Hey #rust community, crazy idea:A crate registry without #Microsoft as a gatekeeper

[dcz@fosstodon.org]

Hey #rust community, crazy idea:

A crate registry without #Microsoft as a gatekeeper.

If I started one, would you publish your library there?

What should I name it?

Background:

you can't publish on crates.io without #Github account = #microsoft's permission.

https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io/issues/326

As we all know, Microsoft has a history of supporting #Linux and we should trust them.

https://www.theregister.com/2001/06/02/ballmer_linux_is_a_cancer/

pffft lol. Just no.

#opensource #community #floss

[dcz@fosstodon.org]

I was thinking about calling it "Tempelhof", because I thought about it in Berlin (hi #akademy2025 ) and to remember a famous history of avoiding another gatekeeper:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Blockade

[soc@chaos.social]

@dcz Yes. I stopped publishing to crates.io for that reason.

But with namespacing, please. It's not that hard.

[dcz@fosstodon.org]

@soc I'm open to the idea, but:
- out of scope on day 1.
- only once it works with cargo. I'm not forking cargo :)

[soc@chaos.social]

@dcz So never? 😅

[michalfita@mastodon.social]

@dcz There's software to keep own crates registry, aimed mostly at businesses.

The major issue with the idea is the promotion. `crates.io` is the default, it's going to be hard to convince others to switch and you'd need mirror for this to make sense. Using another registry on top of the default requires extra settings in dependencies, what needs extra effort. Again hard to convince majority.

[dcz@fosstodon.org]

@soc More like: that's outside of my ability but I wish success to you making it happen :)

[dcz@fosstodon.org]

@michalfita I don't want to take over. I want to offer a place to those who can't or don't want to use github because of Microsoft's policies or because they see the potential disaster and boycott MS (like myself).
And if MS turns evil, maybe the alternative registry could make things a little less painful.