Host your project’s code on Launchpad

Important

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You can host your project’s source code using Launchpad and Git. If you’re new to Git, or distributed version control in general, take a look at this Git tutorial first.

When you push a Git branch to Launchpad, it’s usually associated with a project that’s also registered in Launchpad. Other people can then get hold of your Git branch, modify it, and push their own version back up to Launchpad for everyone to see.

This guide shows you how to:

  • tell the world your project uses Launchpad to host its source code

  • push your first Git branch up to Launchpad

  • set that branch as your project’s development focus – i.e. trunk

  • hand the branch over to a team, so several people can commit code to it.

Note

Launchpad is free of charge for open source projects. To host non-open code on Launchpad, check out this doc on consumer hosting <consumer-hosting>.

Enable code hosting for your project

First, add your project to Launchpad.

When you’ve done that, visit your your project’s overview page. There you’ll find a Configuration progress section in the right-hand column. Click Code and either select an existing branch or set up a new one.

Push a Git branch to your project

You can push and pull code from Launchpad directly from the terminal. If you haven’t already, you need to first add your SSH key to Launchpad.

To push your branch up to Launchpad, open your terminal and go to your Git branch. Set up the remote and push:

git remote add origin git+ssh://username@git.launchpad.net/~username/project-name
git push -u origin branch-name

  • ~username: this is your Launchpad id, which is the portion of your profile page URL that begins with the tilde

  • project-name: the name of the project in Launchpad

  • branch-name: whatever name you want to give to your branch, such as trunk, main, or experimental.

Replace project-name with your project’s Launchpad id. The id is the final part of your project overview page’s URL: e.g. launchpadlib in https://launchpad.net/launchpadlib/.

See your branch in place

Once Git has pushed your branch to Launchpad, Launchpad will scan the revisions in your branch and:

  • list the repository on both your own code overview page and that of the project.

  • enable other people to download the branch and create their own version of it

  • make the full revision history available in the source-code tab.

Let several people commit to the branch

If you want to enable several people to push code to the branch, you’ll need to create a team and make that the branch’s owner.

Go to your project’s code page (https://launchpad.net/project-name), select the repository you want to change, select Change repository details, and change Owner to the new team, and save the changes.

Once on the branch’s overview page, you’ll see an information box on the right-hand side of the page. Click the pencil icon next to your name in the Maintainer section to enter Change branch details page. Select from the drop-down menu Maintainer the team that you want to own the branch.

Next steps

You’re now hosting your project’s code in Launchpad. Anyone can download your code, make their changes and upload their branch for listing on your project’s code page. Other people can also propose there branches for merging into your trunk, or any other branch associated with your project.

Read the full guide to working with merge proposals.