by cxr on 1/21/22, 4:46 PM
Git.io (the "GitHub URL Shortener") was only ever for GitHub-hosted projects to use, which had the effect of further conflating GitHub and Git to an even worse degree. It always struck me as borderline scummy, since GitHub was of course aware of this, but then again they've knowingly benefited from misconceptions about the Git/GitHub relationship for a long time, so it's not out of line with the established MO.
by gkoberger on 1/21/22, 5:05 PM
For anyone curious, I found this early blog post announcing it.
https://github.blog/2011-11-10-git-io-github-url-shortener/
It seems like it was built by some Github employees back during the URL shortening phase as just a fun hack project to learn a new database, although a few services implemented it to shorten Github URLs.
by dapak on 1/21/22, 4:55 PM
I wish there was more background on what/why git.io was a thing, as well as why it's now being discontinued in this announcement. First time hearing of this service.
by ryan-c on 1/21/22, 11:09 PM
by cpach on 1/21/22, 4:58 PM
Do people still use URL shorteners…? I would guess the usage has declined in the past 10 years or so.
by 0x0000000 on 1/21/22, 5:02 PM
Wow, git.io was the first product I found a vulnerability and sent a responsible disclosure, more than 10 years ago.
They used to have a nice thank you page, but they got rid of it when they rolled out their bug bounty program.
I wonder if this means git.io short links will be going away, I still use mine on my CV and elsewhere.
by wolpoli on 1/21/22, 8:00 PM
by connor4312 on 1/21/22, 5:21 PM
This is a sad day for me. The obscurity of git.io, along with its nested obscurity of the ability to create vanity links, let me grab
https://git.io/8. It looks like that'll go away one day, I wonder what will become of the domain itself; it's certainly a six figure property.
by rusbus on 1/21/22, 4:48 PM
Am I the only one who has never heard of nor seen a git.io shortened URL?
by placatedmayhem on 1/21/22, 4:48 PM
I do wish any time there was a service deprecation notice, the service providers would give some detail as to why it's going offline. Lack of use, difficulty to maintain, expense, etc. With that said, I don't think we're owed any explanation, especially for free-to-use services.
Specific to this service, I never personally used it, but I wonder how many project links will break when the service does finally go offline.
by TimLeland on 1/21/22, 6:29 PM
If anyone is looking for an alternative URL Shortener you should checkout T.LY
https://t.ly/
by ufo on 1/21/22, 4:47 PM
Does anyone know where one may find more info about what git.io used to be and why it might have been deprecated?
by rajishx on 1/23/22, 3:11 AM
I have used this to refer some github links/code/lines in my code/commit, too bad it was fun while it was lasted