Hacker News Reader

Comment by simonw | Hacker News Reader

TIL about https://github-debug.com/ and https://www.fastly-debug.com/ and https://dropbox-debug.com/ - neat pattern.

If you have trouble to connect to github.com how you're going to "git clone https://github.com/[xxx]"?

Because it's possible that you can't clone from the https endpoint but you can from the git endpoint, which helps them (and you) debug the cause.

Yeah, but then the last step is to "copy & paste the results" to .. https://github.com/contact

I'm assuming it also logs some debugging information with regards to your git client's behavior, though. So you could still be able to get to that contact form.

Yes, presumably being unable to clone is an important data point.

My point is chances are you can't visit https://github.com/contact to paste your debugging result, if you're "Having trouble connecting to github.com".

Ha good catch

pretty cool.

quick question, why not just make

- https://github.debug or

- https://debug.github.com

The main principle here is to reuse as less infra as possible: different dns provider, different hosting, different cert authority, etc. So, debug.github.com is probably worse, than github-debug.com (github.debug should be fine though, and even slightly better than github-debug.com)

You could use two independent dns providers for the same domain (i call it inverse split horizon). I am a proponent of dns service discovery (using NAPTR and SRV records) so that by going to e.g. www.github.com, the dns provides a list of servers, and the final server would be your debug site (kind of like how there are MX records with different priorities, except naptr/srv is service agnostic).

Hi, I assume you're the writer or at least work at Dropbox.

Just want to let you know (as I mentioned somewhere): this blog link doesn't load at all if I click from here (i.e. with the refer of news.ycombinator.com).

thank you! i understand now.

Why would that be better?

To isolate possible issues with gtld, dns + glue records, registrar, domain blocking (corporate firewalls, restricted/compromised user dns, malware) that affects .com (the github.debug that is, debug.github.com is not a good solution for the above reasons)

Good find, I like this pattern. I could see a niche startup or open source solution providing this as a service, similar to statuspage (acquired by atlassian). It could also help keep the layout consistent, for user familiarity.

Is this open-source, how can I make one for my company?

Read the headers from the request to your service. Pull browser information from navigator (in a browser try: console.log(navigator)).

Should be most of the info.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com