Component Sourcing and Library Management Guide for https://github.com/UWARG/hardware primarily intended for new members of the WARG Electrical subteam as it doesn’t dive into advanced topics.
This writing assumes you have completed the Electrical bootcamp and have a basic understanding of how to use Altium Designer. If you do not, resolve that before proceeding and interacting with our github!
Currently a WIP
Github Repository & How to use it with Altium and Discord
Our github page for hardware for electrical can be found here https://github.com/UWARG/hardware if you do not have write access just @ a lead on discord and they can hook you up provided they are confident in your understanding or something idk.
If you don’t know how to use https://git-scm.com/downloads I highly recommend using https://desktop.github.com/ as it holds your hand and has the required features you will need. I will explain how to use github desktop briefly below, but I will not be explaining how to use Git. Git has more features (primarily for our application, the ability to revert commits, although there are many more) and is the industry standard so if you want to learn it yourself, go for it!
You will start by cloning our repository from “origin” or https://github.com/UWARG/hardware onto your local files. Then you can open up the project with Altium and manipulate it. Be sure to include a commit message following our scheme. Examples of commit messages can be found here https://github.com/UWARG/hardware/commits/master so just try to blend in 
. For a more general guide to writing commit messages please at least skim https://chris.beams.io/posts/git-commit/ if you are new to Github.
Be sure to pull from origin before beginning work and push to origin after committing, failure to do this will result things I’m not going to describe how to fix here, but just know they aren’t fun. Further, remember to hit the save button in Altium before committing to ensure all your changes are included in the commit you make. Check the origin github website to be sure your commit actually went through! Further, we have a system in which we use the #git channel in discord to say what files are busy. This is because the files for Altium are refered to as “binaries” and are therefore not mergable! So only one person can work on each file at once since there is no way to merge like there is when you are writing code. Same thing as commit messages, try to blend in, the git channel is filled with examples on how to do this. “Busy” means you are working on something, “Free” means you are done editing and have committed and pushed all your changes.
Be sure to only use components that are a part of our repositories libraries, mistakes can be make if you have your own repository. When creating new projects or files or anything really, always look at previous stuff and copy paste as much as you can. Sometimes the previous stuff is wrong, but if you don’t know copying previous stuff is fine, also, don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t waste your time doing something you’re not sure is correct when someone could answer the questions in a few seconds. Nobody is going to make fun of you, we all learned by questions.
All Components
When sourcing products 99% of the time stick to http://digikey.ca as that’s what we do and they have most things. Always sort by in stock primarily and when you are sourcing search for things that are not only in stock, but are also “well in stock” this means there are at least ten thousand of them available. This is because we will likely order the components weeks or months after you first sourced the part so we want to be sure they will be in stock then and not just in stock when you are sourcing them.
Always be sure to select the “Cut Tape” packaging option for the digikey part number as the other methods are intended for orders of thousands of the component which we never do. This aspect is primarily for entering in the component into Altium as Digikey puts all shipping methods under each product.
Next, we prefer components that are cheap! For common components I’ve listed typical price ranges below, but for other components just be sure you’re going with the cheapest option that still meets the required specifications.
Capacitors
Manufacturer = Murata
2-3x size
0603 preferably, 0805 as backup
capacitance is picky
+-10% tolerance is fine
X7R is preferable
most capacitors should cost less then $0.75
Headers
Resistors
Other non-standard components
Symbol Making
parameters
can copy for common packages of common components
Pins can (and should for aesthetic state) go in any position you want as long as the number and name are correct according to the part datasheet.
Naming scheme, blend in
For the drawing itself you can copy from other libraries as long as it is clean
Footprint Making
Correct pin numbers, no need for top overlay except for dot on pin one on components in which pin1 is important.
Can copy from other components or other libraries, make it clean, must be perfect, download 3d body from digikey or make sure it is 100% the exact component, then use the 3d body to ensure your pins are in the correct position