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diff --git a/content/learn/participate/_index.md b/content/learn/participate/_index.md index 52f7d15..9d4f9af 100644 --- a/content/learn/participate/_index.md +++ b/content/learn/participate/_index.md @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ --- -title: "Getting involved" +title: Getting involved weight: 2 --- diff --git a/content/learn/participate/publish.md b/content/learn/participate/publish.md index fcbd542..0591656 100644 --- a/content/learn/participate/publish.md +++ b/content/learn/participate/publish.md @@ -2,3 +2,76 @@ title: Publish free software weight: 2 --- + +Got a great idea for a new free software project and itching to publish it? +Wonderful! Here are the steps: + +1. Write it! +2. Choose a software license +3. Publish your project +4. Build a community* + +\* optional 😉 + +## Writing your software + +We can't help you much with this part, of course. However, one word of advice: +**publish early**. Many new maintainers are hesitant to publish their code, +worried that poor documentation, missing features, abundant bugs, or even just +poor code -- it all needs to be fixed before it's ready for the world. Not so! +Releasing early is a crucial step for getting rapid feedback and is essential to +attracting others to help. Get your code out there as soon as possible. + +## Choosing a license + +Before you publish, however, you need to choose a free software license that +suits your needs. You *can* write one yourself, but this is **strongly** advised +against, even for big corporations that can hire a lawyer to help. There are +plenty of licenses out there to suit every need, and we go over how to choose +the right one for you in [choosing a license][0]. + +[0]: /learn/participate/choose-a-license/ + +Choosing a license is **required** when publishing a free software project -- in +the absence of a license your work is non-free. Your choice may also have +significant long-term consequences for your project, so choose carefully. This +is an important step. + +## Publishing your project + +When you're ready to publish your work, the easiest way is to upload it to a +**software forge**. There are many to choose from, each offering numerous tools +to make development and collaboration easier for you. Many of these software +forges are themselves free software -- we recommend using these over the +non-free alternatives. Here are a few suggestions to check out: + +- [Codeberg](https://codeberg.org) +- [SourceHut](https://sourcehut.org) + +You can also host your project on your own infrastructure. Something as simple +as a tarball on a web server will do, but you can also run an entire software +forge in your own datacenter if that's better for your project. + +<!-- + +Feel free to add forges here. Criteria for inclusion: + +- Reasonably feature complete and useful for hosting projects with minimal fuss +- Hosted on stable infrastructure (self-hosted forges will not be considered) +- Trustworthy and transparent maintainership +- Free software, of course + +Add new hosts in alphabetical order. + +--> + +## Building a community + +One of the chief advantages of publishing free software is that your community +can get involved to help make it better than you can do alone. Managing your +community is important to make sure that your software is the best it can be. +[We publish articles][blog] on a variety of subjects of interest to free +software participants, including advice on community building and management. +Check it out! + +[blog]: /blog/ |
