# Github is a Single point of failure for the ecosystem
**URL:** https://discourse.julialang.org/t/github-is-a-single-point-of-failure-for-the-ecosystem/138874
**Category:** Community
**Tags:** github, registry
**Created:** [August 17, 2026, 3:38pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/github-is-a-single-point-of-failure-for-the-ecosystem/138874 "2026-08-17T15:38:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Qfl3x](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Qfl3x)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2026, 3:38pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/github-is-a-single-point-of-failure-for-the-ecosystem/138874/1 "2026-08-17T15:38:00Z")
So Github is [down currently](https://www.githubstatus.com/), and also had a few hiccups recently [See here](https://isgithubcooked.com/?severities=critical).
This is a recent development, Github used to be quite reliable but it is lately having more and more issues (Vibe-coded server code?). Perhaps it is time to re-evaluate how dependent the whole ecosystem is on Github, and what if at some point a critical incident lasts more than a few minutes/hours. There was at some point one [official](https://github.com/JuliaPackageMirrors) and one [inofficial](https://github.com/UnofficialJuliaMirror) project for a registry mirror, but both are unmaintained and more crucially both are on Github as well. Maybe we could have an automated mirror in Gitlab or Codeberg(Strong/prohibitive AI rules) or elsewhere?
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### Author:  [@araujoms](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/araujoms)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2026, 4:34pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/github-is-a-single-point-of-failure-for-the-ecosystem/138874/2 "2026-08-17T16:34:35Z")
More generally I think this shows how dangerous it is to become hostage to the whims of a private, for-profit company who couldn’t care less about Julia.
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### Author:  [@mbauman](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mbauman)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2026, 4:40pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/github-is-a-single-point-of-failure-for-the-ecosystem/138874/3 "2026-08-17T16:40:47Z")
> [@Qfl3x](#):
>
> Maybe we could have an automated mirror in Gitlab or Codeberg(Strong/prohibitive AI rules) or elsewhere?
We do have automated mirrors already! They’re the package servers. Even when GitHub is completely down, `Pkg.update` and `Pkg.add` still work. They just reflect the last state the package servers were able to fetch.
Yes, it’s frustrating that I can’t keep changing things, though, I agree with that!
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### Author:  [@GunnarFarneback](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/GunnarFarneback)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2026, 5:25pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/github-is-a-single-point-of-failure-for-the-ecosystem/138874/4 "2026-08-17T17:25:40Z")
> [@Qfl3x](#):
>
> (Vibe-coded server code?)
I wouldn’t be surprised if vibe-coding plays a role but I find it somewhat more likely to be an increased load from multitudes of vibe-coded projects.
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### Author:  [@goerz](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/goerz)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2026, 10:53pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/github-is-a-single-point-of-failure-for-the-ecosystem/138874/5 "2026-08-17T22:53:59Z")
GitHub being a single point of failure is _most definitely_ a problem.
However, there are huge benefits to everything being centralized on GitHub: I can easily submit PRs to any package, comment on every issue, link between issues of any two projects, tag any maintainer of any project in any discussion, and so much more. It’s what makes something like [https://joss.theoj.org](https://joss.theoj.org) possible. The gain in productivity, and the effect on the open source ecosystem as a whole, is immeasurable.
The pure “Git Hosting” aspect of GitHub is easily replaced. All the other “social” parts are almost impossible to replace. Which is why I don’t cheer when people go to GitLab or Codeberg, even if I can understand their motivation to some point.
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### Author:  [@stevengj](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/stevengj)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2026, 11:53pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/github-is-a-single-point-of-failure-for-the-ecosystem/138874/6 "2026-08-17T23:53:26Z")
See also the discussion thread here … it would be nice to at least see regular backups of github issues and PRs (and other metadata) in addition to the git repos themselves: [Github contingency planning — should Julia be backing up issues/PRs?](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/github-contingency-planning-should-julia-be-backing-up-issues-prs/101086)
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### Author:  [@Palli](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Palli)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2026, 10:53am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/github-is-a-single-point-of-failure-for-the-ecosystem/138874/7 "2026-08-18T10:53:08Z")
> [@Qfl3x](#):
>
> Perhaps it is time to re-evaluate how dependent the whole ecosystem is on Github
It’s very, but it’s not a single point of failure, for package installing because of:
> [@mbauman](#):
>
> automated mirrors already!
Also not all packages are even on Github (yes, most, vast majority, almost all the over 14000 packages are on Github), I believe these are the only (at least main) exceptions:
I estimated 80 projects on Gitlab: [Code search results · GitHub](https://github.com/search?q=repo%3AJuliaRegistries%2FGeneral+gitlab&type=code)
And I count 7 on Codeberg: [Code search results · GitHub](https://github.com/search?q=repo%3AJuliaRegistries%2FGeneral+codeberg&type=code)
FYI: [Migrating from GitHub to Codeberg ⚡ Zig Programming Language](https://ziglang.org/news/migrating-from-github-to-codeberg/)
Make of that what you will, not sure if Julia, the project should move yet, most of the packages will likely not, and could Julia support more than one, e.g. if people move to Gitlab (or Codeberg), could a mirror be at Github, or would it only be a hassle? You always want a “single source of truth”.