In github, I often see these terms and in many cases they are used interchangeably. Can someone please explain the difference between a contributor and a collaborator?
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You may want to read https://help.github.com/articles/adding-outside-collaborators-to-repositories-in-your-organization/ – onmyway133 Jan 21 '16 at 03:53
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Also: https://opensource.stackexchange.com/a/10108 – S.B Oct 31 '22 at 13:31
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From the GitHub Open Source Guide and GitHub Help.
- Author: The person/s or organization that created the project
- Owner: The person/s who has administrative ownership over the organization or repository (not always the same as the original author)
- Maintainers: Contributors who are responsible for driving the vision and managing the organizational aspects of the project. (They may also be authors or owners of the project.)
- Contributors: Everyone who has contributed something back to the project.
- Community Members: People who use the project. They might be active in conversations or express their opinion on the project’s direction.
- An outside collaborator is a person who isn't explicitly a member of your organization, but who has Read, Write, or Admin permissions to one or more repositories in your organization.
freddiev4
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9GitHub defines a Contributor as: "This user has previously committed to the
repository." I think that generally means a merged pull request (In other words, a contributor is more than someone who "wants to contribute," but someone who has contributed already). Minor point. – Nateowami Jan 30 '17 at 08:35 -
1@Nateowami I agree with you as I have tested it out. After my pull request was merged, I was granted as a "Contributor". – Evading Shadows Apr 15 '20 at 04:53