The Game of Trees Hub is a transparently funded Git repository hosting service based on OpenBSD and the Game of Trees version control system.
Game of Trees servers interoperate with any Git client. Users access Git repositories securely via Git's SSH protocol, based on OpenSSH, and manage their repository space by committing a configuration file to a special-purpose Git repository. The configuration file controls user accounts, repositories, access permissions, and more.
Access to repositories is private by default but can be made public if desired.
All Git repositories are backed up and can be restored by the admin team in case of hardware failure or other problems.
Each Game of Trees Hub project space runs in a dedicated virtual machine on top of the OpenBSD vmm hypervisor. Git repository services in virtual machines are implemented by the Game of Trees gotd, gotwebd, and gotsysd servers. All virtual machines, services, and underlying servers are managed by our admin team.
We aim for secure and reliable version control. Game of Trees does not provide features such as discussion forums, likes, stars, or per-user activity metrics. Project management features such as issue tracking or mailing lists may appear at some point in the future. See our features page for a list of current and planned features.
We operate much like a free software project. However, running a hosting service costs money, which is provided by our users to ensure our independence and sustainability. Our finances are transparently managed on the Open Collective platform, allowing anyone to see where our money comes from and where it goes to.
Our Open Collective page is collecting funds to support the development of Game of Trees and this platform. Git repository hosting tiers can be booked via email.
Our existing backers receive email when we publish announcements on our Open Collective page, and will be given priority in our sign-up queue. We also publish announcements on Mastodon at exquisite.social/@gothub
Our users are either project owners who pay a fee for their use of the service, or people who have been given access to a Git repository by a project owner and who are not required to pay. We always welcome voluntary financial contributions via Open Collective.
Administrators appear as "Team" and "Admin" on our Open Collective page. They are involved in keeping the service running and reviewing related expenses.
Managing funds via Open Collective requires a fiscal host. The fiscal host owns the bank account, represents the open collective on invoices, and deals with legal obligations such as taxes.
Project owners must be capable of entering a business relationship with our fiscal host. Examples: Private individuals who own a credit card, companies, non-profits, academic institutions.
Our current fiscal host is Chirpy Software SRL, a limited-liability company owned by Stefan Sperling who founded the Game of Trees project in 2017.