413 research outputs found

    Factors Affecting the Success of Open Source Software

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    With the rapid rise in the use of Open Source Software (OSS) in all types of applications, it is important to know which factors can lead to OSS success. OSS projects evolve and transform over time; therefore success must be examined longitudinally over a period of time. In this research, we examine two measures of project success: project popularity and developer activity, of 283 OSS projects over a span of 3 years, in order to observe changes over time. A comprehensive research model of OSS success is developed which includes both extrinsic and intrinsic attributes. Results show that while many of the hypothesized relationships are supported, there were marked differences in some of the relationships at different points in time lending support to the notion that different factors need to be emphasized as the OSS project unfolds over time

    Three essays on problem-solving in collaborative open productions

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    The term “open production” is frequently used to describe production systems that rely on volunteer participants who are willing to participate, produce, and bear private costs in order to provide a public good. Examples of open production are becoming increasingly common in many industries. What make these productions possible? How may they be sustained in a world of organizations in which the evolutionary products of economic selection are elaborate hierarchical forms of organization? One way to address these questions is to look at how open productions solve problems that are common to all production organizations such as, for example, problems in the division of labor, allocation of tasks, collaboration, coordination, and maintaining balance between inducement and contributions. Under the conditions of extreme decentralization that are the defining feature of open productions, this approach implies a detailed observation of individual problem solving practices. This is the approach I develop in my dissertation. Unlike much of the prior literature on open productions, I deemphasize motivational elements, status-seeking motives, and allocation of property rights issues. I focus instead on actual work practices as revealed by the day-by-day problem solving activities that qualify open productions projects as production organizations despite the absence of formal contractual arrangements to regulate principal-agent relations. What my work adds to the extensive, informative, and well-developed discipline-based explanations that are currently available, is a focus on the emergence of micro-organizational mechanisms through which problem assignment (Chapter 2), problem resolution (Chapter 3), and sustained participation (Chapter 4) are obtained in open productions. In my essays, I draw from organizational sociology and the behavioral theory of the firm to specify models that relate individual problem-solving activities to structured patterns of action through emergent work practices. In the models that I specify and test, I emphasize processes of attention allocation (Chapter 2), repeated collaboration and group diversity (Chapter 3) and identity construction (Chapter 4) as central to our understanding of the dynamics of problem-solving in organizations. One element of novelty in my study is that my research design makes these work practices directly observable at a level of detail, completeness, and precision that was inaccessible in the past. To illustrate the empirical value of the view that I develop I examine problem-solving activities – i.e., bug fixing and code production – within two Free/Open Source Software (F/OSS) projects during their entire life span. Readers of my work will know more about how organizational micro-mechanisms emerge in open productions

    Design Architecture, Developer Networks and Performance of Open Source Software Projects

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    In this study we seek to understand the factors differentiating successful from unsuccessful software projects. This article develops and tests a model measuring the impact on software project performance of (1) software products ’ design architectures and (2) developers ’ positions within collaborative networks. Two indicators of project success are used: product quality and project velocity. Two dimensions of design architecture – degree of decomposition and coupling – and one characteristic of developer network structures – degree centrality – are investigated for their impact on project performance. Using data gathered from SourceForge.net and its monthly dumps, we empirically test hypotheses on the top 100 projects according to project rankings. These rankings are generated from the traffic, communication, and development statistics collected for each project hosted on SourceForge.net. Besides the top 100 projects, we also randomly choose another 100 projects to form the data sample. The main findings are that (1) the degree of decomposition has an inverted U-shaped relationship with project performance, (2) when tested on the sample of top 100 projects, average degree centrality of a project team has a positive and significant effect on project performance and (3) the effects of network metrics o

    CODE ARCHITECTURE AND OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

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    A model is developed to study how the code architecture affects open source software (OSS) development. The model incorporates the resource heterogeneity and diverse motivations of various groups of programmers as well as the strategic interactions among them. We argue that the major advantage brought by a modular architecture of OSS code base is that it reduces both the cognitive cost and the coordination cost associated with OSS development, thus allowing programmers more easily to locate, manage, and contribute to the code base. We show that in OSS development, while modular architecture can potentially increase code contribution, it does not necessarily reduce free-riding; in fact it may well increase free-riding due to the strategic interactions among the programmers. We further empirically test the predictions using the SourceForge OSS development data, and the results confirm our theoretical predictions. The findings bear important theoretical as well as practical implications and provide guidelines for practitioners of OSS development and the collective innovation in general

    Architecture Information Communication in Two OSS Projects: the Why, Who, When, and What

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    Architecture information is vital for Open Source Software (OSS) development, and mailing list is one of the widely used channels for developers to share and communicate architecture information. This work investigates the nature of architecture information communication (i.e., why, who, when, and what) by OSS developers via developer mailing lists. We employed a multiple case study approach to extract and analyze the architecture information communication from the developer mailing lists of two OSS projects, ArgoUML and Hibernate, during their development life-cycle of over 18 years. Our main findings are: (a) architecture negotiation and interpretation are the two main reasons (i.e., why) of architecture communication; (b) the amount of architecture information communicated in developer mailing lists decreases after the first stable release (i.e., when); (c) architecture communications centered around a few core developers (i.e., who); (d) and the most frequently communicated architecture elements (i.e., what) are Architecture Rationale and Architecture Model. There are a few similarities of architecture communication between the two OSS projects. Such similarities point to how OSS developers naturally gravitate towards the four aspects of architecture communication in OSS development.Comment: Preprint accepted for publication in Journal of Systems and Software, 202

    Open design : práticas atuais e implicações para a arquitetura e desenho urbano

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    Orientador: Evandro Ziggiatti MonteiroTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Civil, Arquitetura e UrbanismoResumo: O conceito de Design Aberto (OD) tem atraído cada vez mais atenção de pesquisadores, comunidades e empresas. Os seus benefícios são frequentemente associados à democratização do design, melhoria mais rápida de projetos, customização em massa e aos processos de inovação alternativos. No campo da construção, diferentes exemplos que levam em consideração o conceito do OD, podem ser encontrados. As possibilidades vão desde o compartilhamento de componentes de rápida fabricação e de baixo custo para a construção de casas (Wikihouse), passando pela fabricação de móveis (Opendesk) até as ferramentas de jardinagem (AKER). No contexto de comunidades mais pobres, a abordagem OD desperta interesse. Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo investigar o conceito de DO como fenômeno emergente e suas implicações no campo da Arquitetura e do Design Urbano. Atualmente, existem poucas pesquisas sobre OD, principalmente se o limitarmos à prática da arquitetura. Proponho uma análise de pesquisa multi-método, utilizando estratégias qualitativas e quantitativas no estudo do mesmo fenômeno. A estrutura da pesquisa aborda quatro questões principais: (1) Como os diferentes aspectos de abertura afetam a fabricação de artefatos? (2) Como o OD se relaciona com o desenvolvimento sustentável? Quais são as limitações atuais e os caminhos possíveis para superá-las? (3) Quais são os desafios atuais para replicabilidade no OD e como superá-los? (4) Qual é a estrutura de uma comunidade colaborativa de OD? Com base nos resultados, é possível argumentar que que o OD possa alterar a maneira como os arquitetos e os urbanistas trabalham. Os obstáculos atuais, no entanto, precisam ser enfrentados antes que o conceito possa ser adotado por um público maior, especialmente nas comunidades mais pobres. Dos resultados transversais de quatro questões propostas, quatro sugestões foram feitas: (1) a adoção de uma abordagem de metadesign, (2) a adoção de projetos modulares, (3) a educação para a abertura e (4) o uso de microfábricas móveis como infraestrutura urbana. Por fim, a pesquisa contribui para as discussões sobre OD e visa construir uma estrutura conceitual para a prática profissional da arquitetura com uma abordagem voltada ao ODAbstract: The concept of Open Design (OD) has increasingly gathered attention amongst scholars, grassroots communities and companies during the last ten years. OD benefits are often associated to the design democratization, faster improvement of design artifacts, mass customization and alternative innovation processes. In the construction field, a number of examples that take knowledge and digital commons into account already exists. The possibilities go from sharing low-cost and rapid-assembly components for building houses (Wikihouse), furniture fabrication (Opendesk) and gardening tools (AKER)). In the context of a developing country, the OD approach arouses interest. This research aims to investigate the concept of OD as an emergent phenomenon and its implications to the field of Architecture and Urban Design. Despite the emergence, little research on OD currently exists, especially if we limit it to the scope of the architecture practice. I propose a multi-method research analysis, using qualitative and quantitative strategies in the study of the same phenoma. The research structure addresses four main questions: (1) How do the different aspects of openness affect artefact manufacturing? (2) How does Open Design relate to sustainable development? What are the current limitations and possible pathways to overcome such limitations? (3) What are the current challenges for replicability in OD and how to overcome them? (4) What is the structure of an OD collaborative community? How and Why users collaborate? Based on the findings, it is possible to argue for the viability of OD to change the way architects and urban designers work. Current hurdles however need to be tackled before it can be adopted by a larger audience, especially in poorer communities. From cross-cutting results of four RQs, four suggestions were made: (1) the adoption of a metadesign approach, (2) the adoption of modular designs, (3) the education for openness and (4) mobile microfactories as urban infrastructure. The research contributes to discussions on Open Design and aims to build a conceptual framework for the professional practice within the emergence of ODDoutoradoArquitetura, Tecnologia e CidadeDoutor em Arquitetura, Tecnologia e Cidade01-P-04375-2015CAPE

    Warnings: Violation Symptoms Indicating Architecture Erosion

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    As a software system evolves, its architecture tends to degrade, and gradually impedes software maintenance and evolution activities and negatively impacts the quality attributes of the system. The main root cause behind architecture erosion phenomenon derives from violation symptoms (such as violations of architecture pattern). Previous studies focus on detecting violations in software systems using architecture conformance checking approaches. However, code review comments are also rich sources that may contain extensive discussions regarding architecture violations. In this work, we investigated the characteristics of architecture violation symptoms in code review comments from the developers' perspective. We employed a set of keywords related to violation symptoms to collect 606 (out of 21,583) code review comments from four popular OSS projects in the OpenStack and Qt communities. We manually analyzed the collected 606 review comments to provide the categories and linguistic patterns of violation symptoms, as well as the reactions how developers addressed them. Our findings show that: (1) 10 categories of violation symptoms are discussed by developers during the code review process; (2) The frequently-used terms of expressing violation symptoms are "inconsistent" and "violate", and the most frequently-used linguistic pattern is Problem Discovery; (3) Refactoring and removing code are the major measures (90%) to tackle violation symptoms, while a few violation symptoms were ignored by developers. Our findings suggest that the investigation of violation symptoms can help researchers better understand the characteristics of architecture erosion and facilitate the development and maintenance activities, and developers should explicitly manage violation symptoms, not only for addressing the existing architecture violations but also preventing future violations.Comment: Preprint accepted for publication in Information and Software Technology, 202

    An Investigation into quality assurance of the Open Source Software Development model

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    A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Wolverhampton for the degree of Doctor of PhilosophyThe Open Source Software Development (OSSD) model has launched products in rapid succession and with high quality, without following traditional quality practices of accepted software development models (Raymond 1999). Some OSSD projects challenge established quality assurance approaches, claiming to be successful through partial contrary techniques of standard software development. However, empirical studies of quality assurance practices for Open Source Software (OSS) are rare (Glass 2001). Therefore, further research is required to evaluate the quality assurance processes and methods within the OSSD model. The aim of this research is to improve the understanding of quality assurance practices under the OSSD model. The OSSD model is characterised by a collaborative, distributed development approach with public communication, free participation, free entry to the project for newcomers and unlimited access to the source code. The research examines applied quality assurance practices from a process view rather than from a product view. The research follows ideographic and nomothetic methodologies and adopts an antipositivist epistemological approach. An empirical research of applied quality assurance practices in OSS projects is conducted through the literature research. The survey research method is used to gain empirical evidence about applied practices. The findings are used to validate the theoretical knowledge and to obtain further expertise about practical approaches. The findings contribute to the development of a quality assurance framework for standard OSSD approaches. The result is an appropriate quality model with metrics that the requirements of the OSSD support. An ideographic approach with case studies is used to extend the body of knowledge and to assess the feasibility and applicability of the quality assurance framework. In conclusion, the study provides further understanding of the applied quality assurance processes under the OSSD model and shows how a quality assurance framework can support the development processes with guidelines and measurements
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