---
title: "22-open-source-software"
aliases: 
tags: 
- cosc202
- lecture
---

![](https://i.imgur.com/3EQenkP.png)

# Describe Origination
- how to floss projects get created
	- forking an existing open source project
		- mangement of existig project "run out of steam"
		- users decide to take development of themselves
	- some decides to apply an open source licence
		- e.g., individual or member of team with appropriate responsibility
- Motivation for release as floss
	- giving back to community
	- seeking addition team members, code or otherwise
	- grow ecosystem around the software system 
		- essentially a form of publicity

# Detail Roles
- Team shape
	- depends of specifics and scale of project
	- small projects often driven by an individual
	- a few developers collaborate closely - often code founders
	- large potentially open team combine contributions
- different jobs and skill sets beyond coding
	- documentation - creating and updating
	- code review - pre-merge and post-merge quality control
	- testing - developing tests (or test suites), and reporting back user bugs
	- community - keeping team motivated and focused

# Contrast Governance vs management
- mangement
	- day to day decisions
- governance
	- controlling overall roadmap
	- setting priorities to reach intended milestones
	- often a spectrum between
		- commercial organisation that retain ownership
		- open community-led approach
	- community-led governance needs agreed stucture
		- e.g., executive, committees, voting process for key decisions

# Sketch OSS foundations
# # sharing development and governance
- required governance processes similar in big projects
	- can benefit from manageing multiple projects together
- e.g. apache software foundation (ASF)
	- american non-profit
	- manages more than 350 projects
	- can share governance, management, and commounity
		- conferences (apacheCon) bringing community together
- many others e.g., free software foundation (GNU)

## Incubation into open source foundations
- foundations reputation: projects must he high quality
	- but also want to be boradly accepting
- ASF has Apache incubator
	- new projects gain inital ASF linkage
	- see if projects demonstrate continued development activity
	- see if projects are popular iwth end users
- Large organisations can donate code to incubator
	- need to be sure that code can be maintained
	- e.g., google wave 

# Understand sustainability challenges
- need mechanisms to keep project resouced
	- e.g., financial support for key developers
- sustainability - software is seldom "finished"
	- new features require development
	- bugs need fiing, but hobbyists don't give 24/7 service
	- older code within project may nee