Utopian: How to choose a valid repository
Utopian is one of the biggest and most well-known dApps on the Steem Blockchain. It incentivises contributions to open source projects. These projects are hosted in repositories, such as GitHub, GitLab, and BitBucket. At the moment Utopian only supports projects that use GitHub.
The aim of this post is to guide you on why a repository is not valid for Utopian and how to choose a valid one.
I have been working as a Moderator/Community Manager for almost a year and in this time I saw that one of the most common mistakes was related to the repositories. Utopian has a GitHub Integration Policy but this may not be straightforward for the big mass of contributors who (in general) are not coders.
Let's begin!
1 - The repository is empty
Well, this one is the easiest. If a repository is empty, (meaning has no files) then it is not a valid repo.
2 - Has no code
In a repository you can upload whatever you want, images, text files, video files...
But in an Utopian Contribution The Github repository linked to the submission post must contain the project’s source code (...)
Example of repositories that does not contain code:
dSound's repository is easy to check because there are only two files, the License and the Readme (note that Markdown [.md] files are not considered as source code files), on the other hand, ancap-ch/from-en has so many files and folders!
An easy way to check this is by looking the color bar behind the commits / branches / releases / contributors section, if you click on that bar you can see which programming language was used in that repository, if you can not see that bar, then no programming languages were used.
3 - License and Readme
The Github repository linked to the submission post must contain the project’s source code, a readme file with usage and install instructions and an appropriate open source license, or be directly connected to such a repository.
The repository must contain a README file with some info about the project (note that it should not be empty) and a License, but are all Licenses valid? Well, no, it should be an Open Source License. Although a repository contains a License file, this does not mean that the repository is valid to be used in an Utopian Contribution, it must be an Open Source License.
You should read the License and check that or you can look at the OpenSource.org site and check if the name of the License is in that list.
4 - No program code updates for longer than 6 months
Contributions to repositories that have not received any program code updates for longer than 6 months, will not be eligible for potential reward.
A repository that have not received any program code updates for longer than 6 months may be abandoned / not maintained anymore, for that reason, those repositories are not valid for an Utopian Contribution. To spot this you have different ways:
e.g.: emilypmendez/MemoryKeeper
Look at this area.
If there are several files and folders it won't be that easy, in this scenario you can look at this area and check when was made the latest commit (click on the alphanumeric code 93bb0a5 to see which file was edited)
Click on commits to see the same of 2) but for all the commits
This may be hard to spot for people who are not familiar with GitHub or programming in general.
As you can see in the title of this section, there say "No program code updates", this means you have to check which file was updated, because, if only the README file or the LICENSE or a text file was updated in the last 6 months, then the repository is not valid because there was no program code update
5 - GitHub Issue Tracker disabled
The issue tracker is the place where people report bugs or ask for new enhancement features, you can find this section in the top menu (“Issues” tab).
Telegram Repository - Issues tab disabled
Utopian v2 Repository - Issues tab enabled
Project Owners can enable (by default) or disable the issue tracker, if they disable it we can not report bugs or ask for new features. They may make this decision because they have another issue tracking system or they use forums or other platforms.
Another reason could be that they use the repository only to show the code and they do not want the help of the community, so those repositories are not valid in (some categories) Utopian.
6 - Branches
Check the branches, because just by looking at the main branch you may think that the repository did not have the README file, the LICENSE file, code files or any update in 6 months, but developers could be working on another branch (e.g. their development branch).
For example, looking at cervantes-steem/kriptojobs-web
The main branch has no code https://github.com/cervantes-steem/kriptojobs-web/tree/master
Now, check the maqueta branch https://github.com/cervantes-steem/kriptojobs-web/tree/maqueta
[Updated - 09/25/2018. Thanks @amosbastian]
Bonus
Take a look at this repository and try to find why it's not valid (or is it?) :)
Defold - Repo: defold/editor2-issues
Important: You can always come to our Discord Server and ask if a repository is valid or not depending on the category, we will be happy to help you :)
Disclaimer: Note that in some categories, like Bugs or Visibility, submissions must be explicitly requested by the project owner, or the project must be included in the Utopian Whitelist.
Visibility Whitelist - Bug Hunting Whitelist
Also, contributions to repositories listed on Utopian repos blacklist will not be eligible for potential reward. Check the list and the reasons here
This is an excellent contribution to #iamutopian. It's actually quite useful to me, as a moderator. I must confess that until now, I mostly checked that there is a repository, and that it isn't blacklisted. Now I'll know what else to look out for.
I really liked how well illustrated the post was. It added clarity, and made the post that much more useful.
The one place where I would offer a suggestion for improvement is grammar. The issues aren't deal breakers, but if you want, I can provide some examples in a follow-up comment.
Your contribution has been evaluated according to Utopian policies and guidelines, as well as a predefined set of questions pertaining to the category.
To view those questions and the relevant answers related to your post, click here.
Need help? Write a ticket on https://support.utopian.io/.
Chat with us on Discord.
[utopian-moderator]
Hey @didic, I would love to read your suggestions!
Cool!
Let's focus on your very first paragraph, which is also your very first sentence:
This should be several sentences. Here's a metaphor I've used before: Think of a sentence as a pause from breathing. The period is where the reader breathes. Let them breathe! Now, let's break it apart.
"Utopian is one of the biggest and well-know dApp" has two issues. First, it's "well-known," not "well-know." Also, if it's "one of," thing it is one of is plural. So "dApps," not "dApp."
"built on the Steem Blockchain that incentive Contributions to Open Source Projects" With no commas or sentence break, it is unclear what the second half refers to. Also, it's "incentivises." "incentive" isn't a verb.
You capitalize a bunch of words that shouldn't be, as they are not at the start of a sentence, not proper nouns, and not the word "I."
Once you say "at the moment," the verb should be "uses," not "use."
So, how would an edited version of this paragraph look?
As I wrote, these aren't deal breakers. But these are just the corrections for the first sentence. They add up to make the post harder to read.
Awesome! I love your comments. Thank you!
Thank you for your review, @didic!
So far this week you've reviewed 15 contributions. Keep up the good work!
Cool post, @favcau! One thing I'd like to add about the "no program code updates for longer than 6 months" bit is the following: I've seen repositories that didn't have any updates on the main branch in 6 months, but were actively being developed on another one (e.g. their development branch).
Oh! Yes, you're right, I forgot about that. I'll add it in a few hours. Thanks!
What about https://github.com/inkscape/inkscape ??
They accept code contribution only on Gitlab (probably the reason is they need automation test/build that is flexible)
Hey @drsensor, at the moment Utopian only supports projects that use GitHub.
As you said, inkscape accept code contribution only on Gitlab, their code isn't on GitHub. Then, that repo isn't valid.
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