I'm primarily an ASP.NET developer and I'm hoping to move a few projects to Codeplex and open them up to the community. Most of my applications are database-driven, so I'm faced with the question of how I should deal with the database. Should I post the schema and expect contributors to build/host their own database? Should I include a database file in the project? Should I find a way to host a community database?
Your thoughts?
I think posting scripts to create the database, and populate any needed data would be sufficient. I don't think it's too much to expect for people to get SQL Server Express, or some other free database, and host their own copy of the database.
Why not offer all three? If you can find a place to host the database, making the schema scripts and including the DB file is simple. The projects I have used simple have a create script.
