> My private forks are mine
Not if you create them using the "Fork" button in the UI.
Since this behavior has yet again surprised many people, here is the documentation: https://docs.github.com/en/pull-requests/collaborating-with-...
Not if you create them using the "Fork" button in the UI.
Since this behavior has yet again surprised many people, here is the documentation: https://docs.github.com/en/pull-requests/collaborating-with-...
If a private repository is made public, each of its private forks is turned into a standalone private repository and becomes the upstream of its own new repository network. Private forks are never automatically made public because they could contain sensitive commits that shouldn't be exposed publicly.
If a private repository is made public and then deleted, its private forks will continue to exist as standalone private repositories in separate networks.
But I agree this is confusing.
To put it another way, if the user had "forked" the GH repo onto GitLab, there would be no data loss, but that behavior would promote using GH in a way that breaks the upstream/downstream relationship that you see on GH.
It's even worse that the deleted fork was private. What impact does GH expect deleting the hosted private repository has on folks who really want to keep a private copy of the repo, such as offline or on another git hosting site? I'm really struggling to see any real-world positive sides to this mechanism. Seems like an ineffectual legal or compliance CYA.