Installation binaries not being included in repo

[DiskCrasher]

Is there a valid reason why the Windows binary installers aren't included in the GitHub repo along with the source code? Instead, one has to download them separately from https://julialang.org/downloads/. Our company mirrors GitHub repos internally and w/o the binary installer being included this doesn't help because we're not allowed to download from the Internet. Many other GH repos I've used include the binary installers in their releases which to me makes sense, having everything in one location.

[DilumAluthge]

Just to clarify, do you mean uploading the Julia release binaries to the "Assets" section of the GitHub Releases?

Or do you mean checking the release binary files into source control, that is, into the Git repo itself?

[DiskCrasher]

I'm not the one who sets up the mirrors/proxies but in looking at some other projects it appears they mirror the (typically binary) files found under the Releases section of the repos. They may also mirror the source code found in the main repo itself, depending on the project. In this case, I'm specifically interested in the released binaries. Hopefully that answers your question.

As for external Julia packages, they've set up their own internal Julia package server. And yes, there are definitely environments where Internet access won't be available. (Even when it is it's still against policy to download from external sites.)

[vchuravy]

As a counterpoint, many large projects that don't exclusively use GitHub infrastructure, don't publish assets under release tags. As an example, take Python, they only have binaries available from their website. So for us, the question is whether the extra work and the duplication is worth it. I am not convinced.

[DilumAluthge]

So for us, the question is whether the extra work and the duplication is worth it. I am not convinced.

Yeah, I'm a little concerned about the extra burden (and workload) that this places on the release managers.

[DilumAluthge]

As for external Julia packages, they've set up their own internal Julia package server.

I wonder if the easiest approach is to just have the package server also serve the Julia release binaries.

[DiskCrasher]

The binaries are fetched separately through an approved process. Problem is, someone has to submit a request to have them updated to the latest version (not automated) which is why I suggested adding them to the repo (automated via mirror/proxy).