Pull Requests in Open Source Hardware
From Open Source Ecology
- Github - good article on how to work pull requiests and merges with open hardware. - [1]. Key is modularity, so only parts need modification. Changes can be verified by the project leader, or the leader can even request that pull requests must be accompanied by mailing the modified hardware to the leader - to save time. Mechanics of the pull/merge process for hardware need to be documented. Does someone simply submit a code patch (OpenSCAD or FreeCAD file)? How are diffs shown in STLs? Does Github already have that capacity? If not, it should be added.
- Good comment in the article from practitioners - Thom Randolph - http://thomr.com/
- Important study of how Git originated - including the origin of the term git - definite lessons for OSE - [2]
- Study the function of the patch (UNIX) program - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patch_(Unix). What is the equivalent of Diff-Patch for hardware? It is a program that works with FreeCAD to extract the Diff, then apply the Patch. What is the advantage of using Patch instead of making changes manually? It saves time over fixing lines of code, especially if there are many lines of code to be changed. But in hardware - currently the only way to apply a patch is to replace the old file with a new file - unless some new software is created that allows patches to be applied in different way.
Applications
- It may be worthwhile to use Github for CAD files and STL files.
