Chapter Nine · Open Source

The Repository as a Public Place

Sandpiper goes public. The README everyone reads first, what a licence decides and what public really exposes, your first contribution to a stranger's project, and an honest look at what your profile says about you.

4 topics

Sandpiper is about to become something other people can find. That changes what the repository is for: not just a place your work lives, but a page strangers read and judge in about forty seconds.

Four topics. The README, which is the only documentation most projects ever have and the first thing anyone opens. Licences, and what "public" actually exposes — which is where the file you should not have committed in Chapter 5 comes back one last time. Your first contribution to a stranger's project, using the same loop as Chapter 8 with one extra copy in the chain. And an honest look at what your GitHub profile says about you, including the parts that do not matter as much as people think.

What a stranger does with your repository, in order
Read the READMEthe first forty seconds
Check the licencewhat they may do with it
Skim the historyhow you work
Maybe contributefork, branch, pull request

Topics in This Chapter