Gentoo Linux Abandons GitHub Over Copilot Pushback

Gentoo Linux has initiated a significant migration away from GitHub, establishing a presence on Codeberg as it fulfills its pledge to abandon the Microsoft-owned platform. The move comes after what Gentoo describes as "continuous attempts to force Copilot usage for our repositories," marking a notable defection in the open-source community's relationship with major tech platforms.

The migration process began on February 16, when Gentoo announced its new Codeberg presence where contributors can now submit pull requests. The organization stated that "eventually also other git repositories will become available under the Codeberg Gentoo organization," signaling a comprehensive shift away from GitHub's ecosystem.

This decision reflects growing frustration within the open-source community about the increasing difficulty of avoiding Copilot on GitHub. The platform's AI coding assistant has become nearly inescapable, with GitHub recently adding settings to disable pull requests entirely in response to the "increasing volume of low-quality contributions that is creating significant operational challenges for maintainers."

Open source advocate Jeff Geerling recently highlighted the broader issue in a blog post, noting that "AI slop generation is getting easier, but it's not getting smarter. From what I've seen, models have hit a plateau where code generation is pretty good... But it's not improving like it did the past few years."

Gentoo's stance against AI-assisted development predates this migration. In 2024, the organization implemented a strict policy forbidding contributions created with Natural Language Processing artificial intelligence tools, citing copyright, quality, and ethical concerns. This ban explicitly prohibited Copilot assistance or reviews, positioning Gentoo as one of the more stringent opponents of AI-generated code in the Linux distribution ecosystem.

The Codeberg platform represents a stark contrast to GitHub's corporate model. Based on Forgejo and maintained by a non-profit organization in Berlin, Germany, Codeberg offers a community-driven alternative that aligns with Gentoo's values. The platform's non-profit status and European location provide additional appeal for organizations concerned about data privacy and corporate influence.

Gentoo emphasized that it continues to host its own primary git, bugs, and other infrastructure, maintaining its commitment to self-reliance. However, the migration of mirror repositories from GitHub represents a significant symbolic and practical shift in how the distribution manages its public-facing development presence.

The move also touches on broader concerns about the ethics of training coding assistants using repository content. Many open-source contributors have expressed discomfort with their code being used to train commercial AI systems without explicit consent or compensation, viewing it as a form of uncompensated labor benefiting large corporations.

GitHub has not yet responded to requests for comment on Gentoo's departure. The platform, acquired by Microsoft in 2018 for $7.5 billion, has been aggressively pushing its AI capabilities as part of its growth strategy, making Gentoo's rejection particularly noteworthy.

This migration could signal a broader trend as more open-source projects reconsider their relationship with platforms that prioritize AI integration over community autonomy. For Gentoo, the move represents both a practical solution to operational challenges and a principled stand against what it perceives as the commodification of open-source development.