return to the TODO defacto Standards

There are no formal standards on Open Source projects. There are only guides.

Source: The following is from TODO on "Starting an open source project"

Once a company has participated in open source communities long enough to build a reputation, it’s in a position to launch its own open source projects. It’s at this stage of open source participation that companies can realize the greatest benefits from open collaboration. You can open source proprietary projects that could be of use to the community. Another common avenue is to create new open source projects from scratch and benefit from collaboration among external developers at the outset.

This guide was created to help enterprises already well versed in open source learn what they need to know to start their own open source projects. We’ll take you through the process, from deciding on what to open source, to budget and legal considerations, and more. The road to creating an open source project may be foreign, but major enterprises including Google, IBM, Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft have blazed the trail for you. Follow this guide for topical and helpful advice and you will be on your way.

• Why create an open source project?
• When to create an open source project
• Where to start
• Planning the project
• Launching your open source project
• Open source project launch checklist