157

Github confirms random 401 responses on unauthenticated git clones are no mistake (eviltoast.org)

submitted 6 days ago by orhtej2@eviltoast.org to c/programming@programming.dev

76 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Since yesterday a lot of users in Europe found their workflows failing due to Github seemingly randomly throwing HTTP/401 on git clone/git pull when interacting with public repos without authentication.

It was now confirmed by staff member that this indeed is intentional and no further steps are planned at this point.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 5 points 5 days ago

BUT currently there is no good way to throttle AI bots that literally trash web.

Sure is. There are plenty of protocols resilient to DDOS.

[-] Kissaki@programming.dev 4 points 5 days ago

DDOS is most effective on expensive endpoints. A git clone isn't exactly cheap. Fetching is especially expensive if you vary the revisions you fetch.

Does GitHub have an alternative here? A Git-compatible protocol with anonymous access that is DDoS-resilient?

this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2026

157 points (99.4% liked)

Programming

28405 readers

473 users here now

Welcome to the main community in programming.dev! Feel free to post anything relating to programming here!

Cross posting is strongly encouraged in the instance. If you feel your post or another person's post makes sense in another community cross post into it.

Hope you enjoy the instance!

Rules

Follow the programming.dev instance rules
Keep content related to programming in some way
If you're posting long videos try to add in some form of tldr for those who don't want to watch videos

Wormhole

Follow the wormhole through a path of communities !webdev@programming.dev

founded 3 years ago

MODERATORS

snowe@programming.dev

Ategon@programming.dev

UlrikHD@programming.dev

bugsmith@programming.dev

Spyro@programming.dev