November 30, 2025
No JS, No Peace
Migrating Dillo from GitHub
GitHub breakup: Dillo flees bloat while commenters pick sides and throw shade
TLDR: Dillo’s maintainer is leaving GitHub for a self-hosted setup with mirrors, saying the site’s JavaScript-heavy pages shut out Dillo and risk a single point of failure. Comments split between cheering lighter tools like Forgejo and predicting a messy ‘diaspora’ before one alternative wins.
Dillo, the tiny web browser with a cult following, just told GitHub “it’s not me, it’s your JavaScript.” The maintainer says the site is now so heavy and locked behind scripts that Dillo can’t even open issues or read build logs, and the community came in hot. Superkuh blasted: “They just don’t care anymore,” calling out accessibility. Ksec roasted the big rewrite to fancy frameworks like React, accusing it of scaring off users. Meanwhile, xrd turned the breakup into a shopping guide, raving that Forgejo is “fantastic” and far lighter than self-hosted GitLab.
The move isn’t just about speed. Fans cheered the plan to self-host with mirrors to avoid a single company flipping a switch. Others nodded at the maintainer’s “pull, not push” vibe—checking updates when they want, working offline, and dodging endless notifications. The__alchemist brought the drama: we’re in a “diaspora phase,” and within months one forge will dominate. Place your bets: Codeberg? Forgejo? A surprise launch with big marketing?
There were memes, too: “No JS, no service,” “choose your fighter” charts of GitHub vs GitLab vs Forgejo, and breakup jokes (“who gets the repos?”). The mood: fed up with bloat, hungry for simplicity, and ready to move. Now.
Key Points
- •Dillo will migrate from GitHub to a self-hosted server with multiple mirrors to improve compatibility and redundancy.
- •The original Dillo domain (dillo.org) was lost in 2022; materials were partially recovered from a mercurial repository and the old server.
- •GitHub’s frontend now requires JavaScript and is resource-heavy, preventing effective use within the Dillo browser.
- •Concerns include GitHub as a single point of control, platform slowness, internet dependency, and a push-notification model misaligned with the project’s workflow.
- •Social moderation challenges and broader AI-driven trends (JS walls, fingerprinting) further motivate leaving GitHub.