money I'm just playing armchair quarterback here.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    29. Re:Too little, too late by whipslash · · Score: 1

      Thanks for the feedback

    30. Re:Too little, too late by whipslash · · Score: 1

      Yeah I understand the reactions are natural. Just focused on doing right by the million daily users. If more people want to join then that's awesome.

    31. Re:Too little, too late by LesFerg · · Score: 1

      The previous owners only interfered with a small selection of projects. Other project owners were given the option of including a revenue generator in their installers.
      My app was never altered by anybody other than myself, and my users were still happy to keep downloading and using it.
      I have had a good 10 years of hosting and support, and the new owners are very determined to move on from all the silliness and mistakes of the past, I just wish all the whiners would get over it too.

      --
      If I had a DeLorean... I would probably only drive it from time to time.
    32. Re:Too little, too late by LesFerg · · Score: 1

      I haven't updated my project for 3 years, but I do intend to fix a few bugs sometime soon... any minute now I may start coding...
      Really, if any user actually found the main bug I am concerned with and reported it, I would be writing the fix immediately, since the users are all happy with the features they use, it is on the long-term plans to get around to it. Honest. : )

      --
      If I had a DeLorean... I would probably only drive it from time to time.
    33. Re:Too little, too late by LesFerg · · Score: 1

      Hey, SF was my reason for learning to use GIT. A number of years ago I migrated my project from their original version control system to GIT, and whenever a user of my app contacts me about an extra feature I get into that code, thank myself for making useful code comments, and add that feature in. It doesn't have to get weekly updates to be a live project, and SF suits me just fine.

      --
      If I had a DeLorean... I would probably only drive it from time to time.
    34. Re:Too little, too late by LesFerg · · Score: 1

      Can anybody state exactly how many download/installers actually had the bundled adware?
      As far as I can tell it was only a few projects, and those were projects which appeared to have been abandoned by their original creators.
      All the software which was still under active management and being updated was adware free, unless the project owner decided to include it.

      Am I wrong in my recollections?

      The crap decisions by the management of the day were actually quite small, the massive over-reaction by the citizens of the net were much larger than the original problem. I also suspect that, compared to today's level of advertising encroachment on everybody's internet and social-media feeding holes, the weak attempt at adding a revenue generator to the freely hosted software back then would be considered a very minor annoyance. In fact new young users of the internet probably have to clue what all the bitching is about.

      --
      If I had a DeLorean... I would probably only drive it from time to time.
    35. Re:Too little, too late by LesFerg · · Score: 1

      What was wrong with the modification dates?
      My project has always shown how slow and lazy I am with software updates, with great precision.
      WTF are you talking about?

      --
      If I had a DeLorean... I would probably only drive it from time to time.
    36. Re:Too little, too late by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      Thanks for your efforts, I hope they pay off. Sourceforge was a great site for many years, and when I next have something to release I'll give it a try.

      It sounds like you are listening and want to make it better. GitHub isn't very responsive, e.g. people have been asking for project folders for years. Try managing 30+ repos in a single list.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    37. Re:Too little, too late by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Can I make a request? Could you do a Q/A about Slashdot and your plans for it? Moderation in particular is in need of attention.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    38. Re:Too little, too late by whipslash · · Score: 1

      Yes. Agreed.

    39. Re:Too little, too late by whipslash · · Score: 1

      Thanks. Doing our best.

    40. Re: Too little, too late by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Slashdot used to welcome user-submitted content in the form of features and book reviews. I haven't seen any of these posted in a long time. In the past, such content would be submitted by email for consideration by the editors. Is there a way to submit such content, and would it actually be taken under consideration by the editors?

      There have always been complaints about moderation, and you're not going to find a system that makes everyone happy. My suggestion is to make yourself available a little more frequently in the comments, and focus on posting content that attracts nerds who can contribute their technical knowledge to discussions. From what I can tell, those people are probably more likely to moderate based on the quality of the post rather than whether they agree or disagree with it. Technical discussions are probably going to result in a higher quality of commenting and moderation than those about politics or social issues.

    41. Re:Too little, too late by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Thanks, it's really appreciated.

      Slashdot means a lot to me, and I'm sure many others. We have been here a long time, and while we complain sometimes we do appreciate what you did for the community. More than that, you seem to get what Slashdot is about.

      The only other thing I'd like to mention is the right hand side ads. I don't mind the ads per se, but that one makes the page really narrow when viewing on mobile.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    42. Re:Too little, too late by whipslash · · Score: 1

      I feel you. We'll address it soon

    43. Re:Too little, too late by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      Thanks. I really can't say that enough... The site might have died under Dice.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  3. GUIs are for millenials and other various trash by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    CLI only

    1. Re:GUIs are for millenials and other various trash by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      CLI? Fag.

      Punch cards are how real men program/control stuff.

    2. Re:GUIs are for millenials and other various trash by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So that means there's at least one real man on SlashDot, I did programming with Hollerith (aka punch) cards on an IBM 360 years ago.

    3. Re:GUIs are for millenials and other various trash by Doctor+Memory · · Score: 2

      Oooh, look at Mr. Fancy-Pants here with his IBM 360 and his punched cards! In my day, we did partial differential equations by sticking wires in a plug board and mounting it on our 402 tabulator. By the time we got back from debugging the fire we cooked our dinosaur meat on, we had our answer!

      --
      Just junk food for thought...
    4. Re:GUIs are for millenials and other various trash by reboot246 · · Score: 1

      IBM was around 360 years ago?!? And how old are you anyway?

      Sorry, but that's the way I read it at first glance. :)

    5. Re:GUIs are for millenials and other various trash by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You had wires?? Luxury.

  4. Cool story... by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 0

    And the three people who still use Sourceforge must be ecstatic.

  5. But they so skeevy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seriously, if you're hosting your source on Github, which provides all if not most of the same features as SF, why even keep your SF page except for SEO reasons? Legit question, I'm curious to know the reasons.

    1. Re:But they so skeevy by whipslash · · Score: 5, Interesting
      It's very much end-user focused: provides an intuitive download interface for non-developers, reviews, discovery tools etc. Developers also get detailed download statistics, mailing lists, and more. It's not really a zero-sum game. You can use GH primarily but use the GitHub Sync tool to take advantage of both platforms. There's a good comment from Reddit (u/badsectoracula) I just came across that put it well:

      There is one thing that SourceForge does that basically no other site does: it puts a focus on the user side of things. GitHub, GitLab, Gitwhatever, BitBucket, etc focus too much on the developer side to the detriment of the users.

      It is a bit hard to explain what i mean, but to take a look check this SF project: right at the top you have a big fat green "Download" button, rating from other users with reviews, number of downloads (so you can judge its popularity), a status indicator (beta here), ways to share it with others and even get notifications when the developer makes any updates. And that is at the "header". Right below you have link for the project's files (downloads, what the user cares about, not a VCS view), support, tickets and even a discussion forum with categories (i really dislike how in GitHub people use the bug tracker as a forum).

      Other projects have mailing lists, news, etc. For example in 7zip's project page you get news and a series of screenshots.

      As a user you also get to see the license of the project, the supported OSes and the category it is in - after all a particular project might not fit exactly what you need, but other projects in that category might be better choices.

      And yes, of course, there is also the code tab where you can browse the repository, but unlike practically every other project hosting site, SourceForge does not impose any specific VCS nor is designed around it. Hell, if you want (and many projects on the site do exactly that) you can just provide source code releases and not use a VCS - or use another site to host the VCS.

      Honestly, the amount of information and user focus that SourceForge has is beyond competition. And sadly it seems the vast majority of developers do not really care about their users, because not only SF has lost its popularity (which is understandable considering the actions from their previous owners) but recently i was looking for some sort of "sourceforge-like" software i could install in my own VPS to put my projects and there was nothing. I could find tons of GitHub wannabe clones in every fad language made the last few years (always tied to a single VCS - usually Git - of course) but none that had something as simple as a "Downloads" area.

      The closest i've found is CodingTeam, a French "forge" written in PHP. It is actually quite nice (and if i'm honest i like how it looks better than the new "let's quadruple the size of all the things" SourceForge theme) and even has some features i haven't seen in other similar sites like support for translations. But if you look around you'd find pretty much the entire Internet ignoring it - i've only found a single mention on Reddit from 7 years ago that went ignored and no word about it on Hacker News or any other place where programmers meet.

      Which, IMO, sucks because more often than not as a user i do not really care about the repository of a project - i care about releases, documentation, discussions, support and all that stuff.

    2. Re:But they so skeevy by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 1

      >>Sourceforge
      >>Intuitive interface

      Right...

    3. Re:But they so skeevy by whipslash · · Score: 4, Insightful

      For non developers the interface is intuitive. Try telling a non-developer to download something from GitHub and SourceForge and see which one they find easier.

    4. Re:But they so skeevy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      You mean they click the “Releases” tab? Wow so difficult.

    5. Re:But they so skeevy by blackorzar · · Score: 2

      whipslash have you thought on including some monetization options for the developers in SourceForge?
      Some ideas:
      1. An end user wants a new feature in a project in SourceForge. If they could send the request to the developer via SourceForge and end user and developer be able to arrange a price paid (SF charging a fee/percent for the service) would be great!
      2. Paid Support plans. Even simple support plans out of the box would be interesting: the developer offers to be in a SourceForge chat room each Friday from 5 pm to 7 pm for their paid support subscribers. SF charges a fee/percent.
      3. Core project model. Be able to offer in SourceForge two versions: a) their Official (paid) version with the classic year updates included and yearly renewals; and b) their in-develpement/unstable/core (unpaid) version. SF charges a fee/percent for the official version.

      It is risky but i think SF has still a good position to try something like this. If you can help to have sustainable opensource projects where the developers can get economical retribution from them it will be a game changer.

    6. Re:But they so skeevy by whipslash · · Score: 2

      These are great thank you. We do have these or variations of these on the roadmap.

    7. Re:But they so skeevy by datavirtue · · Score: 1

      Developers. Developers! Developers!!!

      All end-users need is a landing page and a gigantic download link....that they trust. Cross-platform is exploding. Soon, all applications will be obtained through app stores. Not because people want app stores but because they fear running uncurated binaries and none of the powers that control the OS and application runtimes of the near future have any interest in letting people drop binaries on their machine. Installing applications by hand or via wizard-based installer are coming to an end. It is an old paradigm.

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
    8. Re:But they so skeevy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That was a nice comment you quoted, and I agree that those are things that Sourceforge has done mostly right. Or at least does nowadays.

      Though this is how I remember it... I really hated that tiny font, navigation bar that doesn't look like one, anonymous CVS service that was down 70 % of the time, bug tracker that's full of ">" and other HTML entities thanks to a doubled up conversion somewhere along the journey...

      (And then the "project page" and user-friendly "home page" being separate from each other and often not linking to each other...)

      Sourceforge had a lot of faults back then, and I'm not really sure they are much better now. I wish some other web site had gathered enough OSS projects to get a non-negligible market share. Because Github isn't making me happy either.

  6. Is it an (attempted) EEE? by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1
    There is a simple test to decide if "feature" is part of Embrace, Extend and (try to) Extinguish strategy:

    Q1 : Does it have an import feature? answer= A1

    Q2: Does it have an export feature? answer= A2

    if (A1 && !A2) {

    return "yes, it is an EEE";

    }

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  7. Still hosting Malware despite pledge by Kobun · · Score: 1

    Giving projects a workaround to install Malware means Sourceforge continues to be blocked on the networks I control. If you haven't seen it, the workaround is in allowing a project to use an installer that downloads additional code during the installation process. Sourceforge has opted to put tiny yellow text next to the download button with innocuous sounding language. I can only assume that Sourceforge has decided to continue hosting these projects despite knowing that they are dangerous due to either financial concerns or a lack of care.

    For example: https://sourceforge.net/projec...

    1. Re:Still hosting Malware despite pledge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Came here to ask this.

      Would like an answer.

    2. Re: Still hosting Malware despite pledge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As would many here. I liked source forge before they became the download.com equivalent of the open source community.

    3. Re: Still hosting Malware despite pledge by Kobun · · Score: 1

      Parent and GP: Whipslash gave a similar answer a bit further up, to be seen here: https://developers.slashdot.or...

      This doesn't sit well with me, since (again) it appears that the decision has been made to ignore the Malware linked but not directly hosted on Sourceforge. Of course network admins are going to keep blocking Sourceforge - it's not safe yet.

    4. Re: Still hosting Malware despite pledge by Dogers · · Score: 1

      the decision has been made to ignore the Malware linked but not directly hosted on Sourceforge

      So you guys block Google too?

      --
      I am a viral sig. Please copy me and help me spread. Thank you.
    5. Re: Still hosting Malware despite pledge by Kobun · · Score: 1

      No. Your point? Certainly I could have been more precise, but did you honestly not glean my meaning?

      For the pedants in the room: Sourceforge hosting installers which then download additional malicious code from elsewhere cannot reasonably claim that their site is safe.

    6. Re:Still hosting Malware despite pledge by LesFerg · · Score: 1

      Are you implying that GITHUB has a QA team which vets every project and every download on their site?

      I usually check around for the reputation of any software I am considering installing, if there is something abusive on any open source site, I would expect to find discussions of that someplace.

      --
      If I had a DeLorean... I would probably only drive it from time to time.
    7. Re:Still hosting Malware despite pledge by Kobun · · Score: 1

      Nope, not at all. That seems like an absurd conclusion to jump to from what I wrote.

      SourceForge is simply lumped in with all of the other "free" download sites on the internet, as is befitting the risk profile they present.

  8. not even at gunpoint by nimbius · · Score: 1

    would i use sourceforge. These are the guys who decided to bundle Gimp with adware under the guise that it was "abandoned" and so that somehow made it okay.

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
    1. Re:not even at gunpoint by whipslash · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The old ownership did that and it sucked. That's why I bought SourceForge and removed all the adware.

    2. Re:not even at gunpoint by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But you have still failed to fix all the rest of the Sourceforge suck.

    3. Re:not even at gunpoint by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      3 weeks ago FileZilla sent me to sourceforge. I spent more time than I wanted to undoing the damaged unleashed on my machine. FileZilla says this is by design so sadly sourceforge is not to blame, but the actual project is. :-/

    4. Re:not even at gunpoint by nimbius · · Score: 2

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... confirmed! Logan I'm sorry for the judgement. This decision should have gotten much, much more press than it has. Sourceforge is back!! :D

      --
      Good people go to bed earlier.
    5. Re:not even at gunpoint by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah good stuff! Gotta say tho it looks damn ugly displayed on my desktop.

    6. Re:not even at gunpoint by whipslash · · Score: 1

      Thanks!

    7. Re:not even at gunpoint by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You installed FileZilla wrong.

      Install Portable Apps. Done. Never again install software unless you want/need all the registry and system bloat.

    8. Re:not even at gunpoint by datavirtue · · Score: 1

      Yeah. You don't want all that registry bloat slowing down the malware.

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
  9. Fully-synced repositories would be nice by CustomSolvers2 · · Score: 1

    As a way to improve visibility and minimise the GitHub power, setting up mirrored repositories in sites like SourceForge sounds good to me. In fact, I did try to do something like that about 1 year ago, but the syncing wasn't working as expected. The part of easily importing all the information from GitHub was fine, but the part of SourceForge automatically updating any modification there wasn't. Without that working properly, there was no point in having the repositories duplicated and I deleted my SourceForge account.

    After a quick look now, they seem to have done just some aesthetical modifications, although the pages seem to load a bit slower. The GitHub sync information doesn't include any express mention to the aforementioned issue of keeping automatically updating the repositories. I might give them another shot at some point, but I would use SourceForge only if that functionality is implemented. Actually, I think that they should better put their main focus on these lines of accepting that, for the time being, they are a secondary player with a good visibility what potentially makes them an excellent GitHub mirror/backup alternative.

    --
    Custom Solvers 2.0 = Alvaro Carballo Garcia = varocarbas.
    1. Re:Fully-synced repositories would be nice by whipslash · · Score: 2

      Right now it's just releases that are updated automatically but full repositories is coming soon too

    2. Re:Fully-synced repositories would be nice by CustomSolvers2 · · Score: 1

      Good to know. I will mirror my main GitHub repositories as soon as this functionality is implemented.

      --
      Custom Solvers 2.0 = Alvaro Carballo Garcia = varocarbas.
    3. Re:Fully-synced repositories would be nice by whipslash · · Score: 1

      Awesome to hear

  10. There's one other requirement... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Does it support Goat C?

  11. SourceForge is a Piece of Shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Doesn't work without javascript. Why? Because that's how BIZX thinks a source repo should work. A source repo that originally contained many, many FREE softwares should be crippled with advertising, spyware and littered with social media trackers.

    Do you know what SF displays w/o javascript? A fucking 1200 x 800 "tweeter" bird. A giant tweeter icon, from the biggest shithouse of ADHD on the internet.

    But can you download the source? No. Not without fishing it out of the raw markup. Because God forbid their is a single link that simply downloads the source from a source repo.

    Fuck you BIZX, you cheap shitheads

    1. Re:SourceForge is a Piece of Shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Holy fuck the modern world must annoy the shit out of you.
      Just turn on ya fucking Javascript. Oh noes the people who sell cat food might see me looking at a picture of a cat! Where's my tinfoil

  12. Open Source community? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    What?

    I thought sourceforge was a clickbait, advertising infested site where you could download malware infested executables.

    Never occurred to me it was supposed to be a site for Open Source developers. I have never managed to find any source code there. Let alone a way to contribute.

    I just tried again. With some effort it looks like their "project of the month" has source code someplace. Can't tell because I can't find a link to it anywhere.

    Why would any open source developer use sourceforge?

    https://sourceforge.net/projects/squirrel-sql/files/1-stable/

  13. Here's something funny by quonset · · Score: -1

    I am not a developer, but once or twice in my life I did go to SourceForge (for whatever reason), so I checked out the redesign.

    The site is so advanced two of the major links don't work. I don't mean they go nowhere, I mean they literally do not work. Clicking on the 'Join & Create' and the 'Browse' buttons causes nothing to happen. My cursor doesn't even change to signify a link.

    SourceForge: so advanced we won't let you join or see what we're doing.

    As always, this is why you never let a web designer design your web page. They're more interested in shiny than functionality or ease of use.

  14. a good way to get a virus in your build by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Just what I want to do, move my code to an inferior platform that has shown complete willingness to inject adware into other projects without their involvement.

    Why would anyone trust sourceforge as a repository, any more than they would trust slashdot as a source of unbiased tech information

    Dice irreparably destroyed both communities, and everyone knows it.

    1. Re:a good way to get a virus in your build by whipslash · · Score: 2

      DICE injected adware. We had nothing to do with that and removed it immediately after buying SourceForge.

    2. Re:a good way to get a virus in your build by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The damage is done and the goodwill just isn't there.

      IBM will never again be a leader in computing, HP will never again be an engineering company, and SourceForge will never be removed from our companies blacklist as a known source of malware.

    3. Re:a good way to get a virus in your build by whipslash · · Score: 1

      We're not gonna please everyone and that's ok. We're just focused on improving SourceForge and thats enough for us.

  15. Re: GUIs are for millenials and other various tras by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Winner. Everyone else is a fag.

  16. good start but too many ads on project pages by THE_WELL_HUNG_OYSTER · · Score: 1

    It's a great start... but why so many ads? Take a look at any project page, for example: https://sourceforge.net/projects/squirrel-sql/. come on, does it really need ads on the top, side, middle, AND bottom? That just makes the site look spammy.

    1. Re:good start but too many ads on project pages by Dogers · · Score: 1

      I don't see any ads on that page, even with uBlock turned off..??

      --
      I am a viral sig. Please copy me and help me spread. Thank you.
    2. Re:good start but too many ads on project pages by THE_WELL_HUNG_OYSTER · · Score: 1

      I don't even know what to say to you. maybe "open your eyes" :) Maybe you have a hard time differentiating between real content and advertisements?

    3. Re:good start but too many ads on project pages by LesFerg · · Score: 1

      I don't see ads there either. Turned of adblock and refreshed the page. There is a small list of recommended projects on the right.
      Is your browser infected maybe? Do you have third-party toolbars or anything like that?

      --
      If I had a DeLorean... I would probably only drive it from time to time.
    4. Re:good start but too many ads on project pages by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are six ads on that page - in regular adspots.

      One banner at the top, one banner in the footer. and four sidebar adspots on the right hand side, two above the recommended projects, and two below.

  17. coders and editors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well whiplash is certainly posting up a storm in defense of the new SourceForge, which is understandable. Perhaps he does really want to make it great again.

    However, given that the two sites are now run by the same boss, one wonders if the quality of coders working on Sourceforge is similar to the quality of editors working on slashdot - that is, complete and utter shit, unable to do their jobs with a modicum of neutrality, having whiny public meltdowns on twitter, etc. Sound familiar BeauHD?

    1. Re:coders and editors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well whiplash is certainly posting up a storm in defense of the new SourceForge, which is understandable. Perhaps he does really want to make it great again.

      However, given that the two sites are now run by the same boss, one wonders if the quality of coders working on Sourceforge is similar to the quality of editors working on slashdot - that is, complete and utter shit, unable to do their jobs with a modicum of neutrality, having whiny public meltdowns on twitter, etc. Sound familiar BeauHD?

      That's pretty harsh... I mean, it's pretty clear that nobody's working on Slashdot.

  18. Still dominated by irrelevant adspew by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I just went and checked a couple of old projects hosted there. They're still nearly unfindable under the gratuitous ad spew completely dominating every page, wasting screen space and time and bandwidth for every person who uses Sourceforge. And unless they've fired the bozos who took over the Windows GIMP and shoved trojan software in an installer wrapper. See https://www.gimp.org/news/2015/05/27/gimp-projects-official-statement-on-sourceforges-actions/ for the history.

    That was *fraud*, and it had to be approved as a policy at a high level at Sourceforge. There is not yet any demonstrable reason to trust them since then.

    1. Re:Still dominated by irrelevant adspew by whipslash · · Score: 1

      Zero people from the team that made those bad decisions are with our company. We removed the adware literally the day after we acquired SourceForge. It's been over 2 years now. We're not gonna win everyone back but that's ok.

    2. Re:Still dominated by irrelevant adspew by LesFerg · · Score: 1

      I cannot find advertising on the site like you describe it.
      Do you use one of those dubious ISP services that inject advertising into web content?

      --
      If I had a DeLorean... I would probably only drive it from time to time.
  19. Uphill both ways, plains trucker. by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

    I stacked rocks. If someone didn't like the answers I came up with, I threw rocks. This was the beginning of true multipurpose computing.

    --
    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
    1. Re:Uphill both ways, plains trucker. by LesFerg · · Score: 1

      You had rocks? All we had was mammoth turds. If you pressed to hard in an addition, the results would get OR'ed together and it was hell debugging them once the flies found us.

      --
      If I had a DeLorean... I would probably only drive it from time to time.
  20. Sourceforge was dead long ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    don't dig it up. You can never reanimate it. Just head for the future and use Gitlab.

  21. Loge "ole' boy" a 1 yr. anniversary tune by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    "APK's days are numbered" - by whipslash Tuesday February 09, 2016

    Not impressed w/ UR ownership: U can't make good on that & u KNOW it (proven for a year)

    All U had to do was ASK politely. I'd be gone but U shot UR mouth off & now "EAT UR WORDS"!

    Taste like UR FOOT IN UR MOUTH washed down by the BITTER TASTE of SELF-DEFEAT?

    Unlike ur htaccess + javascript "filters"?

    APK Hosts File Engine 10++ SR-1 32/64-bit really WORKS

    Haha... seen any APK spam lately? - by whipslash Tuesday February 16, 2016

    Never was spam - but we see UR 'spam' now & Pro Google/Linux spam!

    "We are just trying to stem the commercial spam he spews" - by whipslash Thursday February 18, 2016

    Not commercial. It's FREE! TRUTH = u FEAR MY PROGRAM stopping UR Google finance ads.

    How much longer do u "graciously allow me" (lol, not) - another year?

    APK

    P.S.=> See subject &. anniversary of UR FAIL - TUNE = CoNcReTe BLoNdE APK is "Still in /." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WkTtAb4Yzg/... apk

  22. Unforgiven by epine · · Score: 1

    I don't know of anyone who has forgiven them for injecting adware into downloads.

    The Legions of Undying Rancour spawned by SourceForge go a lot further back than that.

    SourceForge drifting (2001) by Loic Dachary

    But when I read the details of their copyright assignment, I saw major problems. I was asked to assign copyright of my work that "is, or may in the future be, utilised in the SourceForge collaborative software development platform". The assignment was not limited to my contribution to the SourceForge code, it potentially covered all my past and future work if it was of some interest to SourceForge.

    He tries to help them refine this, and here is what he receives for his efforts:

    By signing this agreement, you, the undersigned, hereby assign to VA Linux all right, title and interest in and to the software code described below, and all copyright, patent, proprietary information, trade secret, and other intellectual property rights therein. You also agree to take all actions and sign all documents (such as copyright assignments or registrations) reasonably requested by VA Linux to evidence and record the above assignments.

    What do they offer in return for this sweeping, blanket assignment? To enforce the GPL? No. Not a sweet thing.

  23. I feel I should comment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As the most prolific and most cowardly poster on this site I feel I should weigh in. Snidely did a service for the community attempting to bring sourceforge back from the brink. I dislike the new front end it is true. However, I see no evidence that the new management kept the old rats. Github has been reluctant to be a place to distribute releases. I would love to see sourceforge be someplace that I can send my grandmother to to get the opensource alternatives I desperately want het to use. I am not going to ask her to use git.

    Whipslash: you did a good thing, they can fuck off.

  24. Loge "ole' boy" a 1 yr. anniversary tune by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "APK's days are numbered" whipslash February 09 2016

    Not impressed w/ UR ownership: U can't make good on that & u KNOW it (proven for a year)

    All U had to do was ASK politely. I'd be gone!

    U shot UR mouth off & now "EAT UR WORDS"!

    Taste like UR FOOT IN UR MOUTH ramming those words down ur throat washed down by a BITTER TASTE of SELF-DEFEAT?

    Unlike ur htaccess + javascript "filters"?

    APK Hosts File Engine 10++ SR-1 32/64-bit DOES WORK

    Haha... seen any APK spam lately? whipslash February 16 2016

    It's no spam - but we see UR 'spam' now & Pro Google/Linux spam!

    "We are just trying to stem the commercial spam he spews" whipslash February 18 2016

    Not commercial. It's FREE! TRUTH = u FEAR MY PROGRAM stopping UR Google financed ads. You spewed shit & eat it (lol)!

    So - How much longer do u "graciously allow me" (lol, not) - another year?

    APK

    P.S.=> See subject & anniversary of UR FAIL - TUNE = CoNcReTe BLoNdE APK's "Still in /." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WkTtAb4Yzg/... apk