What channels will you monitor?
You should be active on channels that developers use, such as GitHub or GitLab, Discord, and X (Twitter).
1. Make a Community Engagement Plan
Fair source is for companies that want to engage with the developer community in a meaningful way.
Don’t overplan but don’t underplan. You’re competing with a lot of others for limited attention, so it’s likely that you won’t see a flood of engagement at first. As your product gets traction so will your community, and vice versa.
Who will respond and how frequently?
Designate team members to handle responses and set a regular response schedule.
What will you do with bug reports and feature requests?
Create a process for triaging and addressing user feedback, the raw material for your product vision.
2. Choose a License
Licensing is the heart of Fair Source
Our recommended approach is the Functional Source License (FSL)—a robust, clear, non-compete license that offers two-year OSS conversion. FSL is ideal for companies with a SaaS business model. If you have more complex requirements, look into all Fair Source licenses.
3. Audit for Secrets
Before you publish your code, make sure you don’t have any secrets in your repository.
Tools such as TruffleHog can help with this.
4. Publish Your Repo
This is the fun part. Click the button to make it public and celebrate the moment.
5. Tell the World
Spread the word with us.
Use the fair-source repo topic on GitHub or on GitLab. Share your story about joining Fair Source on your company blog. Announce it on social media, and tell us so we can reshare, and link to your announcement. Welcome aboard.