Project files: README, security policy and contributing in the help #

The repository of Exponential has a few files outside the documentation directory that every administrator and developer should know: the README that introduces the project, the security policy that says how to report a vulnerability, the contributors' guidelines, the copyright notice and the license. The help shows them as pages of their own, so you can read them in the administration without going to GitHub.

Where to find them #

• All help pages (the contents page) and the page tree next to every help page: each of them is a page at the top of the tree, next to the main folders, under its own title (the README's is the name of the project). They are not in a folder, and the breadcrumb above one reads Help > its title.
• The dashboard: the category Project files.
• The search: they are found like every page; choose the category "Project files" or the type "Project file" to see only them.

Their addresses start with project/, followed by the path of the file in the repository: /exphelp/viewer/project/README.md, /exphelp/viewer/project/SECURITY.md. The README.md files of the command line scripts (project/bin/...), the designs and the kernel are shown too, when those directories have one.

The documentation of the extensions is not among them: it has its own category, Extensions (an extension keeps README.md and INSTALL.md on top and every other page as Markdown in its doc/; see Documenting an extension). Tests, the files of hidden directories such as .github/ (the pull request template) and anything else that is not meant to be read as documentation are never shown here.

Links between them and the documentation #

The files link to each other and to the documentation with relative links, as on GitHub, and the help follows them: a link from the README to a guide opens the guide in the help, and a link from a help page to the README opens the README here. Each page also has "Edit on GitHub", which opens the same file in the repository.

In other languages #

These files are written in English and are not translated, like the release notes. If you read the help in another language, they are shown in English with a note that says so.

License #

The project files are part of the software, not of the documentation: they are distributed with Exponential under its license, the GNU General Public License, version 2 or any later version. The note under each of them says so and links the license. The documentation pages themselves are free documentation (see Free documentation).

What is never shown #

Only files that are committed to the repository are shown. A file someone put in the installation directory without committing it (a private note, a local copy of a page) is never shown, never found by the search and never linked, whatever the settings say. Files in places git ignores, files outside the installation directory, hidden files and directories (.github/), tests, anything below extension/, and anything that is not Markdown are never shown either.

For administrators who want to change which files are shown, and for the full list of rules, see The help system (exphelp.ini [ProjectFiles]).