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by idrios 1702 days ago
Meh, it's a good way to learn about github alternatives or hear anecdotes from people who have tried doing it.
2 comments

I recommend "git init --bare" and a $5 server on digital ocean
Classic “I can make Dropbox with rsync” comment
But if you can, maybe it's the right answer for you. Maybe the right answer for others is to learn to do it. For yet others, it's, "Use Dropbox." Why is, "This works for me, and might for you," not an acceptable answer?
Everyone likes to think they're the smart person laughing at the "Faster Horses" guy in that Henry Ford quote. And I don't think the moral of that quote means what most people think it means either. But anyway...

I'm with you. I was looking for a HN comment I saw once so I could link to it. A guy was explaining how his response to "why do you use linux?" is "it gives me more control" but his response to "what would Linux let me do that windows doesn't?" and his response would be "nothing". If that person didn't already know, then there's no valid answer that actually applies to that person.

But it's flashier to have a subscription product instead of a strong commons and self-sufficiency.

Because I believe it's bad advice. Web services are never "git and a $5 box", you must preserve them and keep them up to date.

I can trust GitHub with my deploy secrets; Can you trust your $5 last-updated-in-2019 box?

If you self-host, either you're a sysadmin or you must become one.

Plus GitHub is not just git, so I hope you'll also like to you set up "GitHub Actions" on that $5 box.

All you are saying is that there are people for whom self-hosting is right, and others for whom it is not right. We don't disagree on that.
And Dropbox for 8 years of its life was basically this:

aws s3 sync source destination

Sounds like you never used Dropbox. DB lets you share files or folders with anyone, with read-only or write access, without wasting any time whatsoever with AWS config; With Dropdox you just need a right click.

If you need backup, then use rsync, but Dropbox isn't just backup.

Wasting time on AWS configuration? As easy as:

aws s3 presign s3://<bucketname>/<object>

The original rsync comment, here in this community, does not get the respect that it deserves. If you are a user, maybe you should read this:

"Criticism of Dropbox" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Dropbox

How do I run that on my phone?
Seriously?
Yes. Seriously.

"...Half-a-billion people stored files on Dropbox. Well, sort of. Really, the files were in Amazon’s cloud..."

https://www.wired.com/2016/03/epic-story-dropboxs-exodus-ama...

That is a good point...