What are the requirements for hosting a project on CodePlex?
Your project must meet the following criteria:
  1. You must choose a license for your project (license resources: Open Source License page on Wikipedia)
  2. It must be an ongoing project (no "abandoned" projects)
  3. It must have source code (no non-software projects)

If you discover a project which is not complying with these requirements, please report it using the contact us form.

Below is an additional FAQ around the rules for hosting projects:

Q: Are there any technology restrictions?
A: No, projects can use any technology (e.g. any operating system or programming language).

Q: What is an "abandoned" project?
A: A project is considered abandoned if there is no longer any coordinators involved with the project and the project has no user traffic. A "finished" project is fine as long as there is still a coordinator for the project and user activity.

Q: Can my project include closed-source or proprietary dependencies?
A: It is fine for your project to be dependent on closed-source or proprietary software, however those dependencies cannot be hosted on CodePlex. You can host them on an alternative site and instruct your users to install them as pre-requisities to installing your project.

Q: Can I include just the binaries of another open source project that is a dependency of my project?
A: Yes, but you should include information on what is the website for the dependency (e.g. include a text file in the same directory as the binary in your project).

Q: Does the project have to be in English?
A: No, projects can be in any language.

Q: Can we create a test project to try out the features of CodePlex?
A: Yes. When you create a project it starts in an "unpublished" state that you can use to test things out. When you're finished you can delete the project without publishing.

Last edited Aug 26, 2010 at 12:22 AM by Ethetica, version 17

Comments

jsxyhelu May 18 at 6:12 AM 
good job!

wichaisiri May 6 at 9:47 AM 
ok

Yindaitao Dec 28, 2012 at 2:45 AM 
.NET 4.0
参考CALS.NET

swapvarhadpande Jun 20, 2012 at 3:44 AM 
i have not much knoledge to create a project can anyone help me to create my project...?

osamanasr555 Feb 20, 2012 at 6:21 PM 
I am new to codeplex too. I am not able to check in source code using the Source Control Tab. Could you please let me know the correct procedure on how to create a new change set. Thanks a lot in advance

jbsalesjr Aug 22, 2011 at 5:41 PM 
Quero criar uma web radio alias seis e preciso de informações e dados para tal

NatdL May 2, 2011 at 10:41 PM 
I am also new to codeplex and i would appreciate it so much if you could provide a few samples.

keerthik Apr 16, 2011 at 12:08 AM 
I am new to codeplex. I am not able to check in source code using the Source Control Tab. Could you please let me know the correct procedure on how to create a new change set. Thanks a lot in advance.

neurospeech Sep 22, 2010 at 7:15 AM 
Is it possible to host a project that is not "free for all", it is only "free for noncommercial and personal use" and "paid for commercial use". Ofcourse with source code, can such project be hosted here?

colinmil Jun 4, 2010 at 6:11 PM 
I have a project that includes other open source code so that there are several licenses involved for the full project. My code is under Apache 2.0 but other portions are covered by BSD and one by a modified BSD. The stie seems to allow only selection of a single standard license for the entire project. Do you have a suggestion for this?

technoshaman Apr 18, 2010 at 8:03 AM 
what about forking other projects is it ok if you use the same lisence?

mvonballmo Sep 29, 2008 at 8:10 AM 
What about a C# code-style manual with examples? The manual itself contains dozens of code examples and is accompanied by one or more sample files using the style. It's not a compilable project, per se, but should be pretty useful nonetheless.

pshoemaker Apr 1, 2008 at 9:41 PM 
If I have a license that isn't a strict Open Source license, can I get it approved by CodePlex and require that anybody accessing the source agrees to it?

jwanagel Dec 20, 2007 at 5:06 AM 
You aren't required to use the source control features of CodePlex as long as you include the source code with the release.

jwanagel Dec 20, 2007 at 5:05 AM 
The site currently doesn't have support for the GPLv3 license.

Cygon Nov 23, 2007 at 6:25 AM 
Can I publish a project on CodePlex but keep my source code in the subversion repository of my own development server?

weimingzhi Nov 20, 2007 at 3:33 AM 
just to make sure... am I allowed to use the GPLv3 on this site?

jwanagel Oct 10, 2007 at 2:53 PM 
Use the "Contact Us" feature to request a custom license text for your project.

MarioDuz Oct 1, 2007 at 2:07 PM 
Why can I only choose a license from those available in combo? I would like to specify my own custom license text.
Thanks.

jwanagel Aug 17, 2007 at 6:51 PM 
The license does not have to be an OSI approved license.

compaqdrew Aug 9, 2007 at 11:17 PM 
Does the license need to be OSI-approved or would any license that provides source code be acceptable? i.e. a "use this source code for noncommercial purposes" license?

jwanagel Aug 4, 2007 at 9:06 PM 
Hosting open source projects where the code is things like examples, or demo projects, or extensions is fine. It does need to have an active coordinator for the project to not be considered "abandoned".

aqeuous May 21, 2007 at 10:43 AM 
We have a successful commercial .NET component that is not open source, but we develop it a lot like open source. I mean we work with customers closely, integrate continuously and release often. We have very active support and discussion forums on our website and we consider adding a public feature/issue tracking system to it too, but I thought wouldn't it be nice to host this at CodePlex? We will not publish source code of the component of course, but we will publish source code of examples, demo projects, new release downloads and support forums and feature requests. It will be very active. Do you want this?