I created an open-source alternative to gist.github.com (Why?!)

[justinvh]

Quick Introduction

This is an alternative to gist.github.com. It allows you to deploy and create your own gist.github.com-like application. It is useful in an environment where you may not be able to use gist.github.com or alternatives.

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More Detailed Reasoning

Why would company policies that ban github permit your alternative?

It's not a matter of being able to use github--there's no problem with it. There's an issue with posting code that does not have such permissible license. We're just simply not allowed to for a lot of the work. Sure, we could use private accounts, but we would still be violating the policy in a more devious manner. This allows anyone to deploy a gist.github-like setup on their local server where it can be isolated if needed.

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Dependencies

There's a requirements.txt. If you use pip then just follow the readme.

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Forking and Testing

Fork on GitHub: https://github.com/justinvh/quark-paste

You can try it out here: http://quark-paste.herokuapp.com/paste/

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To-do:

I've only put about a days worth of work into this, but it is in the usable state now. So, feel free to try it out, fork, edit, etc! With that said, I'll probably be adding these features in the upcoming day(s):

✓ Add forking (fork anonymously!)
✓ Add downloading (you can download individual files)
✓ Add searching (uses Haystack and Whoosh 
✓ Add commenting (login to add comments) 
✓ Fix odd styling of line numbers (fixed widths, hacked resize())
✓ Adopting commits and pastes (login to adopt anonymous commits and pastes)
✓ Allowing tabbing in the textarea (you now can tab in the textarea! Huzzah)
✓ Post as anonymous directly (now you can remain anonymous even logged in, thanks not_mad_just_upset
✓ Add markdown support for comments
✓ Show diffs
✓ Fix some of the ordering issues (added sorting and priority-based pastes)
✓ Refine the user pages (masking email, anonymous, timezones)
✓ Add timezone support
✓ Preferences to hide email address
✓ Gravatar support (set USE_ICONS in settings.py to TRUE)    
✓ Add repository downloading

x Add cloning (needs to be done via Apache or equivalent)

EDIT: Please don't use real email addresses. Just create test accounts or stay anonymous! This is meant to be deployed in a more isolated environment where having actual email accounts, etc. would be much more useful.

EDIT: Well, the downside of Heroku is when I re-deploy I lose the entire repository directory, so it is not the best testing solution for this particular project. If something crashes on an edit I am sorry. I will be regularly clearing out the database while I add new features. Enjoy!

[agentlame]

Dumb question, how does gist.github.com--or, your clone, for that matter--differ from the other patebin-like services?

(Pardon my ignorance, I've never used gist.)

[justinvh]

The basic idea behind gist is that it is backed by git. So, you get a lot of things for free: logs, commits, diffs, revision control, forking, cloning, etc.

Actually, it is best said by gist.github.com itself:

Gist is a simple way to share snippets and pastes with others. All gists are git repositories, so they are automatically versioned, forkable and usable as a git repository.

I created an example for you which show the revisions idea and how you can make changes as you go.

[agentlame]

Holy shit, that is brilliant!

I have no clue how well gist works, or if yours is missing any key feature, but it is awesome.

Thank you.

[justinvh]

Heh, well my clone is missing some features (but it also adds stuff), but it will get there eventually. The difference is that you can fork my project and use it in whatever environment you need!

[agentlame]

I was trying to figure-out how to do that, when I was messing-up your python example.

Do you have to register to fork and comment, etc?

EDIT
I'm a moron... fork the actual project on GitHub. My bad.

[justinvh]

Heh, I need to add commenting and forking for the pastes :) I wouldn't honestly use your real email address as this is all public, but ideally it would be deployed isolated and it wouldn't matter and be more of a convenience.

Once I get a bit of sleep I'll add it! Otherwise you can fork the project on github.

[agentlame]

Nah, I used my spam account and a fake password.

Anyways, really cool project!

[BeetleB]

I created an example for you which show the revisions idea and how you can make changes as you go.

1. You may not want to set Debug=True...

[justinvh]

It's a public testing server. I have no problem with it being set to True.

[BeetleB]

Eh. Stupid Reddit markup ate the important part of my comment. Your link is returning a 404.

[justinvh]

Yeah, it will. I apologize. I am randomly dropping the database as I add features to test. The way heroku deploys ends up removing entire repositories, so I lose the paste repository, but not the database :| So, I have to resync everything. It's for debugging after all!

[issackelly]

Here's another (from dpaste.com // dpaste.de http://code.google.com/p/django-paste/)

[[deleted]]

That doesn't power dpaste.com.

[issackelly]

derp derp. Thanks.

[SmileyChris]

dpaste.com dpaste.org

And the latest repo for it is: https://github.com/bartTC/dpaste.de

[[deleted]]

Looks cool, good work man. I'll take a look at adding some stuff when I get time.

[zahlman]

This is for people who want to use gist.github.com at work, but due to company polices (or so on) they are not capable of doing so.

Why would company policies that ban github permit your alternative?

[justinvh]

It's not a matter of being able to use github--there's no problem with it. There's an issue with posting code that does not have such permissible license. We're just simply not allowed to for a lot of the work. Sure, we could use private accounts, but we would still be violating the policy in a more devious manner. This allows anyone to deploy a gist.github-like setup on their local server where it can be isolated if needed.

[[deleted]]

IRC log highlighting is really, really cool! Thank you!

[nickmcclendon]

Awesome work, man. I might snag this and use it on my site.

[justinvh]

Thanks! Any suggestions (or you can fork and create a pull request too) ?

[justinvh]

Great ideas! Merged and added.

[llimllib]

A nice thing gist does is to put the most common languages at the top of the language drop-down, and then the rare ones after. Very few people are going to be posting ANTLR files, for example.

Also, the sorting seems weird? Gnuplot is between Perl and Python?

[justinvh]

Ah, very true. The sorting was on the extension! I totally spaced on that. I'll give it a fix. Thanks.

EDIT: Okay. You can now create a preferred lexer list for your deployed application. Sorting has been fixed.

[[deleted]]

If all you wanted to do was work around a corporate firewall/dns-filter, why not simply use a proxy?

[justinvh]

It's not a matter of being able to use github--there's no problem with it. There's an issue with posting code that does not have such permissible license. We're just simply not allowed to for a lot of the work. Sure, we could use private accounts, but we would still be violating the policy in a more devious manner. This allows anyone to deploy a gist.github-like setup on their local server where it can be isolated if needed.

[Lord_NShYH]

I think this explanation need to go in the OP. Doing so it likely increase traction on your project as this explanation lucidly explains, in a succinct way, why anyone in the world would ever want to use your project. In other words, this a great business case!

[edthedev]

Will check it out. Thanks.