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# Changelog The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/). ## Changed - Update line length limit from 500 characters to 120 characters. ## Fixed - Most instances of these lint issues: 1. Lines longer than 120 characters ([MD013](https://github.com/DavidAnson/markdownlint/blob/v0.38.0/doc/md013.md)). 2. Trailing whitespaces ([MD009](https://github.com/DavidAnson/markdownlint/blob/v0.38.0/doc/md009.md)). 3. Ordered list item prefix ([MD029](https://github.com/DavidAnson/markdownlint/blob/v0.38.0/doc/md029.md)). 4. Bare links ([MD034](https://github.com/DavidAnson/markdownlint/blob/v0.38.0/doc/md034.md)). Co-authored-by: Patrick Schratz <pat-s@noreply.codeberg.org> Reviewed-on: https://codeberg.org/Codeberg/Documentation/pulls/623 Reviewed-by: Patrick Schratz <pat-s@noreply.codeberg.org> Co-authored-by: Javier Pérez <walpo@noreply.codeberg.org> Co-committed-by: Javier Pérez <walpo@noreply.codeberg.org>
100 lines
5.6 KiB
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100 lines
5.6 KiB
Markdown
---
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eleventyNavigation:
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key: WhatIsCodeberg
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title: What is Codeberg?
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parent: GettingStarted
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order: 10
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---
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Codeberg is a democratic community-driven, non-profit software development platform operated
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by Codeberg e.V. and centered around Codeberg.org, a Forgejo-based software forge.
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On Codeberg you can develop your own [Free Software](https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software) projects,
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contribute to other
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projects, [browse](https://codeberg.org/explore) through inspiring and useful
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free software, share your knowledge or build your projects a home on the web
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using [Codeberg Pages](/codeberg-pages), just to name a few.
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Codeberg is not a for-profit corporation but an open community of free
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software enthusiasts providing a humane, non-commercial and
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privacy-friendly alternative to commercial services such as GitHub.
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## Our Mission
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The development of Free and Open Source Software is experiencing an unbroken boom, due to the general availability of
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the internet and the resulting social network effects, multiplying communication, exchange of ideas,
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and productivity each and every month.
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The number of developers and projects participating in the Open Source movement is growing exponentially.
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Only new software tools and collaboration platforms made these dynamics possible and manageable.
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While all successful software tools that enabled this development were contributed by the Free and Open Source Software
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community, commercial for-profit platforms dominate the hosting of the results of our collaborative work.
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This has led to the paradox that literally millions of volunteers create, collect, and maintain invaluable knowledge,
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documentation, and software, to feed closed platforms driven by commercial interests, whose program is neither visible
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nor controllable from outside.
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Considering the fate of formerly successful startups like SourceForge, we need to break the circle and avoid history repeating.
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The mission of Codeberg e.V. is to build and maintain a free collaboration platform for creating, archiving, and
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preserving code and to document its development process.
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Dependencies on commercial, external, or proprietary services for the operation of the platform are avoided, in order to
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guarantee independence and reliability.
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Read more at [Codeberg's initial announcement](https://blog.codeberg.org/codebergorg-launched.html)
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and the [Licensing article](/getting-started/licensing).
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## Codeberg vs. Forgejo
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[Forgejo](https://forgejo.org) is self-hostable free software for software development, built on top of Git.
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Codeberg is powered by Forgejo, which is in turn a [hard-fork](https://forgejo.org/2024-02-forking-forward/) of Gitea.
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Compared to Codeberg, Forgejo is not one service, but free software to help you build your own.
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Everyone can install their own Forgejo instance to host their own projects.
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There are also public Forgejo instances as well as Codeberg you can use, but make sure you find a site that is actively
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maintained and updated, and that you trust the provider.
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The codebase history of Forgejo and its predecessors predates Codeberg.
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However, since 2022, [Codeberg is backing the development of Forgejo](https://blog.codeberg.org/codeberg-launches-forgejo.html)
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as an umbrella organization.
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People are often asking why they should use Codeberg over other Forgejo instances. The most important reasons are:
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- a vivid, vibrant community to collaborate with and ask for help
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- active maintenance through the community and shared effort to provide an awesome experience
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- you are able to take part in operation and decisions, and ideally donate
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- we add additional services like [Codeberg Pages](/codeberg-pages/),
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[hosted CI](/ci/#using-codeberg's-instance-of-woodpecker-ci)
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and [Weblate for localization of your software](/codeberg-translate/)
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## What is Codeberg e.V.?
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Codeberg e.V. is a registered non-profit association based in Berlin, Germany. You don't have to be
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a member of the association in order to use Codeberg.org or to contribute to the development
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of the platform, but if you want you can [join Codeberg e.V.](https://join.codeberg.org) to
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support the project financially, be informed about Codeberg and, optionally, to actively
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contribute to the association.
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Codeberg members can also take part in the decisions of the platform as explained in the [bylaws](https://codeberg.org/Codeberg/org/src/en/bylaws.md),
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and they elect the presidium and board of the platform, thus Codeberg can be considered as community-owned.
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## Alternatives to Codeberg
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Codeberg is not the only libre option for hosting Free Software project.
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We don't aim for a vendor-lock-in, but hope you like our space and stay here.
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We recommend choosing a shared instance [to save time, money and energy](https://blog.codeberg.org/community-maintenance-matters.html),
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ideally run by a community of people (like Codeberg).
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By choosing a Forgejo instance, you can easily migrate away from Codeberg in case you don't like it.
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We'll list a few options:
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- [disroot](https://git.disroot.org): Our recommended alternative public Forgejo instance.
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Powered by the community at disroot and funded by donations.
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They do offer much more than Forgejo, so check them out in any case.
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- [other public Forgejo instances](https://codeberg.org/forgejo-contrib/delightful-forgejo#user-content-public-instances)
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- Self-Hosting [Forgejo](https://forgejo.org), the software that powers Codeberg.
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- [SourceHut](https://sourcehut.org): A minimum-GUI Free Software based service, available as hosted version by a
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transparent for-profit. Self-Hostable.
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---
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To start your journey with Codeberg, let's [create an account](/getting-started/first-steps).
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