GitHub Shares Plan For “Arctic Code Vault” to Preserve Open Source Software For 1,000 Years

From Venture Beat:

GitHub today shared plans to open the Arctic Code Vault, an effort to store and preserve open source software like Flutter and TensorFlow. Code for all open source projects will be stored here on film with frames that include 8.8 million pixels each, designed to last 1,000 years.

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The GitHub Arctic Code Vault is a part of the GitHub Archive Program, a collaboration between Microsoft’s GitHub and groups like the Internet Archive, which hosts repository snapshots in its Wayback Machine; The Long Now Foundation; and Microsoft Research’s Project Silica.

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From the GitHub Archive Program Website:

On February 2, 2020, GitHub will capture a snapshot of every active public repository, to be preserved in the GitHub Arctic Code Vault. This data will be stored on 3,500-foot film reels, provided and encoded by Piql, a Norwegian company that specializes in very-long-term data storage. The film technology relies on silver halides on polyester. This medium has a lifespan of 500 years as measured by the ISO; simulated aging tests indicate Piql’s film will last twice as long.

Direct to 2019 Octoverse Report (Mentioned in Article)

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