34

Github has this download link on the repositories. How can I add binary distributions to this list?

I cannot find any info on help.github, so a link to some documentation would be helpful.

pjs
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simendsjo
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5 Answers5

33

On Dec 11, 2012 "Upload Releases" functionality aka "Downloads" was deprecated.

https://github.com/blog/1302-goodbye-uploads

Update: On July 2, 2013 GitHub team announced a new "Releases" feature as a replacement for "Downloads"

https://github.com/blog/1547-release-your-software

Konstantin Tarkus
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11

There is a new kid in town: https://bintray.com/

* I am not affiliated

fragmentedreality
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  • 500mb limit per account, 30mb per file :( – Leo Gallucci Nov 23 '13 at 00:48
  • [sourceforge.net](http://sourceforge.net) is better, 5gb limit per file, unclear account limit so assume unlimited! I'm already using it and works great, if a user downloads some file from a browser it will show some adds but if using wget or curl it will download the file directly! – Leo Gallucci Nov 24 '13 at 14:18
  • A new alternative to Sourceforge is fosshub.com. Check them out. – daviewales Jun 18 '15 at 15:50
5

How to add files to the release

Simply follow the "releases" link within your github project.

Given this example:

  • user: thoughtbot
  • repo: neat

Final link would be: https://github.com/thoughtbot/neat/releases

Then click "Add new release" or "Edit release" to get into the upload page and at the bottom of that page you will see a legend:

Attach binaries for this release by dropping them here.

Some notes regarding size limits:

Github release feature is awesome! Just consider it is designed to host files under 50mb without a warning and a hard-limit of 100mb. Also, please no more than 1GB per account!

For large binary files they recommend using a third-party service like Dropbox but if you are open source or on a tight budget i recommend you use sourceforge.net.

Sourceforge is for open source, is free, and holds large files (up to 5GB per file) without regret. I managed to share an entire VirtualBox image of 1.1gb!! The amount of files you can upload is not clearly limited so assume unlimited

Bintray is nice but possess a 30mb limit per file and 500mb per account so you may stick with github if your files are under those limits.

Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated nor do i work for any of the mentioned companies.

Leo Gallucci
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    Using the github releases feature, you can add files up to 2GB per file: https://help.github.com/articles/distributing-large-binaries/ – Torben Knerr Jun 12 '16 at 12:51
  • Where do the binaries in GitHub releases go? It isn't obvious in the "neat" example that these even exist. Are they embedded in the project source (makes sense for dependent libraries, arguably)? Are they lumped in a separate zip file? More than one? Is the way to get structure to zip a directory tree. The referenced GitHub docs don't cover this ... are they elsewhere? – Eli S Feb 08 '18 at 18:29
3

The download link is first meant for git archive.
As Holger Just point out in his answer (upvoted), you can add "a new download".

See the blog post "Nodeload2: Downloads Reloaded" for considering all the troubles they have with providing that one service:

Nodeload is what prepares git repository contents into zip and tarballs.
Essentially, we have too many requests flowing through the single nodeload server. These requests were spawning git archive processes, which spawn ssh processes to communicate with the file servers.

Nodeload2

Community
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VonC
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  • I thought it was a github feature, not git. Thanks.That link wasn't very useful though. – simendsjo Aug 08 '11 at 07:34
  • Not sure I follow.. You're saying the feature shouldn't be used because of the strain on github? I'm not talking about huge files, just the regular repository with a couple of precompiled library files to simplify user setup and remove the external dependencies needed when compiling from scratch. – simendsjo Aug 08 '11 at 07:48
  • @simendjo: Regarding `git archive`, that feature was causing a strain on GitHub. But for other binaries that you would upload, I don't think there is any issue, especially with the new Nodeload2 architecture. – VonC Aug 08 '11 at 08:20
2

You can create releases and attach binary downloads to each release. This replaced a similar feature called the downloads page that was removed in late 2012.

Don Kirkby
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