Creating Your Project
You’ve got an open-source project idea, planned out or not, and you’re ready to bring it to life. Here’s how to create your open-source project. It’s where your idea becomes real and starts to make an impact on the open source world.
Setting Up a Repository#
A proper project repository is the heart of your open-source project. Whether you host it on GitHub, GitLab, or any other platform, it’s the place where you’ll store your project content (source code, documentation, data, and so on), and where you’ll collaborate with other contributors. It’s also the place where you’ll manage your project’s issues and contributions, and where you’ll publish your project’s releases.
Choosing a Repository Hosting Platform#
There are many different source code hosting platforms that you can use to host your project repository. The most popular ones are GitHub and GitLab. Each platform has its own advantages and disadvantages, so it’s important to choose the one that best suits your needs.
Creating a Profile#
The first step to creating your project repository is to create a profile on your chosen hosting platform. This is where you’ll manage your project and collaborate with other contributors. You can create a profile on GitHub, or GitLab by following the instructions on their respective websites.
Creating an Organization#
This step is optional, you can start by creating a repository under your personal profile, and then move it to an organization later on.
Creating an organization lets you manage multiple projects under a single umbrella and grant access to other contributors. You can create an organization on GitHub, or GitLab by following the instructions on their respective websites.
Creating a Repository#
Within an organization or your profile, you can now create your project. GitHub names them repositories or repos, while GitLab names them projects; but they’re essentially the same thing. You can create a repository on GitHub, or a project on GitLab by following the instructions on their respective websites.