Skip to main content

Plan: Finish the Move from terchris to helpers-no

IMPLEMENTATION RULES: Before implementing this plan, read and follow:

Status: Backlog​

Goal: helpers-no/devcontainer-toolbox is the only home of DCT: the repo, the image, and the fork network.

Priority: Medium — nothing is broken for current users; this removes leftovers that mislead.

Last Updated: 2026-09-24

Problem​

The repository was created as terchris/devcontainer-toolbox and transferred to helpers-no (code references changed in 2b9b83a, 2026-03-18). State measured 2026-09-24:

WhatState
RepoTransferred. terchris/devcontainer-toolbox URLs (git and raw) redirect to helpers-no. ✅
CodeNo live code path references terchris. ✅
Container imageWas: ghcr.io/terchris/devcontainer-toolbox left behind at 1.7.6 (packages do not follow a repo transfer). Now deleted (Phase 2). ✅
Fork networkWas: helpers-no registered as a fork of norwegianredcross/devcontainer-toolbox. Now reversed (Phase 1). ✅

Decision (Terje, 2026-09-24): no migration path for users installed before the move. Projects that still name ghcr.io/terchris/... keep the image they already have, but fail on their next rebuild until someone re-runs the installer in them.

  • GitHub's web UI defaults new pull requests to the parent repo (norwegianredcross). One wrong click sends a PR to the wrong org.
  • Forks are excluded from GitHub code search unless they have more stars than the parent, so DCT is hard to find.
  • The "forked from norwegianredcross/devcontainer-toolbox" banner says the Red Cross repo is upstream, which is no longer true.

Phase 1: Reverse the fork network — ✅ DONE (2026-09-24)​

Goal (Terje): the repo lives on helpers-no, and norwegianredcross has a fork of it. Terje manages both orgs and chose Route B: delete the old repo and re-fork, rather than ask GitHub Support to detach.

Tasks​

  • 1.1 Checked what the old norwegianredcross/devcontainer-toolbox held: 19 issues/PRs (only #15 open, "Add health-check for wget", already solved by install.sh/install.ps1), 2 releases, 5 stars, empty wiki. Its one unique commit (2afcd8a, ARM PowerShell fix, #16) changed files that no longer exist; install-tool-powershell.sh already handles arm64.
  • 1.2 Backed it up first: git mirror (52 commits, tags, all PR refs), issues/PRs with comments, both release assets, repo metadata.
  • 1.3 Deleted norwegianredcross/devcontainer-toolbox. GitHub made helpers-no/devcontainer-toolbox the root of the network (fork=false); its three existing forks now point at it.
  • 1.4 Forked helpers-no/devcontainer-toolbox into norwegianredcross under the same name.

Validation​

Measured 2026-09-24: helpers-no/devcontainer-toolbox has fork=false; norwegianredcross/devcontainer-toolbox has fork=true, parent=helpers-no/devcontainer-toolbox, and the same main head (ab76ba0).

Phase 2: Delete the old image — ✅ DONE (2026-09-25)​

Tasks​

  • 2.1 Terje chose to delete it ("so that we don't have any more confusion"). Checked first: ghcr.io/terchris/devcontainer-toolbox held 1.7.0–1.7.6 (2026-02-16 to 2026-03-04, latest = 1.7.6), linked to no repo. Deleted with DELETE /user/packages/container/devcontainer-toolbox. GitHub allows restoring a deleted package for 30 days.
  • 2.2 The repo redirect github.com/terchris/devcontainer-toolbox → helpers-no stays. It cannot be switched off without creating a new repo of that name, which would break old links and create the confusion this plan removes.

Validation​

Measured 2026-09-25: the package API returns 404 for terchris/devcontainer-toolbox; the registry refuses ghcr.io/terchris/devcontainer-toolbox:latest; ghcr.io/helpers-no/devcontainer-toolbox:latest still returns 200.

Phase 3: Sweep what is left​

Tasks​

  • 3.1 Local clones: git remote set-url origin https://github.com/helpers-no/devcontainer-toolbox.git. Redirects work today, but they break silently if anyone ever creates a new terchris/devcontainer-toolbox.
  • 3.2 Leave historical mentions alone: blog author terchris (correct, it is the person), old recordings, completed plans in this repo and in urbalurba-infrastructure.

Validation​

grep -rn 'terchris/devcontainer-toolbox' only finds history (plans, recordings, blog).

Acceptance Criteria​

  • helpers-no/devcontainer-toolbox is not a fork
  • The terchris image is deleted or marked as moved
  • No live code path references terchris

Not in this plan​

The Windows initializeCommand failure (a bash-only command run by cmd.exe, regressed in 733dd73) is a separate bug. It hits new Windows installs whatever the image name is, and gets its own plan.