Schweitzer, Maciej Karol

Szatmáry, Péter

Background. We are all using free and open-source software even if we may not always be activelyaware of it. They are increasingly used in consumer software and hardware components as well,therefore a healthy ecosystem of contributors is important for the continued prosperity of FOSSprojects. Previous work informed us about barriers that contributors to open-source projectmay face. One of the hurdles newcomers encounter are various problems with the project’sdocumentation. However, what none of them explores is what are the consequences of theseissues detected.Aim. Here we show through a qualitative case study done on the FlyByWire1 community,how contributors experience both inadequate and abundant quality as well as quantity ofdocumentation.Findings. We find how community members coped with deficient documentation through askingtheir fellow community members for help and making friends with them. Our findings alsounveiled, that following the FlyByWire team turning around the documentation’s state however,certain members were still asking questions otherwise already answered in the documentation.At the same time, these types of questions were started being answered using links to parts ofthe documentation in lieu of standard responses.Conclusion. Ultimately, whether a newcomer will persevere or drop out depends on many factors,however the friendliness of the community, and the state of the project’s documentation are twofactors that might play a pivotal role in that matter

Exploring the Impact of Open-Source Software Documentation on Contributors Motivation and Participation

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

VBN