Github To Codeberg Migration - Motivation

calendar Aug 6, 2025 · 2 min read · git github codeberg migration  ·
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After Microsoft bought GitHub, I made my thoughts on whether it is good to host source code on GitHub. Many features of Github are for free. Free in this context means you don't pay money for the features but with something else. Something else seems to be our data. As we learned, it was used to train Co-Pilot. To be honest, in my opinion, GitHub boosted the possibility of collaboration in open-source projects. I'm deeply thankful for that. But my distrust has been grown after the buy.

So the question is why I started my migration in 2025 and not 2018, when Microsoft buyed GitHub. The answer is simple. Laziness. I had some critical points, but the pain was not high enough for a migration. In 2025, toots about #unplugTrump motivate me to rethink my used internet services. At this time, I also had a discussion about why I still use GitHub, an American internet service that uses my data for their products. I used the same arguments in this discussion that people use for why they still use WhatsApp. At this point, I recaped about the question, how I'm using GitHub and are there some alternatives.

My use cases on GitHub:

  1. I host the source code of my blog and homepage. I deploy them to Netlify (also an american internet service).
  2. I host source code of some pet projects or sample projects.
  3. I have forks from open source projects where I'm contributing.

For the first and second use cases, I can use alternatives. For the third use case, I will stay on GitHub to keep my contribution workflow simple.

So what can be an alternative. First I had to clarify my requirements: I don't want to either self-host a Git management system or use a free service. At the same time, I want to have a solution for hosting my websites and have a CI solution. Therefore, I decided to get a supporting member of Codeberg. They use Forgejo as a Git management system with a CI concept similar to GitHub Actions. Also, they have a possibility to host websites similar to GitHub Pages (called Codeberg Pages). Maybe I will need another solution for that, but in my current situation, it is good enough.

So now I plan to migrate step by step. I will start with my websites, and then I will migrate the repositories of my pet projects.

I plan to publish some blog posts about my migration and which solution I choose for every step.