Friction is a tool to check your project for common sources of contributor friction.

If you want people to use and contribute to your project, you need to start by answering their most basic questions. Friction is a command line script that will check your project for common answers to these questions. Read more at friction/wiki.

Friction takes its inspiration from Flint. Friction is written in Ruby instead of Go, has a nicer interface, and some extra features that Flint doesn't have.

Install the latest stable version of Friction via RubyGems:

$ gem install friction

Run friction from your project root to check for some common ways to improve the experience for potential contributors. Here's some example output:

$ friction
/repo
 [ERROR] README not found                see https://git.io/yHosNA
 [ERROR] CONTRIBUTING guide not found    see https://git.io/g_0mVQ
 [ERROR] ISSUE_TEMPLATE not found        see https://git.io/vgpaA
 [ERROR] PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE not found see https://git.io/vgpVk
 [ERROR] CODE_OF_CONDUCT guide not found see https://git.io/vJvR3
 [ERROR] LICENSE not found               see https://git.io/pFMQMQ
 [ERROR] Bootstrap script not found      see https://git.io/jZoRYA
 [ERROR] Test script not found           see https://git.io/oo21Jw

If some checks do not apply to your project, skip certain files using the --skip (or -s) flag, like this:

$ friction --skip bootstrap:test:issue_template
/repo
 [ERROR] README not found                see https://git.io/yHosNA
 [ERROR] CONTRIBUTING guide not found    see https://git.io/g_0mVQ
 [ERROR] PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE not found see https://git.io/vgpVk
 [ERROR] CODE_OF_CONDUCT guide not found see https://git.io/vJvR3
 [ERROR] LICENSE not found               see https://git.io/pFMQMQ

The arguments passed to --skip are separated by :. The possible arguments include readme, contributing, issue_template, pull_request_template, code_of_conduct, license, bootstrap, test, and gitignore.

If you have a large number of projects you'd like to check with Friction, you can use the --recursive (or just -r) flag to recursively check every directory in the current working directory. Here's example output:

$ friction -r -s bootstrap:test:issue_template
/repo
 [ERROR] README not found                see https://git.io/yHosNA
 [ERROR] CONTRIBUTING guide not found    see https://git.io/g_0mVQ
 [ERROR] PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE not found see https://git.io/vgpVk
 [ERROR] CODE_OF_CONDUCT guide not found see https://git.io/vJvR3
 [ERROR] LICENSE not found               see https://git.io/pFMQMQ
/repo2
 [ERROR] README not found                see https://git.io/yHosNA
 [ERROR] CONTRIBUTING guide not found    see https://git.io/g_0mVQ
 [ERROR] PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE not found see https://git.io/vgpVk
 [ERROR] CODE_OF_CONDUCT guide not found see https://git.io/vJvR3
 [ERROR] LICENSE not found               see https://git.io/pFMQMQ
/repo3
 [ERROR] PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE not found see https://git.io/vgpVk
 [ERROR] CODE_OF_CONDUCT guide not found see https://git.io/vJvR3

Friction aims to support and is tested against the following Ruby implementations:

• MRI 2.2.x
• MRI 2.1.x
• MRI 2.0.0

If something doesn't work on one of these Ruby versions, it's a bug. Friction may inadvertently work (or seem to work) on other Ruby implementations, however support will only be provided for the versions listed above.

If you would like Friction to support another Ruby version, you may volunteer to be a maintainer. Being a maintainer entails making sure all tests run and pass on that implementation. When something breaks on your implementation, you will be responsible for providing patches in a timely fashion. If critical issues for a particular implementation exist at the time of a major release, support for that Ruby version may be dropped.

If you want to hack on Friction locally, we try to make bootstrapping the project as painless as possible. Just clone and run:

$ script/bootstrap

This will install project dependencies and get you up and running. If you want to run a Ruby console to poke on Friction, you can crank one up with:

$ script/console

Using the scripts in ./script instead of bundle exec rspec, bundle console, etc. ensures your dependencies are up-to-date.