Migrating from SourceForge to Github, should I delete the SF repository entirely?

Question

It's long overdue, but after a few too many horror stories I'm finally moving a long-running project of mine from SourceForge to GitHub.

Simple question: Should I delete my SourceForge project entirely? Or would it be better to leave behind a shell with pointers to the new location?

Leaving a shell behind might be useful to the odd soul who stumbles onto an old link to SourceForge somewhere, but I now distrust SF to the extent that I'm very hesitant to leave anything behind. However, the GIMP and now nmap hijacks above indicate that they could conceivably create a fake copy, which would be even worse — although I doubt the project is anywhere near high-profile enough to be worth their while.

• user22815: Good luck deleting a SourceForce project.

Answer 1

I would commit a new revision (or several) that deletes all files except for a readme.txt containing the new link. Then I'd build a new release containing just that readme.txt (so if they do decide to create a bundled .zip, at least it will contain a link to the new location and not just an old, obsolete version. You can also, helpfully, include details of how to uninstall any crapware that might have found its way into the download from SF)

Trying to stop them creating these bundled releases is not worthwhile, but I think its not worth their while to figure out which was the last 'real' release you made.

• lambshaanxy: Thanks, I've done this. And I found this SO answer handy for nuking the SF SVN repo's contents: stackoverflow.com/a/1462886/218340

Answer 2

I would leave a pointer to the new location.

Leaving SF entirely seems not to protect you from bundling your stuff with third-party software, when I read the media reports correctly.