How to create an open-source project -- ABC

Open-source software is free of charge. Almost all the so-called open-source software in China does not have any open-source features at all, and has little dedication to the open-source field and the computer industry. For example, forums such as discuz. They all grasp the greedy nature of people and blindly divide open source and free code into equal signs. Today, we will not detail their sins. Here we will talk about the psychological and technical preparations you need to do if you want to be open-source.

Psychological preparation:
1. Make sure that your project will be developed for 10 years or even 100 years. Long-term consideration can help you better plan your project, put down your impetuous mentality, and do things seriously.

An open-source project is different from a company project. A company's project is a planning project for the purpose of interest. If the company goes bankrupt or its business changes, the project may be canceled. Open-source projects are not necessarily maintained by fans. You must be prepared to continue this project even if you leave, the development of a project is not only for you (of course, you may start from yourself, but the key to survival of the Project is your mentality ).

2. Everything is grateful. Be generous with others and be good at listening to others' opinions, but also ensure that your design ideas are not disrupted.

You must listen to others' opinions, but as the project performer, you must take your own understanding as the criterion. Do not be afraid that you have done something wrong. Remember that you have 10 years to complete the project. If you want to develop a project, there must be many people involved.

3. Respect the contract. It is not about asking others to respect your contract, but about others. Do not steal others' code, respect Microsoft and hate piracy. This is the basis for open source. If you cannot do it, I'm afraid you still need to learn. It is recommended that if you have time to read the Bible, you will learn how important credit is in the Bible.

Who is the biggest enemy of open source? Not commercial software, not Microsoft, or pirated software. If you want others to respect your labor achievements, you should respect companies like Microsoft now. We are not in the Age of bandits (the age of heroes). Piracy is not conducive to our scientific and technological progress. Everyone wants to gain nothing, and greed does not occupy your whole body. Respect the contract can be respected by everyone, so please note that if you want to copy others' code. Please keep the copyright for them. Do not do anything about it. Do you want to build a Tom core?

4. Make a good attitude. Whether you are making profits or you are interested in open source, you must make a good attitude. You must allow others to make profits by using your results when they do not offer you any benefits.

Whether you are for profit or interest, as long as you do not violate the spirit of open source, you have contributed to this industry. Please do not be too selfish. Since open-source applications require everyone to enjoy the benefits of knowledge, why not open-source applications? Continue to develop "Free Software.

5. Don't trust people who say "I am willing to participate in your project and I want to participate in the work, people who actually participate in the project never say they will only give you a patch and then tell you what problems the Code has.

Based on years of experience and the Failure Summary of multiple projects, the people who say this to you are not helpful at all. Those who are really willing to participate in things won't say this. This is not only in China, but also overseas.

Technical preparation:

You can choose sourceforge.net or use your own server for open source, no matter what. It's not a simple download, but an open source web. You need some tools to help you:

1. Wiki
Your website can use wiki to facilitate participants to edit and modify pages, especially when writing documents. Of course, domestic spam ads are too powerful. If you are a Chinese website, you should grant permissions. I recommend that you use dokuwiki.

2. bugtracker
As a long-term development project, you should make a general plan, and you should allow others to report errors to you. You need a defect tracking system. If your system has any problems or other people have any requirements for your system, he can issue the requirements in the bug tracker. We recommend that you use mantis, which is easy to use in PHP.

3. SVN
If you need to work collaboratively, you must have a SVN. Almost all projects now have their own SVN warehouses. SVN can not only work collaboratively. It can also record the history of your code. You can download the Chinese PDF of SVN from the Internet and search for it.

4. maillist or BBS
With this feature, foreigners are used to maillist, while Chinese are used to BBS. Select a communication method for the project as needed.

5. QQ or IRC
If your project is targeted at China, it is very important to establish a QQ group. Of course, you can also create an IRC room and apply for one on www.freenode.org. All large projects have real-time discussion groups on freenode.

What else do you need to do with the above? It's easy to get started. Don't remember to ask others to join the project. I remember that you were about to develop for 10 years. As long as your project was well done and some simple publicity was made, someone came to the door soon.

6. What protocol does gplv2/lgpl/MPL... use?
Of course, you can "create" some protocols on your own, but I suggest you use some standard protocols that are time-intensive, in addition, they are more tested on legal and ethical issues. There are many protocols, and every manufacturer, such as Sun, has its own or Apache. However, gplv2 lgpl MPL is currently the most popular.

Gplv2 is the best choice. Compared with some protocols that are too open, such as art license, some of them are very stingy, such as MPL. The gplv2 protocol can make the project develop continuously. If most of the MPL projects (I mean those that can be done) are done at the end, they will become private products.

Hope it will help you.