About the Foundation for Public Code

[Codebase] and the Standard for Public Code version 0.2.2

This resource

Contents

  1. Code in the Open
  2. Bundle policy and source code
  3. Create reusable and portable code
  4. Welcome contributors
  5. Make contributing easy
  6. Maintain version control
  7. Require review of contributions
  8. Document codebase objectives
  9. Document the code
  10. Use plain English
  11. Use open standards
  12. Use continuous integration
  13. Publish with an open license
  14. Use a coherent style
  15. Document codebase maturity

Contribute on GitHub

Link to commitment to meet the Standard for Public Code:

Code in the Open

  • compliant with this criterion.
Requirement meets links and notes
All source code for any policy and software in use (unless used for fraud detection) MUST be published and publicly accessible.    
Contributors MUST NOT upload sensitive information regarding users, their organization or third parties to the repository.    
Any source code not currently in use (such as new versions, proposals or older versions) SHOULD be published.    
The source code MAY provide the general public with insight into which source code or policy underpins any specific interaction they have with an organization.    

Bundle policy and source code

  • compliant with this criterion.
Requirement meets links and notes
A codebase MUST include the policy that the source code is based on.    
A codebase MUST include all source code that the policy is based on.    
All policy and source code that the codebase is based on MUST be documented, reusable and portable.    
Policy SHOULD be provided in machine readable and unambiguous formats.    
Continuous integration tests SHOULD validate that the source code and the policy are executed coherently.    

Create reusable and portable code

  • compliant with this criterion.
Requirement meets links and notes
The codebase MUST be developed to be reusable in different contexts.    
The codebase MUST be independent from any secret, undisclosed, proprietary or non-open licensed code or services for execution and understanding.    
The codebase SHOULD be in use by multiple parties.    
The roadmap SHOULD be influenced by the needs of multiple parties.    
Configuration SHOULD be used to make code adapt to context specific needs.    
The codebase SHOULD be localizable.    
The codebase SHOULD include a machine-readable metadata description, for example in a publiccode.yml file.    
Code and its documentation SHOULD NOT contain situation-specific information.    

Welcome contributors

  • compliant with this criterion.
Requirement meets links and notes
The codebase MUST allow anyone to submit suggestions for changes to the codebase.    
The codebase MUST include contribution guidelines explaining what kinds of contributions are welcome and how contributors can get involved, for example in a CONTRIBUTING file.    
The codebase MUST document the governance of the codebase, contributions and its community, for example in a GOVERNANCE file.    
The codebase SHOULD advertise the committed engagement of involved organizations in the development and maintenance.    
The codebase SHOULD have a publicly available roadmap.    
The codebase MAY include a code of conduct for contributors.    

Make contributing easy

  • compliant with this criterion.
Requirement meets links and notes
The codebase MUST have a public issue tracker that accepts suggestions from anyone.    
The codebase MUST include instructions for how to privately report security issues for responsible disclosure.    
The documentation MUST link to both the public issue tracker and submitted codebase changes, for example in a README file.    
The project MUST have communication channels for users and developers, for example email lists.    
The documentation SHOULD include instructions for how to report potentially security sensitive issues on a closed channel.    

Maintain version control

  • compliant with this criterion.
Requirement meets links and notes
The community MUST have a way to maintain version control for the code.    
All files in a codebase MUST be version controlled.    
All decisions MUST be documented in commit messages.    
Every commit message MUST link to discussions and issues wherever possible.    
The codebase SHOULD be maintained in a distributed version control system.    
Contributors SHOULD group relevant changes in commits.    
Maintainers SHOULD mark released versions of the codebase, for example using revision tags or textual labels.    
Contributors SHOULD prefer file formats where the changes within the files can be easily viewed and understood in the version control system.    
Contributors MAY sign their commits and provide an email address, so that future contributors are able to contact past contributors with questions about their work.    

Require review of contributions

  • compliant with this criterion.
Requirement meets links and notes
All contributions that are accepted or committed to release versions of the codebase MUST be reviewed by another contributor.    
Reviews MUST include source, policy, tests and documentation.    
Reviewers MUST provide feedback on all decisions to not accept a contribution.    
Contributions SHOULD conform to the standards, architecture and decisions set out in the codebase in order to pass review.    
Reviews SHOULD include running both the code and the tests of the codebase.    
Contributions SHOULD be reviewed by someone in a different context than the contributor.    
Version control systems SHOULD NOT accept non-reviewed contributions in release versions.    
Reviews SHOULD happen within two business days.    
Reviews MAY be performed by multiple reviewers.    

Document codebase objectives

  • compliant with this criterion.
Requirement meets links and notes
The codebase MUST contain documentation of its objectives, like a mission and goal statement, that is understandable by developers and designers so that they can use or contribute to the codebase.    
Codebase documentation SHOULD clearly describe the connections between policy objectives and codebase objectives.    
The codebase MAY contain documentation of its objectives for the general public.    

Document the code

  • compliant with this criterion.
Requirement meets links and notes
All of the functionality of the codebase, policy as well as source, MUST be described in language clearly understandable for those that understand the purpose of the code.    
The documentation of the codebase MUST contain: a description of how to install and run the source code, examples demonstrating the key functionality.    
The documentation of the codebase SHOULD contain: a high level description that is clearly understandable for a wide audience of stakeholders, like the general public and journalists, a section describing how to install and run a standalone version of the source code, including, if necessary, a test dataset, examples for all functionality.    
There SHOULD be continuous integration tests for the quality of the documentation.    
The documentation of the codebase MAY contain examples that make users want to immediately start using the codebase.    
The code MAY be tested by using examples in the documentation.    

Use plain English

  • compliant with this criterion.
Requirement meets links and notes
All codebase documentation MUST be in English.    
All code MUST be in English, except where policy is machine interpreted as code.    
All bundled policy not available in English MUST have an accompanying summary in English.    
Any translation MUST be up to date with the English version and vice versa.    
There SHOULD be no acronyms, abbreviations, puns or legal/non-English/domain specific terms in the codebase without an explanation preceding it or a link to an explanation.    
The name of the codebase SHOULD be descriptive and free from acronyms, abbreviations, puns or organizational branding.    
Documentation SHOULD aim for a lower secondary education reading level, as recommended by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.    
Any code, documentation or tests MAY have a translation.    

Use open standards

  • compliant with this criterion.
Requirement meets links and notes
For features of a codebase that facilitate the exchange of data the codebase MUST use an open standard that meets the Open Source Initiative Open Standard Requirements.    
If no existing open standard is available, effort SHOULD be put into developing one.    
Standards that are machine testable SHOULD be preferred over those that are not.    
Functionality using features from a non-open standard (one that doesn’t meet the Open Source Initiative Open Standard Requirements) MAY be provided if necessary, but only in addition to compliant features.    
All non-compliant standards used MUST be recorded clearly in the documentation.    
The codebase SHOULD contain a list of all the standards used with links to where they are available.    

Use continuous integration

  • compliant with this criterion.
Requirement meets links and notes
All functionality in the source code MUST have automated tests.    
Contributions MUST pass all automated tests before they are admitted into the codebase.    
The codebase MUST have guidelines explaining how to structure contributions.    
The codebase MUST have active contributors.    
The codebase guidelines SHOULD state that each contribution should focus on a single issue.    
Source code test and documentation coverage SHOULD be monitored.    
Policy and documentation MAY have testing for consistency with the source and vice versa.    
Policy and documentation MAY have testing for style and broken links.    

Publish with an open license

  • compliant with this criterion.
Requirement meets links and notes
All code and documentation MUST be licensed such that it may be freely reusable, changeable and redistributable.    
Software source code MUST be licensed under an OSI-approved open source license.    
All code MUST be published with a license file.    
Contributors MUST NOT be required to transfer copyright of their contributions to the codebase.    
All source code files in the codebase SHOULD include a copyright notice and a license header that are machine-readable.    
Codebases MAY have multiple licenses for different types of code and documentation.    

Use a coherent style

  • compliant with this criterion.
Requirement meets links and notes
Contributions MUST adhere to either a coding or writing style guide, either the codebase community’s own or an existing one that is advertised in or part of the codebase.    
Contributions SHOULD pass automated tests on style.    
The codebase SHOULD include inline comments and documentation for non-trivial sections.    
The style guide MAY include sections on understandable English.    

Document codebase maturity

  • compliant with this criterion.
Requirement meets links and notes
A codebase MUST be versioned.    
A codebase that is ready to use MUST only depend on other codebases that are also ready to use.    
A codebase that is not yet ready to use MUST have one of these labels: prototype: to test the look and feel, and to internally prove the concept of the technical possibilities, alpha: to do guided tests with a limited set of users, beta: to open up testing to a larger section of the general public, for example to test if the codebase works at scale, pre-release version: code that is ready to be released but hasn’t received formal approval yet.    
A codebase SHOULD contain a log of changes from version to version, for example in the CHANGELOG.