New Post: Using GIT for Source Control and Community Code Contributions

Wanted to start a thread following this Tweet by Marc:

@sympmarcJust did my first commit for SPServices to Codeplex using git. Gotta figure this stuff out

Personally, I think that GIT is by far the easiest tool (at least the Github implementation of it) for submitting/accepting Developer contributions to a library... With this in mind and the fact that the real power behind SPServices comes from the input of the community, hosting code with GIT is a natural choice.

So let's help Marc!

I'll Start...

Proposed Directory Structure:

• src - Source code files
• test - Unite test cases and/or test suite (ex. in this case, maybe webparts that test functionality). I suggest using QUnit
• doc - Library documentation. I suggest using Markdown for the documentation... Not sure if doing this would be a duplicate effort for how it is currently maintained here on CodePlex.
  

Branches:

• Master - Always has the most recent STABLE code. This could be a released version or stable (well tested) code that is ready for release
• WIP - Work in progress... Where development of new features/bugs is done.
  

For small projects the above should be enough... In some cases, a 3rd branch may be used for testing WIP code before it makes it to Master.

Tagging approach:

Each stable version that is "released" should be tagged with the appropriate name (ex. 2013-01). Should patches be needed prior to the next version, this tag can be used to create a branch and make the change without introducing a new major version.

Build:
Right now, I think you have SPServices as a single file project (jquery.SPServices.js)... if the project grows to have multiple files and additional files are introduced to simplify the management of the code base, then a build tool may be needed. Although I'm a long time (hold out) user of Ant, I have been wanting to make the move to Grunt (a Node.js plugin). I would suggest using that.

Version Hosting:
I suggest that you continue to host the packaged releases (version) on codeplex as you do today

Lastly...
As Marc mentioned in his post recently:

Remember that SPServices is open source. I rely on you, the community that uses it, to let me know what works and what doesn’t. There is just not enough time in a day for me to test everything. If I hear about problems, I try to get fixes out as soon as I can, but this is free software, folks. The best situation is one where someone runs into a problem, they devise a fix, and I get the fix to incorporate into future versions

I'm a believer of this library and although I find it hard at times to make time for contributions, without them the motivation and desire to keep these types of projects going may die out... Lets not allow that to happen.

Paul.