GitHub can be a little to good at pushing this. I've been taken to task for not having docs for my Open Source project which is on GitHub.<p>"But I do, they are on this website here and there is a link to them at the very top of the README!"<p>Didn't matter, I got told off for what was really "you don't have docs in the usual place on GitHub."<p>Very frustrating.<p>@patio11 I think it was made a comment in a blog about don't put Open Source on GitHub because you really build up GitHub's name not your own, which is an interesting point to discuss. EDIT: found it <a href="https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archive/do-not-end-the-week-with-nothing" rel="nofollow">https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archive/do-not-en...</a><p>"This is one reason why, while I love OSS, I would suggest people not immediately throw their OSS on Github. That makes it very easy for developers to consume your code, but it does not make it easy for you to show the impact of that code to other people, particularly to non-technical stakeholders. To the extent that people's lives are meaningfully improved by your code, the credit (and observable citations) often goes to Github rather than going to you. If you're going to spend weeks or months of time writing meaningful OSS libraries, make a stand-alone web presence for them."<p>(For my project I'm using GitHub Git, Github issues, but everything else is on a website on a domain I control.)
I think it's interesting how GitHub is trying to push open source contribution.
However, we shouldn't rely too much on GitHub for (open source) collaboration.
Git is decentral after all. Open source should remain too.
Tip: if you are not sure who the committers to a project are: <a href="https://api.github.com/repos/:user/:repo/collaborators" rel="nofollow">https://api.github.com/repos/:user/:repo/collaborators</a>. For example: <a href="https://api.github.com/repos/bitcoin/bitcoin/collaborators" rel="nofollow">https://api.github.com/repos/bitcoin/bitcoin/collaborators</a><p>This can be useful when people are commenting on your pull request and you are not sure whether they have a final decision on the merge.
They make no mention of mailing lists or forums, which most sufficiently large open source projects have. It's often a good idea to sign up and get a feel for how things are done in a given commmunity, and for large changes, suggest them on the mailing list for discussion before opening a bug report or writing code.
great.<p>next up: a well-written & concise guide on writing proper commit messages.
could be based on <a href="http://tbaggery.com/2008/04/19/a-note-about-git-commit-messages.html" rel="nofollow">http://tbaggery.com/2008/04/19/a-note-about-git-commit-messa...</a> and <a href="http://robots.thoughtbot.com/5-useful-tips-for-a-better-commit-message" rel="nofollow">http://robots.thoughtbot.com/5-useful-tips-for-a-better-comm...</a>
I wrote a similar, but maybe less detailed post about getting started in open source on my blog. <a href="http://derekmyers.com/posts/getting-started-open-source/" rel="nofollow">http://derekmyers.com/posts/getting-started-open-source/</a>
Are there people out there that don't understand that software uses readmes and licenses, yet also are able to contribute code? I mean, people can program but not know how to contribute?<p>I find this hard to imagine.