A Tier 4 project is a fully open and collaborative project that operates under a community governance model. In Tier 4 projects, the focus is on collaborating broadly with the public, and the project is often either donated to or stewarded by an external community. The governance structure is open and welcomes input from a wide range of contributors, typically from outside the original development team.
- Broad public collaboration with contributions welcomed from the community.
- Community-led governance, where decisions are made transparently, often with input from various stakeholders.
- Mature open-source project, typically with a well-defined governance structure to guide development, maintenance, and project direction.
There are specific files that are required to include in the repository as part of the CMS Open Source Program Office's repository hygiene guidelines and standards.
File | Requirement | Description |
---|---|---|
LICENSE |
Mandatory | Defines the licensing terms under which the project is distributed. |
SECURITY.md |
Mandatory | Outlines the agency's security policies, including how to report security issues or vulnerabilities in the code. |
README.md |
Mandatory | Provides a comprehensive overview of the project, including its purpose, how to install or use it, and any relevant information for users or developers. |
CONTRIBUTING.md |
Mandatory | Offers guidelines for contributing to the project, including code standards, how to submit issues, and creating pull requests. |
MAINTAINERS.md |
Mandatory | Lists the individuals responsible for maintaining the project as well as reviewing and approving pull requests. |
GOVERNANCE.md |
Mandatory | Describes the governance model of the project, such as decision-making processes and rules for contributing. It ensures a transparent process for managing the project. |
CODEOWNERS.md |
Mandatory | Defines ownership of various sections of the repository. |
COMMUNITY_GUIDELINES.md |
Mandatory | Defines expectations for interactions within the project's community, including how external contributors should engage and behave. |
CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md |
Mandatory | Establishes guidelines for acceptable behavior within the community, setting expectations for how contributors should interact in a respectful and collaborative manner. |
For more information about required sections and content within the files above, please visit maturity-model-tiers.md.
Located in the .github
directory are GitHub Action workflows that can be used to regularly update your repository.