[libreplanet-discuss] Decentralized git repo software with watch and fork features?

[Niels G. W. Serup]

Does anyone know if there exists a decentralized piece of software with
the same features as GitHub's easy-to-do watch and fork features? The
watch feature allows a user on GitHub to continually see the changes
made to a repository that user does not commit to, and the fork feature
allows a user to to branch a repo and further develop on it without
having to gain commit access to the original repo.

Now, both of these features are very simple, and I know Gitorious has
them. You can also do it with just the 'git' command. The reason I used
GitHub as an example is that, for some reason, more people use GitHub
than Gitorious. What I'm asking if exists is something small and simple,
that does not even store the actual git repos, but just references them;
a pretty web interface. People should be able to continue to do that
"social coding" thing which GitHub has made its slogan.

The reason is that, while I /could/ install Gitorious on my server,
gitolite or gitosis does not require me to have the overhead of an
integrated code sharing program like Gitorious. Also, I don't know if
Gitorious supports the OStatus-like functionality I think would be cool:
that people could watch and fork repositories from other servers onto
their own. If Gitorious does have that feature, I will consider
installing it on my server instead of gito{lite,sis}. But I would still
prefer a simpler OStatus-or-something-similar-supporting web interface
that allowed me to manage my repositories outside of it.

Not everyone thinks that GitHub is that much of a problem; neither do
I. It encourages sharing of code, which is a good thing. But I think
it's silly, or even wrong, that GitHub hides its own code. Since users
do not rely on GitHub for their personal data (like Facebook) or run it
outside a sandbox on their own computer (like MS Windows), users still
maintain control over their data and computing. One thing about GitHub
that I'm guessing might cause problems is that it makes its users used
to using centralized services, a habit they might carry on to services
such as Facebook that might actually harm them; but this is purely
speculative. My real issue with GitHub is simply that they hide useful
information in the form of source code. Also, I always prefer
decentralized solutions when possible.

So what I'm basically asking for if exists is this: StatusNet with text
messages replaced by commit messages (and of course some other
primitives).

If it doesn't exist, I'm guessing it will not be difficult to patch
together a git hook, some OStatus code, and a bit of HTML.

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