Use of GitHub by NIST employees for government work is subject to the Rules of Behavior for GitHub. This is the recommended template for NIST employees, since it contains required files with approved text. For details, please consult the Office of Data & Informatics' Quickstart Guide to GitHub at NIST.
Please click on the green Use this template button above to create a new repository under the usnistgov organization for your own open-source work. Please do not "fork" the repository directly, and do not create the templated repository under your individual account.
The key files contained in this repository -- which will also appear in templated copies -- are listed below, with some things to know about each.
Each repository will contain a plain-text README file,
preferably formatted using GitHub-flavored Markdown and
named README.md (this file) or README.
Per the GitHub ROB and NIST Suborder 1801.02, your README should contain:
- Software or Data description
- Statements of purpose and maturity
- Description of the repository contents
- Technical installation instructions, including operating system or software dependencies
- Contact information
- PI name, NIST OU, Division, and Group names
- Contact email address at NIST
- Details of mailing lists, chatrooms, and discussion forums, where applicable
- Related Material
- URL for associated project on the NIST website or other Department of Commerce page, if available
- References to user guides if stored outside of GitHub
- Directions on appropriate citation with example text
- References to any included non-public domain software modules, and additional license language if needed, e.g. BSD, GPL, or MIT
The more detailed your README, the more likely our colleagues around the world are to find it through a Web search. For general advice on writing a helpful README, please review Making Readmes Readable from 18F and Cornell's Guide to Writing README-style Metadata.
Each repository will contain a plain-text file named LICENSE.md
or LICENSE that is phrased in compliance with the Public Access
to NIST Research Copyright, Fair Use, and Licensing Statement
for SRD, Data, and Software, which provides
up-to-date official language for each category in a blue box.
- The version of LICENSE.md included in this repository is approved for use.
- Updated language on the Licensing Statement page supersedes the copy in this repository. You may transcribe the language from the appropriate "blue box" on that page into your README.
If your repository includes any software or data that is licensed
by a third party, create a separate file for third-party licenses
(THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.md is recommended) and include copyright
and licensing statements in compliance with the conditions of
those licenses.
This template repository includes a file named CODEOWNERS, which visitors can view to discover which GitHub users are "in charge" of the repository. More crucially, GitHub uses it to assign reviewers on pull requests. GitHub documents the file (and how to write one) here.
Please update that file to point to your own account or team, so that the Open-Source Team doesn't get spammed with spurious review requests. Thanks!
Project metadata is captured in CODEMETA.yaml, used by the NIST
Software Portal to sort your work under the appropriate thematic
homepage. Please update this file with the appropriate
"theme" and "category" for your code/data/software. The Tier 1
themes are:
- Advanced communications
- Bioscience
- Buildings and Construction
- Chemistry
- Electronics
- Energy
- Environment
- Fire
- Forensic Science
- Health
- Information Technology
- Infrastructure
- Manufacturing
- Materials
- Mathematics and Statistics
- Metrology
- Nanotechnology
- Neutron research
- Performance excellence
- Physics
- Public safety
- Resilience
- Standards
- Transportation
usnistgov/opensource-repo is developed and maintained by the opensource-team, principally:
- Gretchen Greene, @GRG2
- Yannick Congo, @faical-yannick-congo
- Trevor Keller, @tkphd
Please reach out with questions and comments.