How long should I keep my fork projects on github?

Question

When I have a feature request on a library in github, I would either

• try to contact the author
• and/or implement it myself on a local copy, and when I am done, fork the project and push my changes.

More often than not, the original authors are happy to see the enhancements, and they'll either pull them as is, or merge them manually after some modifications.

The question is, what should I do with my fork projects after my commits have been accepted by the upstream? If I am not going to make any further updates, should I delete the repository? Or, should I keep it around for historical interest?

github does not really indicate whose copy is the "definitive" repository, so my inactive forks may distract other people from finding the right copy. In fact, I just got a pull request form someone, which was also accepted at the upstream.

Answer 1

If I have no interest in being an active contributor or developer, I usually delete mine after the patch has been accepted upstream. I don't see a need to keep the repo around for historical reasons -- the commit will already have my name and email, and the timestamp of the commit, so that seems to be all the historical record it really needs.