Open Source Software

• “Free Software” versus “Free Beer”
  • Free as in speech versus free-of-charge
  • Richard Stallman, of the Free Software Foundation, now prefers “freedom software”
  • Open Source is a proper noun (also trademarked)

   

• Examples of Open Source Software
  • IDEs: Eclipse, IntelliJ, Visual Studio (and their plug-ins)
  • Browsers: Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome
  • JavaScript: Engine by Google, Engine by Microsoft
  • Languages: Python, OpenJDK (open source, community version of Java)
  • Apache Web Server (run on the majority of all web servers: like apple.com, paypal.com, and bbc.com)
  • Sakai

 

• Licenses
  • Program is your intellectual property, so pick a license
  • No license means you cannot use it — including snippets from places like stackoverflow!
  • Software is complex since the binary is separate from the source (note, multiple licenses are possible)
  • How open source licenses work and how to add them to your projects
  • More generally, use Creative Commons on all your work published to the web
  

 

• 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
    • “Just download the code, familiarize yourself with it, and ..”
    • http://openhatch.org
    • http://sourceforge.net/p/forge/helpwanted/
    • https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Developer_guide/Introduction
    • https://github.com/trending
    • https://developers.google.com/open-source/soc/
  • Climb Contributor Mountain
    • “Projects need contributions from everyone of all skills and levels of expertise”
    • 14 ways to contribute without being a programming rock star
    • How to contribute without coding
    • 50 Ways to be a FOSSer

 

• 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

• The Cathedral and the Bazaar by Eric S. Raymond
• Homesteading the Noosphere by Eric S. Raymond
• The Humanitarian FOSS Project
• The New Struggles Facing Open Source by Matt Asay
• Free Software War :)