⚠️ Important Notice: Git LFS Removed from the Repository

[aneuwald-ctw]

As of commit 61680f2, files that were previously tracked using Git LFS — such as .bag, .png, .zip, and others — are now stored directly in the repository without relying on LFS.

This change was made to reduce storage costs and simplify the development workflow for the community.

For more information, please refer to the pull request: #465

If you encounter issues with missing or broken files, please make sure your local repository is up to date with the latest changes.

[jdsika]

Why are there storage cost? I thought open source and public repos are on a free plan for LFS?

[aneuwald-ctw]

Hi @jdsika,

That's a great question and it was part of our discussions when deciding to remove LFS from the repository.

According to the official GitHub documentation on storage and bandwidth usage, every GitHub account (including public repositories) receives 1 GiB of free storage and 1 GiB per month of free bandwidth for Git LFS. However, once these quotas are exceeded:

• For storage: new pushes are blocked (only pointer files are retrieved, and new versions cannot be pushed).
• For bandwidth: downloads (including clones and GitHub Actions pulling the repo) are blocked until the next month.
  So while LFS is indeed available for public repositories and comes with some free quota, it’s not unlimited or entirely "free" after those limits.

For active projects or those relying on CI/CD or heavy downloads (even from forks or source archives), hitting these quotas can result in interruptions or force maintainers to purchase data packs.

Additionally, our team believes that removing LFS benefits Lichtblick:

• The number of large files we handle does not justify the complexity and potential for quota issues.
• It simplifies the developer experience — no need for contributors to configure LFS locally.
• It avoids breaking builds or downloads in CI or forks due to hitting quota limits.
• Lichtblick has over 500 forks, and according to GitHub's policy, LFS bandwidth and storage usage from forks also count against the original repository's quotas. Removing LFS helps avoid unexpected quota exhaustion caused by community activity and makes the project easier to maintain.

If you have seen different information suggesting public repositories are exempt from these limits or enjoy higher free quotas, could you please share the source? We would be glad to review and adjust our approach if necessary.

Thanks again for bringing this up and helping ensure we're aligned on the best practices.