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GitHub Launches 'Actions' -- Code That Can Be Run (and Maybe Monetized) (techcrunch.com)
An anonymous reader quotes TechCrunch:
For the longest time, GitHub was all about storing source code and sharing it either with the rest of the world or your colleagues. Today, the company, which is in the process of being acquired by Microsoft, is taking a step in a different but related direction by launching GitHub Actions. Actions allow developers to not just host code on the platform but also run it. We're not talking about a new cloud to rival AWS here, but instead about something more akin to a very flexible IFTTT for developers who want to automate their development workflows, whether that is sending notifications or building a full continuous integration and delivery pipeline.
This is a big deal for GitHub. Indeed, Sam Lambert, GitHub's head of platform, described it to me as "the biggest shift we've had in the history of GitHub... I see Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery as one narrow use case of actions. It's so, so much more," Lambert stressed. "And I think it's going to revolutionize DevOps because people are now going to build best in breed deployment workflows for specific applications and frameworks, and those become the de facto standard shared on GitHub... It's going to do everything we did for open source again for the DevOps space and for all those different parts of that workflow ecosystem...."
Over time -- and Lambert seemed to be in favor of this -- GitHub could also allow developers to sell their workflows and Actions through the GitHub marketplace. For now, that's not an option, but it it's definitely that's something the company has been thinking about. Lambert also noted that this could be a way for open source developers who don't want to build an enterprise version of their tools (and the sales force that goes with that) to monetize their efforts.
This is a big deal for GitHub. Indeed, Sam Lambert, GitHub's head of platform, described it to me as "the biggest shift we've had in the history of GitHub... I see Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery as one narrow use case of actions. It's so, so much more," Lambert stressed. "And I think it's going to revolutionize DevOps because people are now going to build best in breed deployment workflows for specific applications and frameworks, and those become the de facto standard shared on GitHub... It's going to do everything we did for open source again for the DevOps space and for all those different parts of that workflow ecosystem...."
Over time -- and Lambert seemed to be in favor of this -- GitHub could also allow developers to sell their workflows and Actions through the GitHub marketplace. For now, that's not an option, but it it's definitely that's something the company has been thinking about. Lambert also noted that this could be a way for open source developers who don't want to build an enterprise version of their tools (and the sales force that goes with that) to monetize their efforts.
If this becomes widespread, it gives microsoft direct control over the platform which code is run. Given the history of microsoft, we should expect them to try to push in this direction. This is the sort of thing that could lose you the right to read. Avoid like the plague.
GENERATION 26: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation.
Yeah we all know what that means.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
If this is such a great idea, create an independent site to try it out.
Don't screw with the best commons that open source developers have.
This is using GitHub to try and hide your real intentions.
Go Away!!
Security Nightmare???
Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
people are now going to build best in breed deployment workflows for specific applications and frameworks, and those become the de facto standard shared
yikes!
Today, the company, which is in the process of being acquired by Microsoft, ...
Is that the death of GitHub?
"microsoft's system of 'ship first-fix later-never test' (SF/FL/NT)"
Microsoft is poorly managed. There is plenty of evidence for that:
Windows 10 is possibly the worst spyware ever made. "Buried in the service agreement is permission to poke through everything on your PC." (Aug. 4, 2015)
Microsoft's Intolerable Windows 10 Aggression (May 27, 2016)
Microsoft is infesting Windows 10 with annoying ads (March 17, 2017)
Microsoft, stop sabotaging Windows 10. (March 21, 2017)
Dude, chill. It's a process automation tool like Apple Automator or Gulp or something. If they change functionality or start locking in, it takes less than an hour to migrate your stuff back to bash, Gradle, Python or whatever your pipeline is built on.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
I know at least one high profile technology driven company that hosts *everything* on GitHub. I mean *everything*. Their secrets are encrypted though. But stored on GitHub.
They're doing pretty well and AFAICT their pipeline is as good as it gets.
The cool thing about Github is that it's hardly more than Git with a webgui that everybody knows. Meaning you can transition your entire pipeline to something else and self-hosted with a few mouseclicks and a little shell-scripting.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
Finally a process automator that doesn't use obscure bloated JSON/YAML stuff but a neat visual point-and-click modeller to build your pipeline. I'm definitely going to try it out. I wouldn't be surprised if you can even export the processes as JS or something.
As for MS, I like some of what they've been doing lately and they've even got a little Karma back with me. VS Code and TypeScript are two pretty neat FOSS projects, you have to give them that. And this from someone for whom the last MS thing he used was Win2K.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
Is this bad management? Or just evil management?
"Today, the company, which is in the process of being acquired by Microsoft,"
the company, which is in the process of becoming garbage.