What is the difference between an organization member and an outside collaborator?

In GitHub, anorganization memberis a user who has been added to an organization and is subject to the organization's base permissions and policies. Anoutside collaboratoris a user who is not a member of the organization but has been granted access to one or more repositories within the organization.

Here’s the difference between an organization member and an outside collaborator:

Organization Members:

Members are subject to the organization's base permissions, which apply across all repositories within the organization. These permissions might include read, write, or admin access, depending on what has been set as the default.

Members consume paid licenses if the organization is on a paid plan.

Members are required to have two-factor authentication (2FA) if the organization enforces it.

Outside Collaborators:

Outside collaborators do not have organization-wide permissions. They only have access to specific repositories to which they have been granted permission. This means organization base permissions do not apply to them (making option A correct).

Outside collaborators do not consume paid licenses. They are only counted toward the license if they are made organization members.

Outside collaborators can be granted any level of permission, including the admin role on specific repositories.

Two-factor authentication (2FA) can be enforced for outside collaborators at the repository level, depending on the organization's security settings.

Given this information, option A is the correct answer: "Organization base permissions do not apply to outside collaborators."

References:

GitHub Documentation: Roles in an organization

GitHub Documentation: About outside collaborators

GitHub Documentation: Managing repository access for your organization

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