FAQ - Openforge

FAQs & Customer Support

If you are facing any problems, please read the FAQs below. You will find answers & solutions to most of the common questions. If your problem is still unresolved, please email us at support[at]openforge[dot]gov[dot]in. Our support team will get back to you.

Q: What is OpenForge?

A: OpenForge is Government of India's platform for open collaborative development of e-governance applications. Through this platform, the government wants to promote the use of free and open source software (FOSS) and promote sharing and reuse of e-governance related source code. The platform will allow collaborative development of source code for e-governance projects between Government departments / agencies and private organizations, institutions and developers.

Q: What are the benefits of using OpenForge?

A: OpenForge offers the following benefits:

- to provide a platform for maintaining code repositories and version control for government source code
- to promote a culture of open collaborative application development between public agencies and private organizations, citizens and institutions
- to reduce development cycles and fasten the rollout of e-governance applications in the country
- to deliver e-governance services and solutions of higher quality and security through increased transparency and mass peer review
- to reduce e-governance project cost and bring down total cost of ownership through a system of reuse, remixing and sharing

Q: What is the need for OpenForge when platforms like GitHub & SourceForge already exist?

A: Platforms like GitHub& SourceForge are indeed very popular, but they don’t focus on government applications. OpenForge is a specialised platform solely for Indian e-governance and civic applications. Also, many government departments may not be able to use these external platforms due to restrictions on sharing of code/data on foreign hosted servers (outside India) - OpenForge will enable these departments to collaborate and adopt open sourced development practices in a free manner.

Q: How will OpenForge restrict the platform only for e-governance projects?

A: OpenForge is targeted specifically at e-governance applications. Any project (applications, frameworks, languages, libraries, SDKs, APIs, datasets, components, plugins etc.) which deals with governance or civic areas is welcome. Applications without any apparent governance overlap are not allowed on the platform. OpenForge has a project approval system in place for exercising this control. And it reserves the right to decide on the suitability of a particular application for the platform.

Q: Does the Government of India have a policy for open source software?

A: Yes, the Government of India has three policies around open source software and source code sharing. They are as follows:
1) Policy On Collaborative Application Development by Opening the Source Code of Government Applications (namely "Source Open Policy") : This policy provides a framework for archiving government source code in repositories and opening these repositories for promoting reuse, sharing and remixing.
2) Policy on Adoption of Open Source Software for Government of India (namely "Open Source Policy") : This policy provides a framework for the preferred use of open source software systems in government applications and systems.
3) Policy on Open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for Government of India (namely "Open API Policy") : This policy is aimed at providing a framework for opening up APIs in government applications for interoperability and integration with other e-governance systems.

Q: What security features are implemented in Openforge? Is it safe to put my data in it?

A: Openforge is safe and secure to use. We are taking all precautionary measures to ensure your data is protected and uncompromised. Please find the list of security measures that have been implemented till now. This list will expand as more safety features get added.
1) Standard Practices: Openforge follows standard software development practices of uniform coding standards, guidelines and reviews. Every release is reviewed and tested internally for security and penetration vulnerabilities before getting deployed on our servers.
2) 256 Bit SSL Encryption: Openforge uses 256 bit secure socket layer (SSL) Encryption for information transmitted during any activity.
3) ISO 27001 certified Data Centre: The application is hosted in a ISO 27001 security certified data centre.
4) Data Redundancy: Data is backed up in secure environment with proper redundancy.
5) Security Audit: The Openforge application has been security audited by a recognized audit agency and the application security audit certificate has been obtained.

Q: Are softwares on OpenForge free to download and use?

A: All software applications on OpenForge are free to download and there is no provision for any type of payments on the platform. However every project's usage conditions are governed by the license that the owner of the project chose for it. Please refer to the license conditions to know how you are allowed to use it.

Q: Is any fees required to be paid for using OpenForge?

A: No, there is no fees for using OpenForge.

Q: What is the collaboration model for OpenForge projects?

A: OpenForge allows two possible collaboration models:
- Government to Community (G2C): In G2C, projects can be created in the public mode by either government or community members. Subject to the approval of the project administrators, anyone can participate in these projects and contribute to open collaborative source code development. The administrators can choose to configure the project access settings in whatever way suits them.
- Government to Government (G2G): In G2G, projects can be created in a controlled mode by government agencies/members only. Membership to these projects will be on approval basis (by the project administrators) and restricted to government entities only.
A special case of G2G is when a particular government department wants a project for private use without any external sharing (i.e. use OpenForge's code repository and version control for internal departmental development). Please note that this private use-case is only allowed for government entities.

Q: How can a user join OpenForge? Is any approval required for joining the platform?

A: Any user can join OpenForge by signing up for it. No approval is required for joining the platform.

Q: How does OpenForge manage licensing of projects? What licenses are available for assigning to projects?

A: On OpenForge, the project owner is free to assign any of the following licenses to their project during its setup process.

Apache License V2.0 ( http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0)
BSD License (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSD_licenses)
Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License v2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/legalcode)
Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike License v2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode)
Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike License v3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode)
GNU General Public License version 2.0 (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html)
GNU General Public License version 3.0 (https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html)
GNU Library or Lesser General Public License version 2.0 (https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/lgpl-2.0.html)
MIT License (https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)

Q: I am working on an open sourced e-governance project and my source code is available on GitHub. Is there any advantage in putting my code on OpenForge as well?

A: If the project relates to Indian e-governance or civic issues, we recommend you put it on OpenForge also. We hope OpenForge will become an active community with a large user-base, thereby providing wide coverage and distribution to its projects. However this is our opinion, and the choice (whether to share on OpenForge or not) rests entirely with you.

Q: Is there any incentive for becoming a contributor to an OpenForge project? Will I get paid for my volunteer work?

A: There is no monetary incentive for contributing to OpenForge projects. Most people contribute to free and open source software (FOSS) because they believe in its philosophy and want to volunteer for it. However community level incentives can be available if the project administrators so decide - it is purely up to them at an individual project level (OpenForge does not come in here).

Q: If I put my source code project on OpenForge, to whom does the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) of the code belong? Under what conditions can the code be used by the members of the community?

A: The IPR of any project on OpenForge lies with the project owner (or administrator). They are free to assign any of the available licenses and administer the project according to the provisions of that license. The members of the community have to adhere to these license terms while using that project.

Q: How can new projects be created on OpenForge?

A: Any registered user can submit a new project creation request. This request will need to be approved by OpenForge before the project gets allowed (usually within 24 hours). Users are requested to provide all details while filling out the project request. Sometimes OpenForge may come back to you for some additional clarifications before the approval is granted.

Q: I created an OpenForge project, but could not find the option of assigning a license in the project creation page. Please let me know how can this be done?

A: A project can be assigned its license from its categorization page. Once the project has been created and approved by OpenForge, the project admin can go to the categorization page and choose the appropriate license.

Q: I represent a State Government department. Can we use OpenForge simply as a private code repository & version control tool?

A: Yes, government entities (whether Central, State, Local or Municipal) are allowed to use OpenForge as a private code repository and version control tool. While submitting the project creation request, you will be asked if you want a private project - please provide all available details for your government department/agency. OpenForge will consider this request and may get back to you, in case of any questions before the approval is given.

Q: I am a member of the external community. Can I create a private project on OpenForge?

A: No, private projects are not allowed for external community members.

Q: I have created a project on OpenForge, but it has still not been approved. How much time does it usually take for a project to be approved?

A: Usually OpenForge will approve a project within 24 hours (on working days) if no further questions are required to be answered. This period may extend slightly longer on weekends or public holidays. Once approved, you will be informed via email.

Q: I am a developer and I wish to contribute to some e-governance projects. How can I do this?

A: If you wish to contribute to any public OpenForge project, we suggest you contact its administrators (from the project page).

Q: How can OpenForge users become a member of (or join) a public project?

A: If you are an OpenForge user and want to become a member of a public project, please go to the project page and contact the project administrators (via email) stating clearly the reasons for your interest, how you can contribute, any prior open source experience etc.

Q: What version control systems can be used in OpenForge?

A: OpenForge works with Git & SVN - two of the most common and popular version control systems being used these days.

Q: How can I categorize my OpenForge project? What purpose does this categorization serve?

A: OpenForge is a community of software developers and it is important for projects to be easily discoverable and searchable by this community. The best way to achieve this is to properly categorize the project from the categorization page. If this is done adequately, developers are likely to find the project while browsing and searching on the platform.

Q: How can project administrators control access to the OpenForge repositories?

A: OpenForge includes a number of features that provide granular control over repository access. The following access rights may be assigned to team members (or a smaller group within them) for each repository:

Admin - Full access to the repository, including the ability to control access for other users
Read & Write - Users may write changes into the repository and read changes from the repository
Read only - Users may browse the repository via the web interface and use Git or SVN to read changes but may not write back into the repository

Q: What are the different types of users on OpenForge?

A: The following user types are available on OpenForge:

Anonymous Users: Users who are visiting OpenForge and browsing its pages while being in the logged-out state.
Registered Users: User who have an OpenForge account and can access all public projects as per the access settings allowed by the project admins.
Project Members: Registered users who have become a member of a particular project by contacting its administrator. Project members can be granted different levels of access by the project admins based on role definition.
Project Administrators: Registered users who created a new OpenForge project become its administrators (or owners). They have full rights over their projects except project deletion - for which they have to contact OpenForge.