Media scraper Gallery-dl is moving to Codeberg after receiving a DMCA notice

Gallery-dl faces DMCA takedown notice from Fakku

The open-source project Gallery-dl, a powerful command-line tool that allows users to download images and albums from hundreds of different websites, has recently become the target of a DMCA copyright infringement notice. The request, sent by Fakku, targets Gallery-dl along with 28 other related repositories on GitHub.

GitHub's ultimatum and the developer's response

According to the project's lead developer, they received an email regarding the DMCA claim. GitHub has demanded the removal of the "offending" files by rewriting the entire repository history using git-filter-repo within a one-week deadline.

Rewriting Git history is a controversial process, as it can break source code consistency and affect previous community contributions. The developer expressed dissatisfaction, stating: "I'm very hesitant to this idea and would honestly rather switch to a different platform than making any major changes."

Community support for migrating to Codeberg

Following the announcement, the user community and fellow developers voiced their support for Gallery-dl. Many argued that Fakku's claims are overreaching and intimidating. Some users pointed out that Gallery-dl does not circumvent any technical protection measures but is merely a tool for gathering publicly available data.

The most suggested solution is to move the project to Codeberg—a non-profit source code hosting platform considered a safer and freer alternative to GitHub (which is owned by Microsoft). Codeberg is trusted by the open-source community for its policies protecting developer rights and its independence from corporate pressure.

The future of media scraping tools

The Gallery-dl incident once again raises concerns about the power of DMCA notices in controlling and pressuring open-source projects. If Gallery-dl officially moves to Codeberg, it will be a significant step toward protecting the project from censorship and ensuring the tool remains available to global users.

Currently, the developer is seeking legal and technical advice to handle GitHub's request before making a final decision on a full migration to the new platform.