You must log in or register to comment.
deleted by creator
pyinstaller and py2exe would’ve been helpful for this person
Probably Tylenol as well
Ahahahah
It’s more helpful if the developer configures a CI system to produce an executable. Stops people asking about how to do it.
That guy is not asking, is demanding. I use lots of open source software and am aware that the developer is often stretched thin. If I can’t help with the project (can’t say I have in the past two decades) I want them focused on what is important and what probably keeps them motivated, writing code and adding cool features. If they have time, fix bugs. If there is more bandwidth, write documentation.
Not wasting time making an executable for every OS out there because some ingrateful asshole is too lazy to figure out how to read instructions in plain English.
I think the entire point is that this stops people from filing a bunch of stupid tickets saying the .exe didn’t work on their iPhone or some shit.
We’ve all felt this at least once be honest with yourself.
Yeah I was like yes why isn’t there an obvious download binaries tab easily found (there is sometimes right?)
Gold goes to Qt though, hell to just download and decompress it…
there is, it’s called “releases” and it’s like 2 clicks to download an executable, it’s not a github issue at all, and github isn’t meant to be where you get your executables anyways
I still do sometimes. Wish they release a build so I don’t have to download all the dependencies and learn how to use a new program to build the damn thing
If you’re talking about the repo in the screenshot, it’s a python script, so a binary release is going to be fun.
If you’re talking about GitHub in general, you can download binaries from releases, if they’re provided.
It is a lot easier now that even Windows has a decent package manager tbf.
Of course this guy wants to use sherlock
I hadn’t heard of it, but it looks like it wouldn’t have much use outside of stalking or doxing.
TBF, they could probably make the “releases” page more prominent rather than having it buried in all the “code” stuff.
TRUE. the first time I used GitHub, the releases tab being all the way at the bottom in the mobile view confused me for a good while
On mobile, they hide the code by default. Though the releases are still hidden underneath the readme.
GitHub has bad UX for people who just wanna download and use the programs
not only the ux, some devs make it absurdly confusing to find a binary.
I don’t want to throw anyone under the bus, but there’s this one niche app.
their github releases at one point were YEARS out of date, they only linked to the current version in seemingly random issue reports’ comments. And the current versions were some daily build artefacts you could find in a navigation tree many clicks deep in some unrelated website. And you’d better be savvy enough to download a successfully built artefact too. And even then the downloaded .zip contained all kinds of fluff unnescessary for using the app.
The app worked fine, sure, but actually obtaining it was fairly tricky, tbh.
These build artefacts probably weren’t meant for end users, that’s why they contained the “unnecessary fluff”.
absolutely, but they were in general (IIRC) suggesting them for the main downloads, but just not telling anyone outside the comments, which was the weird part
That’s not really what it’s designed for though
It doesn’t have to be a compromise imo. Most people just need a visible download button on the front pages. Wouldn’t hurt devs at all. I mean, even devs sometimes struggle with this lol.
It doesn’t have to be a compromise
You keep using that word. I don’t think it means what you think it means.
Any change to appease you would be a compromise, you understand this, yes?
GitHub has bad UX for a lot of things
The Github UX is amazing if you ever had to use gitlab or bitbucket
Comparing bad to bad doesn’t make any of them better lol
I’ve gone nuts trying to download a single file from the git website on my first interactions with it (because somehow adding a download file button when you’re viewing a file on the site is just too much to handle)
It’s not black and white. I actually liked a few things better about bit buckets UI. It’s been too long to remember specifics though I think it was concerning PRs and diffs. I still think GitHubs review UI is too complicated. It took me literally years to fully understand it.
i really enjoy the lack of dark mode and the way it doesn’t work on a tablet
My bad. It indeed is black and white. There can be no redeeming aspect of bitbucket. Fair point
thank you! now was that so hard?
It does actually have a dark mode now! Still not great otherwise.
The worst part about Bitbucket is the horrible, godawful, practically useless search
I’m not so sure. I seem to be able to find my way around a GitLab project in much fewer moves than a GitHub project. But maybe I’m biased because I use it all the time at work. I know they change the sidebar a lot, though.
I’ve bounced off GitHub more than once trying to figure out how to download the .exe file that I assumed must be somewhere. Honestly I still don’t understand the interface and I’ve submitted bug reports for Jeroba on there. I might have even used GitHub for a project once? Every time I look at it it’s overwhelming and confusing and none of it is self-explanatory. But, that’s fairly true for a lot of stuff in programming.
If there is an exe, it’s under the releases link. On desktop it’s on the right sidebar below “About”. On mobile it’s at the bottom after the readme blurb.
It’s not obvious because the code is the main focus and GitHub would much rather people host their releases somewhere else.
That’s where it is? I’ve been sneaking my way in by clicking
tagsand then thereleasestoggle!And even if releases are hosted on github, there should ideally be a download links page somewhere that presents the different binaries or installation files in an easier to understand format, especially if the software is designed for non-developers.
I fixed it for them
What about up by the name of the repo? Your suggestion still looks almost reasonable, I like it!
Yeah actually that could work as well. Would be a really easy greasemonkey script
And then just push it to the main branch of GitHub, I’m sure they’ll accept it ;)
Excel has a bad UX for people who want to use it to make art
But if you want to put a some text and pictures in very specific locations and never worry about them suddenly jumping into random places, Excel is actually better than Word. That’s why people tend to use Excel for all sorts of weird purposes like that. Unlike with Word, things actually stay where you put them.
Yes and there are definitely people who use excel for art. Just like there are people who use GitHub for its releases page. It’s just not the primary use of either program.
I’ve seen some of the impressive pixel artworks people have made in Excel. However, I prefer to do Excel art by writing a bunch of wild functions and drawing a stacked line chart from the resulting data. The graph itself is the artwork, while the cells behind it are just a necessary part of the process.
Do most people who use Excel also make art with it? Because sometimes devs also just download exe files on GitHub :D
They don’t just always copy code from there.
Do MOST people who use GitHub download .exes? In my experience the VAST majority of people are using it for source and version control, not external releases. The overwhelming majority. FOSS and OSS is a small portion of the overall GitHub user base compared to, say, enterprise companies.
So you never downloaded a program on GitHub?
No one everever said you need to compromise its focus on developers. There is no compromise to be made. It’s just a stupid button. Stop arguing lol.
The github project page is for developers, and Github already gives you tons of ways to make a user website. Don’t ask your users to visit github.com/group/project, make them visit group.github.io/project, like any sane person.
Same with Gitlab, BTW.
And if you don’t like the full static site, use the wiki, or guide your users in the first paragraphs of the README so they find the user information if they must.
We’re talking about how to design one of the biggest platforms on the internet. Of course there is a compromise. No one is advocating for removing the button, but arguing that the UI is somehow deficient for people wanting to download binaries is really missing the purpose of GitHub.
It’s an additional feature of GitHub that literally everyone uses. Therefore it has purpose. I think it’s ridiculous to argue against it.
Explain to me how developers or the UI would suffer from easier access to releases?
you never downloaded a program on GitHub
Precompiled binaries?!? Not even once. It’s a security risk akin to picking up gum on the sidewalk for a fun tasty treat.
Cool, I’m not surprised as we are on Lemmy. Welcome to the 1%.
So when you just needed software to run on your machinr, you built it yourself. But first read every single line of code to ensure that it’s safe. Did I get that right?
Because if you don’t trust the developer to provide safe binaries then you wouldn’t trust the same developer to provide safe code either.
No, you shouldn’t really be downloading exe’s from github. It is widely being used to spread malware and to pretend that the software is open source when it is not. At least look for a link to the store page(including microsoft store), a distro-specific package or build instructions. Those usually have an AV scan or at least harder to fake.
Yeah a dude I know got hacked by downloading some random github program, the hacker even started taunting him via discord lol.
But I downloaded plenty of shit from github, like prusaslicer, my 3d printer’s firmware and plugins for octoprint. Always stuff that is verified via another page though. Almost never stuff that comes up during a random search, and if I do, I look it up first to see if it’s safe.
GitHub, Inc. (/ˈɡɪthʌb/[a]) is a developer platform that allows developers to create, store, manage and share their code
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GitHub
Yes it has other functions too, but it’s primarily for code.
I swear they move the link to release page every few months.
They purposely hide it, because they don’t wanna tend to normies
I’d agree, but the caveat is that github is primarily about an interface for source control and collaboration between developers for projects. The release page is really just an also-ran in terms of importance.
Imo they aren’t even trying, because it’s not that hard to make it better. Doesn’t even have to be a compromise. Most people just need a visible download button for the programs, that’s all.
There is, it’s literally right there on the home page of the project. You can either copy a URL and download it by cloning the git repo, or you can download the whole project as a zip file. Then you just have to compile it!
GitHub is for developers, not end users.
That’s not a download button for the program. But there is indeed a link to the release page right on the home page of the project, so you’re still correct.
It’s not a compromise to make another download button for the last release as well. No one looses.
Imagine how many download buttons would be if Github had ads.
SourceForge had a better UX for those who just want to download software.
And SF is horrible, so this says a lot.
If that’s a concern for the project maintainers, they should create a homepage for the project with download links.
Or make a shortcut/link in the readme to the newest release of the most popular OS’s.
A decent release page tends to contain all kinds of files for different OS, so ‘regular’ people who just want the .deb or .exe would likely become confused regardless.
I mean, if you don’t even know what OS you’re on…
Next you’re going to tell me cars need boosters so babies can reach the pedals… At a certain point, it becomes irresponsible to enable ignorance.
This is really bad on mobile too. I usually flip to desktop mode to get to releases page quickly.
I’ve been using github for what, 10 years now? And I had no idea there even was a releases page.
If you use it as a developer you don’t care about the releases page. You want to see the code and for latest version you just need the git tags. But I’ve also used it for stuff I just needed to run on my machine as an end-user. And for those you turn to the Releases page. That’s where pre-built binaries go.
But it also depends on the target audience. Some projects, even if meant more as software to run than code to import, still target mainly developers or tech users in general and will not have more than just instructions on how to build them. Others, say a Minecraft launcher, or some console emulator, will target a wider audience and provide a good Releases page with binaries for multiple platforms.
A lot of projects don’t use it or forget to update it for multiple versions so you probably aren’t missing much.
Honestly, releases and the readme could be the first page on their own, you can push the code to another tab as long as the clone button is there. There’s at most a 5% chance I’m just gonna raw dog the code straight from the browser anyways.
Worst part is that this used to be a separate tab in the repo navigation. I still cannot conceive of a reason why they would move it from there to some random heading in the middle of the screen, except maybe so they can sell more GitHub trainings.
I think you’re on to something haha
I agree. Whenever I link someone I try to make sure to link directly to the release page.
After downloading code from GitHub for years I can still take over a minute finding the file I want to download at times. Now that’s not long, but it’s why I’m there 90% of the time.
If there isnt a link in the readme.md I could be lost for days.
He eventually found the executable by Googling for it online and is now part of a botnet.
Then created a GitHub account to post three separate issues complaining about how the project’s executable is an obvious Trojan, patting themself on the back for keeping the community safe with their expert sleuthing.
about how the project’s executable is an obvious Trojan
Which I bet was only obvious to him when Norton Antivirus told him
This reads like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycLpMlC3O4o (5 second film)
Happy ending then I take it
Sherlock is command line only too…
Follow up post.
“I don’t want to write a fucking essay nerds! Just make a GUI and put it in an .EXE!!!1111111111 spittle sp[pzpzzzzzzzqawjpoidqweiofrjowqefj”
If they pay me more, I’ll make them one in Visual Basic and trace an IP address.
Also, it’s literally a script for stalking people on social media. So it’s pretty clear why they want this script so bad.
Oh absolutely, anyone in a red team position is more than capable of running a few command lines. The guy is without a doubt trying to stalk someone
Why would you even need a script for that? Like, what functionality is it actually providing that can’t be done through the app / web UI
It’s only a script. The software is command line. There is no native or web UI. The script isn’t some additional interface, the script is the software
I meant the app / web UI for whichever social media lol
Like, if you wanna stalk someone on Instagram, what can you get out of a script that you can’t get by just opening their page the normal way
Oh the idea is that it hunts down users across different social media accounts with limited information. Just a way to automate something someone could do themselves.
As you can see here though, it checks a lot of sites
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sherlock-project/sherlock/master/sherlock/resources/data.json
It’s a command line tool. If you don’t know how to install it despite having the instructions, you don’t know how to use it too.
removed by mod
Why are you assuming they’re a zoomer?
I fucking hate douches that rag on younger generations for stupid petty shit like Boomers did.
removed by mod
Fuck off ya racist piece of shit.
removed by mod
Go neck yaself mate, “ugh I censored my racism so its no longer racist” fucking shit for brains.
removed by mod
Kindergarten level trolling detected
deleted by creator
Ragging on older generations though, comedy gold.
Reddit gold ⁉️⁉️😨😨😨🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰
The stuff they get ragged on for is earnt at least.
removed by mod
I wish, my body wouldn’t hurt as bad as it does for another 10 years.
I’m a millennial who refuses to do the same shit that was done to them.
Or you could say millennials are killing the moaning about younger generations industry.
deleted by creator
Expecting people who grew up after the Internet was mainstream to all be developers is like expecting everyone who grew up in the 60s and 70s to be a mechanic
You can usually find step by step instructions for fixing most cars. My library has a subscription to Chilton online, so I can use it from home and look at repair procedures and wiring diagrams. Just use forums and YouTube to fill in the gaps. I’ve even diagnosed a car from Amazon reviews since I suspected a certain part was bad and looked at reviews that said the exact symptoms.
Sure, a lot of people can do that. A lot of people absolutely can’t, too. A lot of people can look up and solve computer issues too, and a lot of people can’t. It’s not a generational thing or specific to computers.
Car enthusiasts are much more welcoming and helpful than computer experts. Just look at stack exchange.
All this really means is they grew up navigating digital spaces socially. I’ve discovered first hand that the generation at large has little-to-no knowledge of the technical workings of even the computers they use regularly, imo due to the “apple-fication” (one button? Really?) of digital devices. Most exclusively use their cell phone as their digital device, or a chromebook provided by their school, all of which have been streamlined to the extreme to “enhance” the user experience, but have in actuality given them absolutely zero-experience learning how to troubleshoot or incentive to dig into how their devices operate. I’ve had to walk teens through how to navigate the file directories on their laptops.
In the past, the only people to be “techies” (ie people seeking out spaces like the Internet) were ones willing and able to deal with hurdles and issues, and the window is apparently quiet narrow for people who grew up with tech (to an extent) and also had to learn how to handle issues like that. The majority of others are either those described above, or those that never saw tech as important or worth it (though we’re also seeing the consequences of those people finding their way onto the “one-button” internet in meme/conspiracy addicted boomers).
Agreed, Big Tech’s quest for UX and frictionless Interfaces has lead to a generation of people who vastly overestimate their tech savviness and are basically only great at navigating walled gardens made specifically to be easy to use.
It’s not really their fault though: in addition to frontends becoming ever easier to use, backends are also becoming increasingly complex. 20 years ago you could learn a bit of HTML and CSS and throw a decent website together, but nowadays you need to master tons of other skills (graphical design, scripting, etc.) to make even so much as a web page that won’t scare people away immediately. It’s hard to get interested in this stuff when the barrier of entry is getting higher and higher, while tons of GAFAM-made alternative are already available for “free”
It’s not really their fault though
Definitely not, and to clarify, I am laying any blame there is to be doled out at the feet of companies.
I do wonder if it’s reversible at this point, though. I don’t see any company choosing to reverse course, at least not in a way that would cause a large-scale shift. Incapable users are the best they could hope for - uninterested in seeking out anything other than what they are handed and, if they ever did decide to look around, unable to adapt to “harsher” alternatives. Legislation certainly isn’t going to be expected. No government is going to mandate citizens have a “worse” experience. Perhaps a purposeful cultural shift, but that would take a lot of coordination of people that likely don’t see the issue or simply don’t care. I feel like we’re past the watershed here, as frustrating and concerning as that is.
Seriously. It’s infuriating. Everything is so damn dumbed down now it’s ridiculous! People are incapable of doing so much as reading error messages and doing basic troubleshooting, sometimes I wonder where society went wrong. They’re completely helpless with the technology that makes up more and more of our lives, and I hate to see it.
20 years ago you could learn a bit of HTML and CSS and throw a decent website together, but nowadays you need to master tons of other skills (graphical design, scripting, etc.) to make even so much as a web page that won’t scare people away immediately
Looking at it this way is what stops people from trying though :(
As a zoomer myself I can confirm
That’s the generation that doesn’t understand computers at all. FFS.
Theres a sweet spot before like 2010 where computer skills are still prevalent enough to be taught en masse, but the upcoming generation seem to be learning touchscreen keyboards and app stores long before they ever use a mouse or try to download off a website. The older generation has had time to adjust but a lot still struggle with tech.
Apparently UK universities need to teach how directories work to first year Computer Science students. They’ve grown up with polished, closed devices and many only know apps and the basics of using the internet.
Like every generation?
Only a small minority of any actually understand computers.
Why do they feel so entitled for everything?
because they aren’t a smelly nerd ig
I have to say that I absolutely love the title this man chose to share his anger.
Git gud.
git: 'gud.' is not a git command. See 'git --help'.Does “got clone *” work or anything that would?
I thought this was going to be a version of the penguin of doom copypasta.
Can someone explain to me why github apparently has bad UX/UI? I always thought the UI has gotten really good over the years.
[Edit] Like there this huge argument in these comments about the release button being all wrong. ??? No clue what people have against it. I thought it was fine? You can use it or not. People link to it if they want it more prominent. Someone explain?
[Edit 2] Also what’s up with the people who are vehemently against uploading bins to GitHub releases. This is literally what github is doing on their own repos. Not trying to say that anyone should feel obligated to release bins (CI/CD is a literal job title). People are releasing software for free because they want to. Let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth.
Idk I’m gonna stop reading this thread. its driving me crazy.
Around last year or the year before that they changed the placement of that button, never really given much thought about it tbf. Just a minor annoyance.
But yeah it was like in the same top row as the code/issues/pull-requests/wiki pages. Now you can only access it from the code page inside a lateral panel. Before that you could just jump to the releases from the wiki page, as an example.
Let’s not look a
giftGit horse in the mouth.FTFY
I find that when you know how to use Github, Github is pretty easy and close to perfect for what it is, a code repository.
I think that most people who stumble across a Github link through a Google search, probably like in the original post, want to treat it like an app store. The read.me is the description, so they can tell it kind of does what they need, but they’re missing a big, green download and install button.
