Subcategories

• Introductory Training Videos

  As part of our 2023 Hackathon, we are recording training videos aimed towards complete beginners to open source.

  Nearly all contributions to OPF projects are handled via GitHub, the world's largest repository of open-source software. You will likely encounter GitHub if you want to report a problem, suggest improvements, or contribute to the software and documentation. We know that GitHub can feel intimidating, so we're running some introductory sessions to get people started with the basics.

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  The OPF uses GitHub to host and manage all of its software projects. There are several reasons for this:

  GitHub is the biggest online platform for open source software projects in the world.

  Its toolset, including issue management, contribution tracking and code review, is free for open source projects.

  GitHub provides a sustainable home for our projects. If the OPF were to cease to exist, our projects would continue to be available.

  Why Should You Use GitHub

  GitHub is a great way to get involved in open source software development. It's used by thousands of projects and millions of developers. It's a great way to learn about software development and to build your skills. It's also a way to show off your skills as your work is attributed to you on a public platform.

  What if I Can't Use GitHub?

  If you really can't use GitHub, but want to contribute to the Hackathon, please get in touch with us on info@openpreservation.org and we'll see what we can do.

  We look forward to working and learning with you. We’ll also be listening to you and will cover ad-hoc topics if there is enough interest among the attendees.

• Getting Started (beginners)

  What better way to get involved than with these entry-level resources.

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  The National Archives UK play an active role in storing and preserving digital material created by UK government.

  They are also the maintainers of DROID (which you can use to identify file formats), and PRONOM (the file format registry).

  Their 'Plugged In, Powered Up' strategy was created in answer to the needs of archiving professionals in the digital preservation sector. It offers workflows, case studies, toolkits, and mentoring.

• Learning to Code

  The best educational resources available to the community, suggested by the community.

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  @LotteW said in Automate the Borning Stuff with Python (2nd Edition) - Practical Programming for Total Beginners:

  inventing your own computer games with Python

  this sounds fun !!!

• Licensing

  Open-source licences facilitate free and open-source software development, but there’s a lot out there - where do I start?

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  In the spirit of this post, I'll add my own disclaimer here: I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. If you have any legal questions about licensing, consult a lawyer.

  Licensing is an important part of open-source software. It is the way that you, as the author, can control how your software is used and modified. It is also the way that you can protect yourself from liability. Licensing is one of the darker corners of the FOSS ecosystem, and let's face it, legal stuff is boring. But it's important, so let's get through it.

  There's more to publishing open-source code than uploading it to GitHub. While GitHub's terms of service allow others to view and fork public projects, you are still the copyright holder. Copyright is given to the author of an original work under most jurisdictions. We assume you are the author and have the right to license and distribute the code.

  If you upload your code to a public site without a stated license, you maintain the usage and distribution rights, but you are not granting any rights to others. This means that others can view your code, but if they execute or distribute it they are technically transgressing your rights. If you're in the habit of using or distributing unlicensed code from GitHub projects, beware. The author could have grounds for a civil copyright violation suit against you. Unlicensed code on the web is not open-source code. So it's a bad idea to use unlicensed code yourself, and if you want people to use and contribute to your project, you need to license it.

  Another motivation for licensing your code is to protect yourself from liability. If you are distributing code that others can use, you need to clarify that you are not responsible for any damage it may cause. If you write code intended for safety critical systems, you should probably consult a lawyer. But for most of us, a simple disclaimer is enough.