https://github.com/govtechsg/innersource-documentation

https://github.com/govtechsg/innersource-documentation

Last synced: 3 months ago
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• Host: GitHub
• URL: https://github.com/govtechsg/innersource-documentation
• Owner: GovTechSG
• Created: 2022-04-26T07:45:43.000Z (about 4 years ago)
• Default Branch: main
• Last Pushed: 2023-05-05T07:08:26.000Z (about 3 years ago)
• Last Synced: 2025-08-31T20:49:25.501Z (9 months ago)
• Language: HTML
• Size: 85 KB
• Stars: 2
• Watchers: 10
• Forks: 1
• Open Issues: 0
• Metadata Files:
  • Readme: README.md

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README

          
# What is InnerSource?

InnerSource is applying open source software development practices to

private code inside of organisations.

The community of software developers across the Whole of Government

(WoG) face common challenges in addressing security and policy

compliance issues specific to the Singapore Government when writing

their software. They also face similar challenges in promoting and

adopting best-of-practice standards and patterns. InnerSourcing helps to

address these challenges by providing an ecosystem of software modules,

templates and example code that WoG developers can reuse or adapt to

their own projects.

Governments and organisations worldwide are incorporating open source

methodologies into the way they build and ship their own software.

Adopting this modern approach to software development for internal

projects can be transformative — enabling collaboration and fostering

the creation of high quality code behind the firewall.

**According to innersourcecommons.org:**

> “InnerSource takes the lessons learned from developing open source

> software and applies them to the way companies develop software

> internally. As developers have become accustomed to working on world

> class open source software, there is a strong desire to bring those

> practices back inside the firewall and apply them to software that

> companies may be reluctant to release. For companies building mostly

> closed source software, InnerSource can be a great tool to help break

> down silos, encourage internal collaboration, accelerate new engineer

> on-boarding, and identify opportunities to contribute software back to

> the open source world.”

## Why InnerSource?

### Benefits of InnerSource

* InnerSource generates faster development by allowing the use of

  ready-made or “off the shelf” components in place of developing

  everything with custom code - Developers don’t always have to start

  from scratch.

* InnerSource practices of sharing code between groups creates higher

  quality projects by allowing more reviewers with diverse perspectives

  and use cases to examine, test, and refine the project.

* Just as with code quality, code security is also improved by having

  more reviewers.

* InnerSource creates community among developers who work on different

  teams and products but have similar roles. This allows networking

  between individuals and a collaborative mentorship that improves the

  skills of both parties.

* InnerSource promotes the practice of transparency in government - open

  and shared decision-making builds process, trust, and alignment.

### Examples of InnerSource in Government

InnerSource examples are beginning to become more common. The foremost

example of InnerSource in Government is the Singapore Government Tech Stack (SGTS).

The majority of SGTS products' source code are being innersourced, allowing

greater collaboration, reuse and sharing across Government.

Other GovTech products are following with the formalisation of

InnerSource practices and the adoption of SHIP-HATS.

## InnerSource Project Checklist

These items help developers using the SHIP-HATS 2.0 code

repository platform to find code repositories for their project, clone

and integrate the InnerSourced code into their projects, as well as

write and contribute enhancements and modifications back to the

InnerSource code repository.

 - [ ] Project provides reusable code or relevant shared information (such as documentation or examples)

 - [ ] Project is on **SHIP-HATS 2.0**

 - [ ] Project is assigned the `"innersource"` topic

 - [ ] Project visibility is set to `"internal"`

 - [ ] Project contains a `README.md` and a `CONTRIBUTING.md` (with other optional documents recommended)

 - [ ] Project licensed with GPSL (or similar Agency-specific permissive license)

 - [ ] Project establishes a team structure to encourage contributions (such as Maintainers and Trusted Committer roles)

For more details see [How to InnerSource](how-to-innersource.md).

## How to find InnerSource Projects

To find out what InnerSource projects are available, check out the

`InnerSource` [topic](https://sgts.gitlab-dedicated.com/explore/projects/topics/innersource) in SHIP-HATS where you can browse, search, and

navigate to each of the InnerSource tagged projects.

## InnerSource Working Group

GovTech has formed a Working Group around InnerSource as a place for

members to collaborate and discuss how InnerSource works in Government.

Please reach out via email or Telegram if you are interested to join the community.