How to Properly Archive a Project | Hacker News Reader

How to Properly Archive a Project

medium.com

44 pointsxconspirisist12 comments

I love the concept of a best practices checklist for archiving projects, but first read of the checklist items on this list make it seem more like they are targeting WHY the project is being archived, or WHETHER to archive it.

I expected something more along the lines of HOW - i.e, permanent url, notice that the project is no longer maintained, etc.

I read it as "it would be a kindness if you left this information for those who find your repository".

One of the steps should be "add it to https://codeshelter.co", just in case someone wants to resurrect it.

Disclaimer: I made the above.

> Disclaimer: I made the above.

So it's more like "I would love one of the steps to be my project" rather than "should be".

No, it's "should be".

I think perhaps some decide not to add a helpful message to a project on GitHub when archiving it because it would update the last commit date. I think perhaps GitHub should provide a way to add a markdown note to an archived project in another repository - perhaps the same one that adds a markdown note to a GitHub profile.

They have an archive flag and project description. This should be sufficient for letting folks know.

I maintain a few orgs and this is how I handle abandoned projects. I don’t like updating the readme as 1) it affects the timeline and people may glance at the update date of the commit and have to take more time understanding and 2) I don’t want to show up in the commit history of random projects.

Out of curiousity, why would this be an issue?

Because the last commit date is a key indicator of activity in a project, and someone who is archiving a project doesn't want to get a viewer's hopes up.

Well.. we have commit messages for this

This article proposes a model (“TURTLES”), or more simply, a checklist, of how to properly archive a project.

This is death with extra steps. I would redefine the S to why it's worth salvaging the project.

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