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LV Champion Derek Trepanier has developed a Git solution and did 2 presentation at the CLA summit I am still working on getting all the CLA videos edited and uploaded. The new Tecnova video sharing site is a week away from going live. So to keep the momentum going I have posted Derek's presentation on the link below so others can see his perspective. https://drive.google.com/open?id=17mjooun62caeL6EcsCG2g1arpg-OoRhk

One of the main topics of the 2018 CLA Summit was the need to improve access to open source code in the LabVIEW community. This is something that I have tried to do in the past with limited success. After hearing what others are doing and discussing the issues, I am inspired to take on the task of getting as much of my code that is shareable out into the open for others to use, improve, learn from and critique. So, the point of this thread is to figure out how best to do that. I have tried posting code to forums in the past. I have even posted to the code repository here on LAVA. I have used code posted here and via the tools network and VIPM in my own projects. But I am not sure if any of those avenues are the right path forward for me. There was much discussion about different open source repositories on the interwebs that we could leverage. There was also some discussion about how to help others discover the code you shared. What I did not hear was any definitive conclusions on how best to do this. So, the point of this thread is to try to solicit feedback on code sharing and come to some sort of consensus on the best options out there. If you have an opinion on this please join the conversation and share what you think is the best solution. Here are some questions I am trying to answer: 1. Where should we share code? What system works best for LabVIEW code and is user friendly enough to not discourage people from using it? Please share links and how-to documents for your preferred site/system. 2. How should we license code? I heard some discussion about the various type of licenses. I am not interested in retaining any rights to code I share and do not want to put any burdens on those who want to use and learn from any code I share. What licence is accepted in the open source community that supports this kind of sharing? 3. Once we post, how do we make our code discoverable? Do we need to post links all over the place or is there a better way? Here is one attempt at making that better you should check out if you have not already: I am not just interested in putting the code out there, but also trying to explain why I think it is worth your time to take a look. I am willing to post on forums, create a blog, even produce some vlogs on YouTube if it is the best option. Please let me know what format would motivate you to take the time to learn about the open source code out there. Either way, thanks for taking the time to read this thread and contribute what you can, even if it is just to follow the discussion and learn from others like I am trying to do. -John

To be fair I'm not the only owner of this, any moderator or admin on LAVA can update this as well. But I get your point.

I would vote for a community based Wiki. Checking around one has been started. http://labview.wikidot.com/ Exists but has no content. Does anyone know who is the admin?

Personally, I think that VIPM would cover most of the needs of code sharing if it wasn't for one HUGE limitation which is a public, free, open repository. The LabVIEW Tools Network repository is great for sharing code that has been vetted and approved by NI's engineers and processes. However there's obviously a huge need for a public repository that has little or no barrier to entry. And even if somebody created a repository like this somewhere (LAVA maybe?) nobody could access the repo unless they pay for a Pro license of VIPM per-user. Now what Derek/MGI have started with GPM is an awesome first step in solving this, but I think there's one big disadvantage: there is now one additional tool for installing G Code (reminiscent of https://xkcd.com/927/). If I have a project that uses some NI toolkits, some LVTN toolkits and some Open Source GPackage toolkits, I have 3 different tools needed for getting a system set up. I also have three different places (not counting the numerous GitHub repos, LAVACR pages, internal code repos, etc) to go looking for the code I need. What we need is a single tool that will install everything from all sources in the same standard. I would also want some way to differentiate what's an official NI product, whats a validated LabVIEW Tools Network product, and what is a use-at-your-own-risk open source ...thing... It would also be great if users could rate and review all these things so you could have more information on which of the 7 JSON toolkits is the best for your needs. I also realize the fallacy of pointing out problems without solutions, but as I'm not in the business of making package management tools, it's hard for me to prescribe others what to do with their time and money. Hopefully this discussion bubbles up to the right people who ARE in this business so we can get the solution the community needs. [Edit: Darn, in the time that I was typing this, it looks ShaunR posted almost the same ideas, just more succinct... Glad we're on the same page]

A semi-common way of doing this is to make github pages with lists -- these github pages are themselves git repos and thus can be modified by anyone, just like a wiki. example: https://github.com/rust-unofficial/awesome-rust https://github.com/bulutyazilim/awesome-datascience https://github.com/node-opcua/awesome-iot meta: https://github.com/sindresorhus/awesome Obviously a lot of these are poorly organized, including the data science one, but...

I am not sure what the solution would look like but I would like to somehow combine Dereks solution with the LAVA Code repository. Ideally we would use LAVA for discussion, ranking and finding and Git for code management and collaboration.

You might want to give https://tldrlegal.com/ a look although as I am also not a lawyer I can't really verify the correctness of any information they give. I would start by looking at the most popular but the ones I hear about most are BSD, MIT, and Apache. The NI DCAF tools are all under Apache 2 which lets users do basically anything they want to do with the code but doesn't hold you liable (again, not a lawyer). I don't know of a good way myself. GPM (https://gpackage.io/) looks promising but of these things very much rely on a network effect. GPM also looks much more focused on project libraries and not editor enhancements such as quick drop and right-click plugins or even templates like TLB' or DQMH. Because there isn't really an easily searchable centralized repository of LabVIEW code that I know of, I think you have to be a good self promoter if you want people to use any LabVIEW software. I think Fabiola (DQMH), Q (QControls), and Derek (Solution Explorer, GPM, MGI Stuff) all promote their stuff well if you want to see what they are doing (I think it's a mix of quality products, quality documentation, and continued promotion of the product) Also make sure to check out the Distributed Control and Automation Framework (DCAF) when you are starting your next embedded control application.