Is your Code going into the Freezer?
GitHub’s initiative to preserve open-source code
- Introduction
- What is the purpose of this badge and why did you receive it?
- How did GitHub go about preparing your repo for eternity?
- What exactly does GitHub store in the Arctic World Archive?
Introduction
If you are a GitHub user like me, you might have received a new badge on GitHub called Arctic Code Vault Contributor with a notification as in the cover picture above.
What is the purpose of this badge and why did you receive it?
The badge is testament that your code in public repos was backed up for really, really, really, really long time to come. Microsoft, which acquired GitHub for $7.5 billion in 2018, is preparing itself and GitHub for the apocalypse. As a reaction, Microsoft and GitHub recently launched a project called “GitHub Archive Program” along with the GitHub Arctic Code Vault. The vault will be co-located with the Arctic World Archive (AWA), a disused coal mine on Svalbard Archipelago north of Norway. The major purpose of this project is to conserve major open-source contributions for future generations by storing them in an archive and save them for a thousand years. Alas, GitHub and Microsoft will not be the sole tenant of AWA. The digitized art and documents from the Vatican, various illustrious meuseums, governments, and companies will have to share space in the mine.
Source: GitHub
How did GitHub go about preparing your repo for eternity?
The progess was largely orchestrated by piql. Digital file formats are fast-lived and many common digital storage devices have to be replaced after few years (DVDs and BluRays do physically degrade over time!). Tape, SSD, or HDDs neither offer longevity. Instead, the code was printed onto film reels, which perfectly aligns with GitHub’s objectives. The cold permafrost on Svalbard will help slow down the degradation of the film reels. In fact, the coal mine is very close to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, which has very similar goals, but for rare plant seeds that may get marginalized by modern genetically modified plants.
Source: GitHub
What exactly does GitHub store in the Arctic World Archive?
In short: everything public on GitHub. At first the collection includes the source code for the Linux and Android operating systems; the programming languages Python, Ruby, and Rust; web platforms Node, V8, React, and Angular; cryptocurrencies Bitcoin and Ethereum; AI tools TensorFlow and FastAI; and many more. Furthermore, every public repository that was publicly available as of February 2, 2020 was copied and went into storage. That likely includes you.
Finally, the question that bugs me is: If you deleted your repo, can you book a flight to Svalbard and get a copy of your backup? :)
Source: GitHub
Official Link: https://archiveprogram.github.com/
