I would like to start an open source project, but I have no experience in that. I know many open source projects use sourceforge.net, GPL license, and use a CVS system for version management.

Does anyone know a (practical) tutorial or other source of information about what you need to consider when you start an open source project? I would like to know more about issues like:

• Where to set up your project (sourceforge.net?)
• How does using a CVS work?
• How does licensing work? What are consequences?
• How is the hierarchy when working with multiple people onto one project?
• What are common programming and documentation styles?
• ...

Jos

I just found these pages on C++ Programming Style Guidelines:
http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/lab/cplus/c%2b%2b.rules/
http://www.possibility.com/Cpp/CppCodingStandard.html
http://geosoft.no/development/cppstyle.html

All of these quoestions you can answer with searching and reading.

PS: Google C++ Style Guide

This post has been edited by MitkOK: 10 Jul, 2008 - 05:04 AM

There are several Open Source licenses.

The most "popular" ones right now are the GPLv2, BSD, and Public Domain I suppose.

GPLv2 basically says that anyone can take your code any make changes, but they have to redistribute the changes. It is "viral" in that any projects using GPLv2 code must also be GPLv2.

BSD basically says that anyone can take your code and do whatever they want with it, as long as they leave the copyright information intact. They don't have to redistribute changes.

Public Domain basically says that anyone can do anything they want with your code.

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Common programming, documentation, and project organization are left up to you.

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CVS, Subversion, and GIT are some popular ways of versioning source code. Sourceforge supports SVN and CVS right now. Personally I prefer SVN, but many projects use CVS. Use Google to find tutorials on using either.

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Sourceforge is good for setting up projects. There is also Codeplex (for Microsoft projects), Savannah (GNU), Freshmeat, Google Code, etc. Chosing one is up to you.

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When in doubt, query Google and observe what other projects are doing.

Thanks for your replies.

I know, I know "just ask Google" is an answer but it is no answer . I did. But the problem with this kind of things is that it is hard to find your way through all different opinions, and to estimate the value and reliability of online sources. Therefore I rather like to ask an expert to help me get a first rough idea on what comes across, then I can figure the details out by myself.

Tom, thanks for your short explanation of these various licenses, this helps me a lot. I think I will go for GPL. Do you know the main differences between GPLv2 and GPLv3?

AFAIK the main difference is that the GPLv3 puts restrictions on DRM used in the software (which is kind of an irony, restrictions on restrictions).

There are some really extensive readings floating around on Google, and Groklaw has a side by side comparison of the two licenses. Needless to say, I don't really care enough to read any more than a page on the subject.

Here are two links explaining the "issue" some people have with the GPLv3. I would suggest reading through the comments on the Slashdot article. Not all of the comments are going to be 100% necessarily, and there is a lot of leeway for people spouting illogical opinions, but the discussion brings up some very interesting points and if you can manage to avoid the trolls, there are some very intelligent people posting there.
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/9447
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/06/0...13&from=rss

Thanks. I indeed heard some rumors about GPLv3. Anyway, as far as I understand it correctly, GPLv3 does not have specific additions regarding the program I want to make (mathematics), so I think I will just start with GPLv2.

Basically GPLv3 has two specific things that v2 does not:

_ Anti-tivoization clause (if your hardware requires your software to be signed then you must also provide the means to sign said software)
_ Patent protection clause (if you distribute GPLv3 stuff then you also grant any users of the version you distributed and any derivatives a non-revokable license to all applicable patents)

Also, I think the DRM statement made by Tom is a bit vague, I suggest you read this page for the specifics:
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/quick-guide-gplv3.html.

A few more things to consider with regard to license choice is license compatibility. For instance, you can't distribute Apache-licensed software within a GPLv2 program without violating either of the licenses. The GPLv3 does not have this problem.

If your program depends on other libraries much then this should be carefully considered, otherwise it's a matter of preference.

I didn't know that much about the DRM specifics which (from what I had read) seemed to be one of the significant differences between the two licenses.

That's why I linked to some articles further explaining it. I didn't want to make his brain explode by sending him to the GNU page right off the bat.

I use this for subversion hosting.
It's pretty decent and gives you 5 free repository modules at a time.

Jeroen, thanks for the explanation on GPLv2/GPLv3. So, actually, they do have important differences, which can show up in the future.
I will first check out which licenses are used by the libraries that I possibly will use.

@born2c0de: thanks for the link. That may be a nice solution to get started with subversion control. However, if I start with for example sourceforge.net, I will use system provided there.