Deployment
Build tools
Making sure you software can be built and installed easily is a very important part of the software's life cycle. It will be a hard requirement if you intend your software to be adopted and used by others.
For compiled languages such as C, C++ and Fortran you will need to set up how to compile and link your code. Several build environment are available such as autotools and CMake.
Although scripting languages such as Python and R don't require compilation you would still rely on these environments if you build extensions for these languages.
Although it takes time to properly configure the build process, and there is a learning curve, it will save you a lot of time in the long run.
Most build environments also allow you to run tests, and that includes those for scripting languages. Integrating test execution as part of your build process is most certainly a best practice.
Deployment
Most build environments let you easily create distributions of your software projects, for instance under the form of source archives that include the build configuration files.
Some environments go even a step further by supporting uploads to software distribution repositories.
The build systems can also be configured to do the installation of software, something that can be tuned further by the person who installs the software on her own system.
Package managers
Many software project rely on packages that need to be installed to successfully link or run the application or library. Managing these dependencies can be pretty tedious.
Some build tools will help you to easily integrate such libraries by configuring the build configuration with the information on where they are installed on a system.
Most build systems also support a form a dependency management or package management that allows you to easily download and install packages. Typically these installs will be local to the project, so it is not necessary to install them centrally and "pollute" your system.
This dependency isolation makes it easier to test the software build system and makes it more portable to other computers and operating systems.
License
A very important aspect of software deployment is licensing. Releasing software without a license or with one that is not appropriate can have dire consequences.
It is also very important to verify that the licenses of software component or tools are compatible with the one you select for yourself.
There is a nice website that helps you select an appropriate license. However, when in doubt, get in touch with your Technology Transfer Office, they will be able to advice.
Can I cite you on that?
If you choose a license that enforces those that use it to give you credit, it makes sense to make it as easy as possible for them to do so. The same applies if you hope to be cited in scientific publications that use your software.
You can associate a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) with your GitHub
repository. This service is offered by Zenodo that
integrates well with GitHub. When you do a release, your repository gets a DOI
that you can include in your README.md as a badge.
This is the case for the GitHub repository for this training material.
Examples
Examples of using various tools can be found in other repositories.