Opensource project setup

Question

I want to set up an opensource community project in .NET, how do I go about it?

Answer 1

Go to:

http://code.google.com/hosting/

And follow the directions in the:

Create a new project link.

You can use other portals too.

Answer 2

You want to look create a repository on SourceForge or Github (those are the two I know of, there may be others). That would be the first step.

Setting up a blog, if you already do not have one, and blogging about your progress, frustrations, and everything in between during the journey is also good for few reasons. It will serve as a note to self for you for future projects. It will also be a good thing for others who want to do something similar to look at as a roadmap. Finally, its a great way to get more and more interest in your project.

You also might want to look into Mono Project (http://www.mono-project.com/Main_Page) and use that instead of Visual Studio so that there is not a barrier for entrance for others to join your project. Those Visual Studio licenses are not cheap and Mono is free. While I have not worked with the Mono environment in a while, I have heard a lot of good things about it.

I hope this helps and good luck to you.

Answer 3

www.codeplex.com would be another good starting place.

Answer 4

With my project, I started by choosing one of the many open source licenses (went with Apache 2.0). Then I added a LICENSE-file to my project, copy/pasted the license there and did the 'required' headers to each source file.

After that, I chose a project platform (or watchamacallit). I skipped SourceForge and chose Google Code instead, later moved to Assembla + GitHub. I upladed my source to the provided SCM-system (first SVN, later Git).

Alas, the hard part isn't selecting a license, getting your source public, documenting your stuff to a wiki or writing tickets. The hard part is to build the (successful) community around your project. For that you need an interesting project, people that are interested in your interesting project and a platform to connect these dots together. A dash of luck and/or reputation don't hurt, not the very least.