■ FIGURE 2. Google Code Project Hosting.
■ FIGURE 3. Google Code Create Project.
■ FIGURE 4. Google Code Select Version Control System.
■ FIGURE 5. Google Code Select License.
■ FIGURE 6. Google Code avrtoolbox Project.
52
February 2011
crazy. I couldn’t pick a license. Thankfully, I stumbled
across Google Code which says this: “The open source
community has been flooded with lots of nearly identical
licenses. We’d like to see projects standardize on the most
popular, time-tested ones. The selected licenses offer
diversity to meet most developer needs.” Then, instead of
allowing hundreds of choices, they only allow nine [only?].
I selected the ‘New BSD License’ because someone I trust
who is nominally sane said it was the least restrictive.
I posted this section on AVRFreaks and started a
thread that turned immediately into an ‘esoteric
philosobabble’ discussion ( http://tinyurl.com/27s3y37).
Collaborative Open Projects
Then there is the silliness of open source hardware.
Excuse me, but ‘source’ refers to ‘source code.’ The open
hardware folks get into discussions of source that rival
those on the meaning of free. So, I’m going to settle this
for me by using COP — Collaborative Open Projects — to
refer to anything where folks collaborate on a project and
intend the documentation to be free (as in no money and
no lawyers). Like everything else Internet, there are a
buzzillion ways to have a COP. I’ve chosen Google Code
which may not be the best but it seems the simplest to
me, and I need simple.
Google Code
There are some great free software development tools
available on the Internet. In fact, some is an understatement. There are so darn many tools that (like licenses)
it is nearly impossible to decide what is best for any
particular purpose. I decided that I wanted to collaborate
with folks on open source projects, but I didn’t have much
of a clue where to start. I spent a few days digging around
and finally decided that I wouldn’t be able to declare any
‘best’ way to do this. So, without saying that I’ve found
the best free solution, I will say I’ve found a good set of
tools and am beginning to learn how to use them.
Remote Open Source Code Repository
As I’ve stated, I chose Google Code. Why didn’t I
choose SourceForge or github or some other website?
Mainly because the Google Code site looks simple and
clean. Also, after reading some stuff on the Google Code
website, I saw that they are restricting choices to the most
commonly used sorts of things. Now one might be
opposed to having restricted choice (freedom and all that),
but when you’re learning, a little guided restriction can be
a blessing. I have to trust that Google is being reasonable
in winnowing the choices consistent with the goals.
The first objection I’m going to hear about from you is
that Google Code requires you to register. So, this doesn’t
mean they are going to steal all your personal information
and send it to that son of a recently deceased government
official in Nigeria who wants you to help him transfer $12
million to the US. Enough making fun already – just sign
up with Google or go away and do your own thing.
