Hi - I’m still getting to grips with version control and using Github for collaborating and merging different branches before re-importing into Anvil.
One thing I noticed, and can’t find help on the Forum, is that I can only add a LICENSE in the client_code or server_code folders as a form or .py file respectively. Then after a Git clone, the License is buried in the relevant subfolder rather than appearing in the root folder (which is the normal practise for Github e.g. when you use https://choosealicense.com/licenses/gpl-3.0/ to create a Pull Request to add a license).
So my suggestion/feature request is to add an “ADD LICENSE” function either as an Anvil ‘Service’ or perhaps as part of the Publish or Share Menus. Minimum functionality would create LICENSE file (in the root directory) which you can manually copy paste license text into from within Anvil. More elegant functionality would be to use https://choosealicense.com/licenses/gpl-3.0/ or similar to automatically create the Pull Request, with Anvil then prompting to accept (i.e. merge) the new license.
You can add files like this to your repository with Git! You’re right that you can’t edit them with Anvil, but if you check the repository out locally, create a LICENSE file, then git add it to the repository, commit it, and push it back to Anvil, it will stay there – and whenever you check that repository out again, or push it to Github, there it will be
(If you’re putting it on Github, I would recommend doing the same with a README.md)
I’m not a power-user and have been having trouble getting Git/Github to work properly with Anvil (see Newbie's guide to Anvil and Git/Github) which is one reason I think it would be helpful to have an Add License feature independent of whether you’re using Git/Github or are properly set up.
Another reason is that having the feature as a prominent menu item in the main Anvil interface would encourage best practise (we should always specify a license for our apps, right?).
And finally the more features that Anvil can offer ‘out of the box’ without leaving the browser, the more easy to use it will be, especially for relative newbies like me who are still struggling even after reading the Forums.
