So I wanted to opensource my website, but I have some questions. (lemm.ee)

submitted 5 months ago by LemmyQuest@lemm.ee to c/opensource@lemmy.ml

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Can I opensource it in a way where changes is not open to the public?
I have google verification file on my git, is it ok to put it in the public?

The platform is gitlab.

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[-] TootSweet@lemmy.world 16 points 5 months ago

Open Source is sometimes described as "anyone can contribute", but that's an oversimplification. Open Source projects always have a gatekeeper or small community of gatekeepers who decide which contributions are actually incorporated into the project and which are rejected as not up to snuff or straight up bad ideas or whatever.

That's what you meant by your first question, right? Not "how do I hide the code of future changes" but "how do I retain control over what code is added to my repo", correct?

Even if you meant it the other way, you could theoretically do that. Open Source one version and then never release any newer versions.

[-] LemmyQuest@lemm.ee 2 points 5 months ago

No, I meant that I wanted to hide old commit history.

[-] TootSweet@lemmy.world 8 points 5 months ago

Ah! Yes. No reason why you couldn't. It would require making a new repo, copying the files into the new repo, and committing in one big commit before pushing to gitlab, but yeah. Definitely doable.

(I basically always do this myself. I don't start the Git repo until I want to Open Source it. So when I first Open Source it, it's a "complete" (or at least "minimum-viable-product") project and there's only one commit. Every commit I make and push thereafter is public, but there aren't any from before my first push/publish.)