Allow direct branches and pull requests from BBC staff

[sbeaumontweb]

The GEL technical guides are pieces of documentation that detail recommended, accessible implementation approaches for GEL components. When GEL patterns are updated, either through UX or engineering, the GEL technical docs should also be updated to reflect the changes.

Currently, as this is a public repository, it is necessary for those without write access to fork the repo in order to raise a pull request to update the docs. My understanding of the reasoning here is that it limits the ability to merge and update the public-facing documentation to a select group of administrators. This is to mitigate the risks associated with having public-facing documentation that anyone can access.

However, this method can increase the perceived barriers for folks who would like to contribute to the documentation from within the BBC, especially when contributions to this repo are on a volunteer basis.

Therefore, I propose that we change the way that contributions work by enacting the following:

• Allow everyone within the bbc github organisation write access to the repository.
• Create a new CODEOWNERS file for the repo that limits ownership to repo administrators.
• Create a new branch protection rule that:
  • Requires a pull request from a branch
  • Requires at least 1 approval before merge
  • Enforces at least 1 review to be from a Code Owner for the repo.
• Document the above process in a contributors doc.

Using branch protection rules and CODEOWNERS in this way allows us to continue mitigating the public-facing risk by limiting the ability to merge changes to being approved by a particular group (likely the current admins). However, it will then be possible for anyone within the BBC github organisation to branch from the main repo and create a pull request without having to fork the entire repo.

Contributors from outside of the BBC github org will continue having to fork the repo to raise a pull request.