The web-based Git repository hosting service, GitHub is currently hosting its Universe developer conference in San Francisco.

Founded eight years ago, GitHub has grown into a community of more than 16 million developers and is used by some big-name companies. Surprisingly, the company with the most open source contributors on GitHub is Microsoft. With 16,419 contributors, Microsoft beat both Facebook (15,682 contributors), and Google (12,140 contributors).  

Open source participation is growing among large traditional enterprises, including Capital One, Nike, John Deere and General Electric, writes Wikibon Lead Cloud Analyst Brian Gracely. The reason being is that open source allows these companies to develop software with outside teams, create better solutions faster and for a lower cost.

At the company’s Universe conference, CEO Chris Wanstrath, introduced new updates for the code-storing service, including easier ways to manage projects, more ways to leave reviews, and additional security.

Projects: Manage work directly from GitHub repositories

GitHub has a variety of project management tools, including ZenHub, Waffle, and FogBugz, to help teams manage their various projects. GitHub now also integrates a basic Kanban board-like project management tool allowing teams to manage work directly from their GitHub repositories.

The new feature called Projects allows teams to create customized workflows. Teams can create cards from issues, pull requests, or notes. These can then be organized into various columns.    

To create a Project, go to the main repository page on GitHub > click Projects > New Project > Add a Project name and description > Save Project. You can now add columns to your project to suit your workflow > click Add column > add a name > Create column.

Once the Project is set up, teams can add pull requests and issues. Under Projects, select the relevant Project from the list > click Add cards > using search qualifiers search for pull requests and issues. Simply drag and drop the relevant pull request or issue into the Project’s relevant column.

To add notes to a Project, go to the relevant column > click the ‘+’ icon > write your note > click Add note.  

Tip: A note can be converted to an issue by clicking the dropdown arrow of the relevant note > Convert to issue > click Ok.  

Code review

GitHub is also improving code review on the platform with the addition of Reviews. The new code review feature allows developers or collaborators to either ‘approve’ or ‘request changes’ to pull requests, in addition to adding comments on specific lines of code. Reviewers can also review summaries and moderate other comments.

Reviewers can also reply to inline comments without drafting a formal review, allowing for multiple conversations for each individual line of code.

To add a review, click Pull requests > select the relevant pull request > scroll down to the merge box in the Conversation tab > click Add your review.  

To add a line comment, click Pull requests > select the relevant pull request >click Files changed on the pull request. Hover over the line of code > click the blue comment icon > type the comment in the window > click Start a review.  

Comments will remain pending until a review is submitted. Once all comments are done, click Review changes. To submit the changes, type a summary of the changes added > select either Comment, Approve or Request changes > click Submit review.

“These changes are only the first step of a much greater roadmap toward faster, friendlier code reviews. We’re working on a handful of follow-up feature improvements—including the ability to request reviews from your peers,” wrote Wanstrath in a blog post.

Added security

Two-factor authentication

The GitHub updates also include additional security for organization owners, which now allows them to request two-factor authentication (2FA) for all members.

To enable 2FA, click your profile photo > Your profile > under Organizations, click your organization’s icon > click Settings > Security. Select Require two-factor authentication for all members > Save changes > type your organization’s name to confirm the change > click Remove members & require two-factor authentication.

Any members or outside collaborators who will be removed from the organization will be alerted. They will have to enable 2FA before they can access the organization.

Greater permission control

Available soon in beta, GitHub is launching a SAML-based Single Sign-on (SSO) option for enterprise users, ensuring businesses have the necessary tools to automate identity and access management. Sign up on GitHub and receive an alert when the beta is available.

GitHub Community Forum

In 2017, GitHub will launch its Community Forum, a place where developers can work and learn together. It will also be a place for the company to launch any improvements and new features, and will provide developers with the opportunity to provide direct feedback.

Source: GitHub

Images via GitHub