I wrote a FOSS pkg years ago that I have not released because I have not come across a suitable forge. Normally nixnet would be ideal. It has an onion host and also a corresponding clearnet one. The problem is nixnet has been under attack and the person running it has been unable to secure it. So registration is disabled.

Are there any git forges that have both an onion and a clearnet-facing website?

    • daveyOsborn@infosec.pubOP
      1·
      13 days ago

      Start here to get an overview of advantages. It misses some factors, so I also suggest this thread.

      I want to stress the idea of taking load off the exit nodes – which the first link to torproject misses. It not only directly improves the speed for users of the repo, it also gives a better balance to the whole Tor network.

      The reddit thread is decent enough to share but I have to correct something: someone said “Onion services are about protecting the server rather than the user.” They neglected to realise that using an exit node potentially exposes users to DNS leaks. Onion links are immune to DNS leaks and DNS shenanigans (recent events with Autistici being an example of DNS creating vulnerability to bad actors like one particular orange menace).

      The linked sources are a good start but they miss some other factors:

      • Promotion of Tor. The Tor community is severely marginalised because it’s small. Small groups are easy to oppress. Tor needs promotion. Onion links help promote Tor by increasing awareness.
      • The clearnet is under constant attack including burdens added by Microsoft’s copilot and AI bots. The clearnet is generally quite enshitified in part due to self-defense measures. Onion sites tend to not need (and not deploy) the extent of full-blown defensive posture that makes the clearnet UX shit.
      • MS Copilot is probably not harvesting onion forges. Which means the clearnet variant could easily be hardened against it by (e.g.) bluntly blocking all MS IPs, as the onion would still be reachable to humans that have an MS IP for some reason.
      • An onion site /can/ optionally be implemented as a fully redundant server, so when the clearnet host goes down the onion continues offering availability. Two benefits: increased availability and also promotes Tor when it happens. (Not sure if gitea/forgejo or gitlab is better in that config).