A curated list of awesome git repositories hosted outside GitHub — including self-hosted platforms, alternative forges, and notable projects whose primary source of truth and development is not on GitHub.
- Git Hosting Platforms
- Operating Systems & Kernels
- Core System & Toolchains
- Core Frameworks & Libraries
- Programming Languages
- Desktop Environments & Display Servers
- Web & Networking
- Applications & Multimedia
- Databases
- Games
- Emulation & Virtualization
- Ecosystems & Companion Tools
- Niche Linux Dotfiles Stacks
Platforms you can run yourself.
| Platform | Repo | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Gitea | go-gitea/gitea | Lightweight self-hosted Git service written in Go |
| Forgejo | forgejo/forgejo | Community-driven fork of Gitea |
| GitLab CE | gitlabhq/gitlabhq | Open-source GitLab Community Edition |
| Gogs | gogs/gogs | Painless self-hosted Git service in Go |
Publicly accessible git hosting services.
| Platform | URL | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| GitLab | gitlab.com | DevOps platform, big open-source community |
| Codeberg | codeberg.org | Non-profit, community-driven, runs Forgejo |
| Gitee | gitee.com | China-based, popular in Chinese dev community |
| Bitbucket | bitbucket.org | Atlassian's offering, free private repos |
| sr.ht | sr.ht | Minimalist hosting, pays contributors |
- Linux Kernel — The Linux kernel source tree. Uses its own cgit infrastructure.
- Android (AOSP) — Android Open Source Project. Hosted on Google's Gitiles.
- FreeBSD — FreeBSD operating system source tree.
- OpenBSD — OpenBSD operating system source tree.
- NetBSD — NetBSD source tree.
- Fuchsia — Google's capability-based operating system.
- Haiku — Open-source OS targeting personal computing, inspired by BeOS.
- Alpine Linux — Security-oriented, lightweight Linux distribution based on musl libc and busybox.
- Gentoo — The official Gentoo package repository.
- Yocto Project (Poky) — A reference embedded distribution for the Yocto Project.
- Buildroot — A simple, efficient and easy-to-use tool to generate embedded Linux systems.
- OpenWrt — A Linux operating system targeting embedded devices.
- 9front — A fork of the Plan 9 operating system.
- Trisquel — A fully free operating system endorsed by the Free Software Foundation.
- GNU Hurd — The GNU project's replacement for the Unix kernel.
- MINIX 3 — A free, highly reliable microkernel OS created by Andrew S. Tanenbaum.
- postmarketOS — A Linux distribution for phones and other mobile devices.
- Ubuntu Touch — A mobile version of the Ubuntu operating system.
- Git — The source code of the Git version control system itself.
- GCC (GNU Compiler Collection) — The GNU Compiler Collection.
- Glibc (GNU C Library) — The GNU C Library, used in most Linux systems.
- Musl libc — Lightweight, fast, simple C library.
- GNU Coreutils — The basic file, shell and text manipulation utilities of the GNU operating system.
- GNU Bash — The GNU Bourne-Again SHell.
- GnuPG — The GNU Privacy Guard, a free implementation of the OpenPGP standard.
- Samba — Standard Windows interoperability suite of programs for Linux and Unix.
- BusyBox — The Swiss Army Knife of Embedded Linux.
- GNU Binutils & GDB — The GNU Binary Utilities and the GNU Project Debugger.
- GNU Guix — Transactional package manager and advanced distribution of the GNU system.
- pacman — A library-based package manager with dependency support used by Arch Linux.
- Libreboot — Free system boot replacement (coreboot distribution).
- s6 — A small suite of programs for UNIX, designed to allow process supervision.
- Zsh — A shell designed for interactive use, although it is also a powerful scripting language.
- GRUB — The GRand Unified Bootloader, default for most Linux distributions.
- Coreboot — An extended firmware platform aiming to replace proprietary BIOS/UEFI.
- Woodpecker CI — A simple, extensible continuous integration engine.
- Cygwin & Newlib — A large collection of GNU and Open Source tools providing functionality similar to a Linux distribution on Windows.
- Valgrind — An instrumentation framework for building dynamic analysis tools (memory debugging, profiling).
- Qt — The legendary cross-platform application framework and widget toolkit.
- Cairo — A 2D graphics library with support for multiple output devices.
- FreeType — A freely available software library to render fonts.
- EFL (Enlightenment Foundation Libraries) — A collection of libraries handling drawing, event loops, and UI widgets.
- CMake — The de facto standard build system generator for C and C++.
- Go — The Go programming language. Hosted on Google's Gitiles.
- Ruby — Official Ruby language source tree.
- GHC (Glasgow Haskell Compiler) — The main compiler for the Haskell programming language.
- V8 — Google's open source high-performance JavaScript and WebAssembly engine.
- Free Pascal — A 32, 64, and 16-bit professional Pascal compiler.
- Hare — A systems programming language designed to be simple, stable, and robust.
- Vala — An object-oriented language that compiles to C and is deeply integrated with GObject.
- GNU Guile — The preferred extension language for the GNU system (Scheme implementation).
- Tcl/Tk — A powerful dynamic programming language and GUI toolkit (hosted via Fossil).
- Wayland — The Wayland display server protocol.
- XServer — The X.Org X11 display server.
- Mesa — Open-source OpenGL, Vulkan, and other graphics API implementations.
- GNOME (GTK) — The GTK toolkit and core GNOME libraries.
- KDE Plasma — The KDE Plasma desktop environment.
- Sway (wlroots) — Modular Wayland compositor library used by Sway.
- River — A dynamic tiling Wayland compositor.
- Xfce — A lightweight desktop environment for UNIX-like operating systems.
- dwm — A dynamic window manager for X.
- st — A simple terminal implementation for X.
- Enlightenment — A window manager and desktop environment known for its eye-candy and performance.
- Chromium — The open-source browser project behind Google Chrome, Edge, Brave, etc.
- Tor Browser — The Tor Browser source code.
- OpenSSH — The premier connectivity tool for remote login with the SSH protocol.
- WireGuard — Fast, modern, secure VPN tunnel.
- Wireshark — The world's most popular network protocol analyzer.
- Tor — The core Tor network daemon.
- HAProxy — Reliable, high performance TCP/HTTP load balancer.
- MediaWiki — The free software wiki engine used by Wikipedia.
- Drupal — Open source content management system.
- PeerTube — A free, decentralized and federated video platform.
- Mobilizon — A federated tool to find, create and organize events.
- Pleroma — A lightweight fediverse server.
- cgit — A hyperfast web frontend for git repositories written in C.
- NetSurf — A small, fast web browser.
- Ikiwiki — A wiki compiler.
- GNU IceCat — The GNU version of the Firefox browser, with emphasis on privacy and free software.
- Lighttpd — A secure, fast, compliant, and very flexible web-server.
- BIND 9 — The most widely used Domain Name System (DNS) software on the Internet.
- Exim — A widely used message transfer agent (MTA) developed at the University of Cambridge.
- Jami — A free and universal communication platform preserving user privacy (GNU project).
- Gajim — A fully-featured XMPP client written in Python and GTK.
- GnuTLS — A secure communications library implementing the SSL, TLS and DTLS protocols.
- GNU Wget — The classic, non-interactive network downloader.
- GNU Emacs — The extensible, customizable, self-documenting real-time display editor.
- LibreOffice — The free office productivity suite.
- Blender — 3D creation suite. Hosted on their own Gitea instance.
- GIMP — GNU Image Manipulation Program.
- Krita — Professional free and open source painting program.
- Inkscape — Professional vector graphics editor.
- KiCad — Cross Platform and Open Source Electronics Design Automation Suite.
- VLC Media Player — Highly portable multimedia player.
- FFmpeg — Complete, cross-platform solution to record, convert and stream audio and video.
- GStreamer — A powerful, versatile, and extensible multimedia framework.
- PipeWire — Server and user space API to deal with multimedia pipelines.
- PulseAudio — A featureful, general-purpose sound server for POSIX OSes.
- Ardour — The digital audio workstation.
- Pass — The standard unix password manager.
- F-Droid — The free and open source Android app repository client.
- aerc — A highly efficient email client for your terminal.
- catgirl — A TLS-only terminal IRC client.
- GNU Screen — A full-screen window manager that multiplexes a physical terminal.
- GNU Nano — A small and friendly text editor.
- Mutt — A small but very powerful text-based mail client.
- Kdenlive — An open source video editor based on the MLT Framework and KDE Frameworks.
- PostgreSQL — The world's most advanced open source relational database.
- SQLite — The most deployed database engine in the world. (Note: Primarily hosted using Fossil).
- Veloren — A multiplayer voxel RPG written in Rust.
- Xonotic — An addictive arena shooter with crisp movement and a wide array of weapons.
- 0 A.D. — A free, open-source, historical Real Time Strategy (RTS) game and engine.
- OpenMW — An open-source game engine reimplementation of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.
- QEMU — A generic and open source machine emulator and virtualizer.
- Wine — A compatibility layer capable of running Windows applications on Linux and other POSIX-compliant operating systems.
- Xen Project — The legendary baremetal hypervisor.
Tools, extensions, and core applications that complement the major projects listed above.
- mako — A lightweight notification daemon for Wayland.
- grim — A tool to grab images from a Wayland compositor.
- slurp — Select a region in a Wayland compositor (often used with grim).
- dmenu — A fast and lightweight dynamic menu for X.
- slstatus — A status monitor for window managers that use WM_NAME (like dwm).
- surf — A simple web browser based on WebKit2/GTK+.
- Org-mode — For keeping notes, maintaining TODO lists, planning projects, and authoring documents within Emacs.
- GNU Make — A tool which controls the generation of executables and other non-source files of a program.
- GNU Awk (gawk) — The GNU implementation of the AWK programming language.
- util-linux — Essential system utilities like
mount,fdisk, anddmesg. - iproute2 — The standard networking utilities for Linux (like
ip). - D-Bus — The standard message bus system for inter-process communication on Linux.
- NetworkManager — The standard daemon for managing internet connections on Linux.
- isync (mbsync) — A fast command line application which synchronizes mailboxes (IMAP/Maildir).
- msmtp — A very simple and easy to use SMTP client with excellent sendmail compatibility.
- WirePlumber — A powerful session and policy manager for PipeWire.
- Dolphin — KDE's lightweight and powerful file manager.
- Nautilus — The core file manager for the GNOME desktop.
- Thunar — A modern file manager for the Xfce Desktop Environment.
- Okular — The universal document viewer developed by KDE.
- Evince — A document viewer for multiple document formats for the GNOME desktop.
- Epiphany (GNOME Web) — The web browser for the GNOME desktop.
- apk-tools — The Alpine Package Keeper, Alpine Linux's package manager.
- FreeBSD Ports — The FreeBSD ports and packages collection.
If you want to build a highly customized, niche Linux dotfiles setup using only software whose primary development happens outside of GitHub, here are a few theoretical stacks you can build from this list:
A setup focusing on absolute minimalism, compiling from source, and using C-based configuration.
- OS Base: Alpine Linux
- Window Manager: dwm
- App Launcher: dmenu
- Status Bar: slstatus
- Terminal: st
- Shell: GNU Bash
- Web Browser: surf
- Editor: GNU Emacs (or just
vifrom BusyBox) - Passwords: Pass
A modern, keyboard-driven Wayland setup utilizing indie tools hosted primarily on SourceHut and self-hosted instances.
- OS Base: GNU Guix
- Compositor: Sway
- Notifications: mako
- Screenshots: grim + slurp
- Terminal: st
- Shell: Zsh
- Web Browser: Chromium
- Email Stack: aerc + isync (mbsync) + msmtp
- IRC Client: catgirl
A more traditional, mouse-friendly setup that avoids heavy corporate telemetry and bloat.
- OS Base: Alpine Linux
- Desktop Environment: Xfce
- File Manager: Thunar
- Network Manager: NetworkManager
- Shell: GNU Bash
- Web Browser: Tor Browser
- Text Editor: GNU Nano
- Office Suite: LibreOffice
- Media: VLC
A Libre-only stack endorsed by the Free Software Foundation. No proprietary blobs, telemetry, or non-free JS allowed.
- Firmware: Libreboot
- Operating System: Trisquel
- Desktop Environment: GNOME (GTK)
- File Manager: Nautilus
- Shell: GNU Bash
- Web Browser: GNU IceCat or Epiphany
- Document Viewer: Evince
- Text Editor: GNU Emacs + Org-mode
- Office Suite: LibreOffice
A completely self-hosted, supervised environment built for resilience and security without systemd.
- Base OS: OpenBSD
- Process Supervision: s6
- Core Utils: util-linux
- Shell: Zsh
- Terminal Multiplexer: GNU Screen
- Web Server: Lighttpd
- VPN: WireGuard
- Anonymity: Tor
A dotfiles setup tailored to digital artists, musicians, and video editors who rely on independent community infrastructure.
- OS Base: FreeBSD
- Desktop Environment: Enlightenment
- Web Browser: Chromium
- Audio Pipeline: PipeWire + WirePlumber
- Digital Audio Workstation: Ardour
- Video Editing: Kdenlive
- Graphics & Painting: Krita and GIMP
- 3D Modeling: Blender
A machine running without X11 or Wayland, entirely dependent on the framebuffer, GNU tools, and multiplexers.
- OS Base: Alpine Linux or Buildroot
- Shell: Zsh
- Multiplexer: GNU Screen
- Network Config: iproute2
- Mail Stack: Mutt + isync (mbsync) + msmtp
- Text Editor: GNU Nano or
vi - Text Processing: GNU Awk (gawk)
A fully-featured KDE experience built mostly from KDE's own GitLab instance.
- OS Base: Gentoo
- Desktop Environment: KDE Plasma
- File Manager: Dolphin
- Document Viewer: Okular
- Video Editor: Kdenlive
- Graphics: Krita
- Browser: Chromium
A stack centered around running a true Linux stack on mobile hardware.
- OS Base: postmarketOS or Ubuntu Touch
- Compositor: Sway (highly adaptable to mobile)
- Browser: Epiphany (GNOME Web)
- Communications: Jami + Gajim
- Mail: aerc
- Network: NetworkManager + WireGuard
A purist approach prioritizing code correctness and portability over modern fluff.
- OS Base: NetBSD
- Window Manager: dwm
- Terminal: st
- Browser: NetSurf
- Mail Stack: Mutt
- Text Editor: GNU Nano or
vi - Compiler: GCC
A workstation designed for electronics design and embedded systems development.
- OS Base: Gentoo
- Desktop Environment: Xfce
- Hardware Design: KiCad
- Embedded Build System: Buildroot or Yocto (Poky)
- System Tools: util-linux (fdisk, mount)
- Terminal: st + GNU Screen
A complete departure from UNIX, using the Plan 9 fork ecosystem.
- OS Base: 9front
- Window Manager:
rio(built into 9front) - Editor:
sam/acme(built into 9front) - Compiler: Plan 9 C compiler (built into 9front)
- Mail:
upas(built into 9front) (Note: 9front provides a completely self-contained userland and graphical environment out-of-the-box).
For those who want dynamic tiling but with a bit more modernity and flexibility than Sway.
- OS Base: Arch Linux (using pacman)
- Compositor: River
- Launcher: dmenu (via Xwayland or Wayland ports)
- Terminal: st
- Browser: Chromium
- Audio Pipeline: PipeWire + WirePlumber
Focused completely on anonymity, secure communications, and privacy.
- OS Base: Alpine Linux
- Window Manager: Sway
- Networking: Tor + WireGuard
- Communications: Jami + Gajim + catgirl
- Browser: Tor Browser
Using nothing but official GNOME stack projects hosted directly on GNOME's GitLab.
- OS Base: Trisquel
- Desktop Environment: GNOME (GTK)
- File Manager: Nautilus
- Browser: Epiphany (GNOME Web)
- Document Viewer: Evince
- Multimedia: GStreamer
A complete desktop experience that avoids Linux and BSD entirely, focused on personal computing.
- OS Base: Haiku
- File Manager: Tracker (built-in)
- Web Browser: WebPositive (built-in)
- Terminal: Haiku Terminal (built-in)
- Media: VLC Media Player (ported to Haiku)
Contributions welcome! Please read the contribution guidelines first.
A few notes:
- Only non-GitHub primary repos — Please only add repositories where the primary source of truth is not GitHub. If a project uses GitHub as its main issue tracker and PR platform, it belongs in other awesome lists.
- Keep descriptions concise — one line per repo.
- Verify links — make sure the URL works before submitting.
To the extent possible under law, the contributors have waived all copyright and related rights to this work.