What infrastructure tools do you recommend for helping an open source user community share non-mainline code with each other?

Question

I wrote an open source app (BugTracker.NET) and I host it at Sourceforge. It doesn't have a plugin architecture per se, but there are ways to tweak and extend it. For example, a prettier css file, or a useful SQL snippet. People ask me, "How can I share this with other BugTracker.NET users?" and so far I've just been telling them to put it in the Sourceforge RFE tracker. Not that useful.

So, I want to set something up, maybe like a wiki, maybe, but with the ability to upload files? Something that can function without too much of my involvement, but that I can still moderate to get rid of spam, I guess?

I'm not talking about bug fixes that I want to apply to the mainline. I'm talking about things I would NOT merge into the mainline, but that I would still want to make available to others.

Answer 1

A wiki is a good thing to have such community features, but it means work to be maintained and organized. You can also start with mailing-lists/Google groups, which are easier to moderate.

Answer 2

You might want to look at riaforge.com as an example. Its a site for coldfusion code, but I think the concept, if you look at how the projects are arranged and what not, might give you the push you need. IF I was going to do this, I would keep a trunk as the "core" application, then allow others to store their "mods". Good Luck!