Open Source: Google Code or SourceForge? (Revision)

A year ago, I wrote "open source, Google Code or SourceForge ?", Today, Google code is not the same. Take the time to organize and write an updated version to avoid misleading others. The following section also describes the Google Code changes over the past year.
Summary

Speaking of Google code, I need to be ashamed to admit that I "flat it" at the beginning ". When I first came into contact with Google code, I simply thought that Google Code is only a half-product. In terms of its functions, it seems far from being able to compare with SourceForge's completeness. However, with a deep understanding of Google code, I can't help but admit that I was wrong. Google Code once again proved that "simple is beautiful: google's services always seem simple (or even inadequate), but they are actually very complete.

If you have an open-source plan, an open-source plan, or a private project that you want to have a complete platform to manage it, this article is worth reading. So far, I have led or participated in the following open-source projects:

* Winxgui: Project Administrator. Today hosting is on Google Code (http://code.google.com/p/winx ).
* Wtl: project member. Hosting on SourceForge (http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/wtl ).
* Visualfc: A project member. Winxgui is a third-party visualization platform. Hosting on Google Code (http://code.google.com/p/visualfc ).
* Docx: Project Administrator. Limited effort is not maintained.
* Ecug: One of the Project administrators. It is not a normal project, but an Erlang China user group (Erlang China user group ). Hosting on Google Code (http://code.google.com/p/ecug ).
* Erlana: Project Administrator. This is a project similar to Google Analytics. Hosting on Google Code (http://code.google.com/p/erlana ).

Choose Google Code or SourceForge? From the above introduction, my tendency has become obvious. Of course, the two have their own advantages. Google Code is much easier to use than SourceForge.
Advantages and disadvantages of Google Code

Advantages of Google Code

* Speed first. Google's service is famous for its speed, and Google Code is no exception. This is especially true when you upload a new release.

* The operation is simple. If SourceForge and Google Code provide the same functions, I can explain without thinking about it. Google Code is faster and easier to use than SourceForge. We will compare each function in detail later.

Disadvantage of Google Code

* It is easy to be defended. In my experience, Google Code is frequently used by Alibaba Cloud security. As a result, I sometimes cannot browse the bug list, publish new release, and so on. Fortunately, Google Code's SVN connection has never encountered access barriers. Therefore, this is not a big problem. In addition, according to Google Code, some functions can be performed on the command line instead of on the web, but I have not yet performed a detailed verification.

* MB capacity limit. Fortunately, Google Code originally restricted the svn space of each project to a maximum of 100 MB, which has been removed. Unfortunately, the total size of all release released cannot exceed 100 MB.

* The data statistics function is powerful but complex and not practical. In the past, Google Code provided countless statistical functions. Today, Google Code integrates support for Google Analytics. With the powerful features of Google Analytics, its statistical functions suddenly become more powerful than SourceForge! However, why is the data statistics function of Google Code insufficient? This is because, for a project, the download of your release is a key reference volume. Google Code, due to the defect in Google Analytics's statistical method, can only count the access volume of HTML pages, rather than the download volume of zip packages. Although Google Code also introduces the downloadcount concept (for example, see http://code.google.com/p/winx/downloads/list ). However, the total number of downloads is only one, which is weaker than SourceForge.

Advantages and disadvantages of SourceForge

Advantages of SourceForge

* More audiences have formed the first open-source community. Simple statistical results show that there is a new release every five minutes on SourceForge. That is to say, there are about 300 new releases a day (this is not accurate statistics, but a simple estimation ).

* More complete functions. Currently, Google Code is not more functional than SourceForge. If Google Code is a complete, fast, and functional platform, SourceForge is a development platform that is already complete in all aspects.

Disadvantages of SourceForge

* The operation is complex and slow.

Detailed Function Comparison

Next we will compare the functions of the two:

* Create an account. Google Code, as long as you have a Gmail account. SourceForge requires you to register. And you find that the registration process of SourceForge is very cool.

* Create a project. Google Code as long as you simply fill in the project information (http://code.google.com/hosting/createProject), only one page to complete the application. The application process for SourceForge's new project is complex, and there are many next steps. You need to read some English details. In addition, your project does not take effect immediately, but requires approval. If you don't have to worry about it, go to SourceForge the next day after your application. Your project should be approved.

* Code management. Google Code only supports SVN libraries, and SourceForge supports SVN and CVS. In the past, Google SVN was limited to MB and has now been removed. You can subscribe to changes in the code library by email (of course, SourceForge can also ).

* Permission management of the code library. Google Code's code library permission management is very simple, after you log on, the http://code.google.com/hosting/settings will show Google Code automatically generated random password for you. With your username and random password, you can access the svn code library and modify it. The putty suite is recommended for SourceForge. For details, refer to the description on SourceForge. In general, it is quite complicated.

* Release the version. Google Code limits all release packages to 100 mb and a single release to 10 MB. SourceForge has not seen clear restrictions.

Google Code releases a new release process, which still requires only one page. You only need to select the uploaded file and add some predefined labels to the file (used to tell others about the platform or other information supported by your release, these tags are pre-defined in Google Code and can also be defined by project managers. In particular, if a release is tagged with featured, it will appear on the project homepage.

The SourceForge process is complex:
O upload the file you want to publish through FTP. Upload address: ftp://upload.sourceforge.net/incoming. this process is anonymous. The uploaded file is "claimed" in subsequent steps. If a package is not claimed for a long time, SourceForge will clear it.
O enters SourceForge. Log in with your SourceForge account.
O go to the project homepage and enter Admin-> filereleases.
O select an existing package or create a new package to add a release to the package. When your project has released a large number of files (instead of multiple historical versions, but multiple files are released at a time, and you may want to classify them, package allows you to manage these files in a more organized manner.
O add releasenote and changelog for the release. Confirm.
O claim the file you uploaded to FTP. Check and confirm.
O add instructions (supported platforms, package formats, and other specifications) for your published files ).
O if someone pays attention to the release of this project, you can send a message to these people to inform them of the release of the new release. This step is interesting because Google Code cannot.
* Bug report. Issues in Google Code, tracker of SourceForge. The issues of Google code is very customized and can subscribe to issues changes.

* Forum. Google Code does not directly provide forum functions. Of course, this is because it recommends that you use powerful Google groups. SourceForge is not only a forum provided to users (there are two user forums, one for discussing product functions, and the other for brainstorming open discussions ), it also provides developer-specific forums (invisible to non-project members ).

* Project web. The two have their own merits.

Google Code does not provide the project homepage, but provides a creative Wiki pages. It is worth mentioning that Google Code's wiki uses SVN to manage versions and is cleverly conceived (For details, refer to "UNIX building blocks and Google Code wiki "). Because Google Code SVN supports the email notification function, wiki naturally inherits this function.

Create a wiki page on Google Code and go to source to see if the Wiki directory is added to the page. After entering, you can see that the source code of your Wiki page is put here. The advantage is that you can not only edit the wiki page online, but also modify it locally using any tool. I did this.

SourceForge provides the project homepage at "project name .sourceforge.net ". You can use this website to promote projects and provide project information. This space is PHP + MySQL, and you can control it through remote shell, which is extremely flexible.

* Manage team members. Google code you can add another Gmail account as a project member (members) or administrator (administers), but it does not seem to be able to perform more detailed permission management. SourceForge provides fine-grained permission management for project members.

* Download and access statistics. Google Code has built-in support for Google Analytics and provides a simple download count (downloadcount) for release ). SourceForge provides access/download statistics for the last 7 days, the last 2 months, and years. Very detailed.

* Software (screenshots ). This allows users to quickly obtain the first impression of the project, attracting their attention. Google Code does not have this function.