Open Source Software
- “Free Software” versus “Free Beer”
- Examples of Open Source Software
- Licenses
- When to release your code?
- “Release early, release often”
- Is released source code stable? on multiple platforms?
- Is modifying source code permitted? redistribution?
- Open Source is about more than just releasing source code, supporting a community
- Note, projects die for many reasons (lack of money, interest, skill) and even Mozilla and Google have killed successful projects
- How are modifications re-integrated into project?
- “Keep a history: if it isn't public, it didn't happen”
- Dictator (Linux, Python)
- Committee (Eclipse, Wikipedia, Java)
- Code review (Companies, Pull Request)
- How to get involved?
- “Scratch your own itch”
- Find a project (preferrably one you are using) that is
- still live
- in the language you want
- at your skill level (size does not necessarily matter)
- willing to accept submissions
- "Do something first, ask permission later"
- Many sites to help get you started
- Climb Contributor Mountain
- How do you make money in Open Source?
- Show value beyond just code (service, support)
- Be generally useful, part of a foundation, funded by multiple companies
- Work at another job and do it on the side
Resources