FOSS:Contributing: Difference between revisions
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* An empty infobox row is not an error — the item simply has no statement for it yet. | * An empty infobox row is not an error — the item simply has no statement for it yet. | ||
* Facts are read live: update the item, not the page. | * Facts are read live: update the item, not the page. | ||
* | * Licence, operating-system and developer items are created deliberately, not by the wizard. No match in the form? Create the item first (step 4). | ||
== See also == | == See also == | ||
Revision as of 16:21, 21 August 2026
The contributing guide for the FOSS namespace: how to add a program, what lives where, and the FOSS conventions. General wiki rules live in Help:Contributing — this page only covers what is specific to FOSS pages.
The shape of a FOSS page
A FOSS page is a thin template over its item: the banner and infobox read the item's statements at view time; the prose lives on the page. A fact changes in one place — the item — and every page that renders it updates.
Live example — FOSS:Flameshot ↔ Item Q191:
| What you want | What you type | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Official website | {{#statements:official website}}
|
https://flameshot.org |
| Source code repository | {{#statements:source code repository}}
|
https://github.com/flameshot-org/flameshot |
| Category | {{#statements:instance of}}
|
free and open-source software |
How this works: Help:Contributing/semanticDynamicContent.
Adding a FOSS, step by step
You need an account — see who can do what.
- Search first. The program may already have a page or an item under another name. Check the hub list and the search box before creating anything (search before creating is the house rule).
- Create with Special:AddSoftware. It searches Wikidata and GitHub, you pick a candidate, and it creates three things in one flow: the item, the
FOSS:<Name>page and the page↔item link. - Review the record before creating. The harvested data (name, website, repository, license, version) is editable — correct what is wrong before saving.
- Link item-typed facts. Developer, license, operating system and friends are links to other items. When the matching item does not exist locally, create it first (Special:AddCollective for organizations, Special:AddPerson for people) and pick it in the form.
- Write the prose. The created page comes with an Overview, Features, Alternatives and See also skeleton. Replace the stubs with real content (style guide).
- Verify. The page should render the infobox with the statements you wrote. A wrong fact is fixed in the item — not on the page.
No authority record? Create from blank: Special:AddSoftware/manual.
What goes where
| In the item | On the page |
|---|---|
| Facts that can move or change: website, repository, license, developer, version, category | Prose: what the software does, how to use it, features, alternatives |
| References and provenance for those facts | Links to related pages (cheatsheets, other FOSS pages) |
The split exists so that a moving project is fixed in one place — the item.
Good to know
- An empty infobox row is not an error — the item simply has no statement for it yet.
- Facts are read live: update the item, not the page.
- Licence, operating-system and developer items are created deliberately, not by the wizard. No match in the form? Create the item first (step 4).
See also
- FOSS:Main — the hub
- Template:FOSS — the page template
- Help:Contributing — general contributing guide
- Help:Contributing/semanticDynamicContent — rendering item data on pages
- Help:Contributing/entities — the data model
- Help:Contributing/styleGuide — writing style