The GitHub platform has fueled the creation of truly global software, enabling contributions from developers across various geographical regions of the world. As software becomes more entwined with global politics and social regulations, it becomes similarly subject to government sanctions. In 2019, GitHub restricted access to certain services for users in specific locations but rolled back these restrictions for some communities (e.g., the Iranian community) in 2021. We conducted a large-scale empirical study, collecting approximately 156 thousand user profiles and their 41 million activity points from 2008 to 2022, to understand the response of developers. Our results indicate that many of these targeted developers were able to navigate through the sanctions. Furthermore, once these sanctions were lifted, these developers opted to return to GitHub instead of withdrawing their contributions to the platform. The study indicates that platforms like GitHub play key roles in sustaining global contributions to Open Source Software.

翻译：GitHub平台推动了真正全球化软件的诞生，使来自世界各地的开发者能够参与协作。随着软件与全球政治及社会法规的关联日益紧密，其同样受到政府制裁的影响。2019年，GitHub限制特定地区用户对某些服务的访问，但于2021年解除了对部分社区（如伊朗社区）的限制。我们开展了一项大规模实证研究，收集了2008年至2022年间约15.6万份用户资料及其4100万条活动记录，以探究开发者的应对策略。结果表明，许多受制裁的开发者成功规避了限制；此外，制裁解除后，这些开发者选择重返GitHub而非撤回贡献。该研究揭示了GitHub等平台在维系全球开源软件贡献中的关键作用。