Freedom and forking in open source software: the MariaDB story

While significant factors that affect the open source community’s interest to participate in a development project have been studied, there has been little focus on the motivating factors that can cause a contributor to become a competitor by utilizing the right to fork a program i.e., to copy an existing program’s code base and use it to begin a separate development. The right to copy an existing program’s code base and use it to begin a separate development is guaranteed by all open source licenses. However, this right to fork a program is rarely exercised. Indeed, there is strong social pressure against code forking stemming from the negative side effects of code forking, such as conflict and duplicated efforts among developers. This paper details the events that led Widenius, the founder of the MySQL project, to decide to fork MariaDB from MySQL. Our findings confirm the previously held notion that there is a high threshold for starting a competing fork. While the few studies that exist of competitive forks find the reasons to be due to disagreement among developers, in the case of MariaDB the fork was caused by Widenius’ concerns regarding the uncertainty of the future freedom and openness of the MySQL codebase. This article makes three contributions. Firstly, it further validates the existing notion that there is a strong threshold to starting a competing fork. Secondly, it offers an in-depth analysis of the events and motivations behind the birth of a fork. Thirdly, it contributes to theory by introducing the freedom factor hypothesis: limiting either developers’ freedoms to contribute to a project or the freedom inherent in a project's license increases the likelihood of a fork

Exploring the Relationship between Research and BIM Standardization: A Systematic Mapping of Early Studies on the IFC Standard (1997–2007)

It has long been argued that the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) data model standard is the key to unlocking the potential of interoperable Building Information Modeling (BIM). Despite a wealth of published research literature incorporating IFC, there have been no attempts at systematically summarizing the literature related to the standard. Targeting both summation and analysis of thematic developments over time, we performed a comprehensive systematic literature review of IFC‐related research published between 1997 and 2007: the first 11 years of research on the standard. Through a systematic web‐retrieval process, 170 unique publications were collected, read, and mapped to a custom framework. The results reveal that journals and conferences have been an integral part of the technical evaluation and development of the standard. The full classification data is provided as an appendix to facilitate future research on IFC and other standards

Introducing “Business Source”: The Future of Corporate Open Source Licensing?

The benefits of the open source development model have been proven by the test of time; however, making this development model economically feasible can be challenging. In this article, Monty Widenius puts forth a suggestion for a new type of license, which is the result of the lessons learned from decades of work on open source, both as programmer and entrepreneur. The result, “business source”, is a license that seeks to enable a business model that can both harness the benefits of open source while generating sufficient income for the program’s continued development. The business source license automatically changes terms after a given period: an initial non-open source license with specific usage restrictions that transforms to a fully open source license on a specific future date. In this article, we contribute a proposal for a novel license, a set of recommendations for managers, and a sample text of a business source license. This work will be of relevance to four main groups: i) those developing or managing a closed source program but who are interested in the benefits open source offers; ii) those managing open core programs; iii) projects in development; and iv) investors interested in funding open source projects

Code Forking, Governance, and Sustainability in Open Source Software

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The Businesses of Open Data and Open Source: Some Key Similarities and Differences

Open data and open source are phenomena that are often automatically grouped together, perhaps because they share the word "open". A careful analysis of what open means in each of these cases is a stepping stone towards building viable businesses around both open source applications and on open data. Although there are, indeed, elements they share through their openness, the ways in which they differ are significant. In this conceptual paper, we aim to out- line the differences and similarities of the two phenomena from a commercial perspective.peerReviewe

The Future of Corporate Open Source Licensing?

The benefits of the open source development model have been proven by the test of time; however, making this development model economically feasible can be challenging. In this article, Monty Widenius puts forth a suggestion for a new type of license, which is the result of the lessons learned from decades of work on open source, both as programmer and entrepreneur. The result, “business source”, is a license that seeks to enable a business model that can both harness the benefits of open source while generating sufficient income for the program’s continued development. The business source license automatically changes terms after a given period: an initial non-open source license with specific usage restrictions that transforms to a fully open source license on a specific future date. In this article, we contribute a proposal for a novel license, a set of recommendations for managers, and a sample text of a business source license. This work will be of relevance to four main groups: i) those developing or managing a closed source program but who are interested in the benefits open source offers; ii) those managing open core programs; iii) projects in development; and iv) investors interested in funding open source projects.peerReviewe

To Fork or Not to Fork: Fork Motivations in SourceForge Projects

A project fork occurs when software developers take a copy of source code from one software package and use it to begin an independent development work that is maintained separately from its origin. Although forking in open source software does not require the permission of the original authors, the new version, nevertheless, competes for the attention of the same developers that have worked on the original version. The motivations developers have for performing forks are many, but in general they have received little attention. In this paper, we present the results of a study of forks performed in SourceForge (http://sourceforge.net/) and list the developers’ motivations for their actions. The main motivation, seen in close to half of the cases of forking, was content modification; either adding content to the original program or focusing the content to the needs of a specific segment of users. In a quarter of the cases the motivation was technical modification; either porting the program to new hardware or software, or improving the original

Innovation Opportunities: An Overview of Standards and Platforms in the Video Game Industry

The video game industry offers insights into the significance of standards and platforms. Furthermore, it shows examples of how new entrants can offer innovative services, while reducing their own risk, through bridging the boundaries between standards. Through an exploration of both past and present, this article aims to serve as a primer for understanding, firstly, the technological standards and platforms of the video game industry, and secondly, the recent innovations within the video game industry that have enabled products to be made available across platforms.peerReviewe

The Business of Open Source Software: A Primer

This article is meant as a primer for those interested in gaining a basic understanding of the business of open source software. Thus, we cover four main areas: i) what motivates businesses to get involved in open source; ii) common open source licenses and how they relate to community and corporate interests; iii) issues regarding the monetization of an open source program; and iv) open source business models currently employed. This article is particularly suitable for people who want a general understanding of the business of open source software; people who want to understand the significant issues regarding an open source program's potential to generate income; and entrepreneurs who want to create a company around open source code.peerReviewe

Forking: the Invisible Hand of Sustainability in Open Source Software

The ability to create and maintain high-quality software artifacts that preserve their usability over time is one of the most essential characteristics of the software business. In such a setting, open source software offers excellent examples of sustainability. In particular, safeguarding mechanisms against planned obsolescence by any single actor are built into the very definition of open source development. The most powerful of these safeguarding mechanisms is the ability to fork the project as a whole. In this position paper, we argue that the possibility to fork any open source program serves as the invisible hand of sustainability, ensuring that the code can always remain open and that the code that best fulfills the needs of the community will live on