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Towards an Openness Rating System for Open Source Software

Towards an Openness Rating System for Open Source Software. Wolf Bein Clint Jeffery UNLV University of Idaho. Outline. Motivation & Background The Open Source Social Contract The Openness Factor Rating Scheme Case Studies Openness Categories Conclusions. Motivation.

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Towards an Openness Rating System for Open Source Software

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  1. Towards anOpenness Rating Systemfor Open Source Software Wolf Bein Clint Jeffery UNLV University of Idaho

  2. Outline • Motivation & Background • The Open Source Social Contract • The Openness Factor Rating Scheme • Case Studies • Openness Categories • Conclusions

  3. Motivation • Many “open source” projects are open in name only. • The formal definitions of OSS state what licenses have to say • We rate traits that a project has to deliver in order to be truly open.

  4. Cathedral and Bazaar • What is “openness”? • “read” open vs. “write” open • Open code vs. open process and control • Cathedral projects can go to great lengths to provide openness of code

  5. Social Contract of Open Source • Open source projects are science experiments • First principle of openness: reproducibility (buildable and runnable) • Second principle of openness: documentation (Markle’s corollary)

  6. Openness Factor Rating Scheme • Categories and Rubric for Assessing Openness of OSS • Geometric average of n ratings • OFR=(C1C2…Cn)1/n • In version 1, n=9

  7. Openness Categories • Language portability • Contributors • Source documentation • Repository permanence • Library portability • Users • User Documentation • Build Documentation • License

  8. Portability • Language portability • 1.0 for C/C++/Java • Market share on which others can be built • Includes language version dependence • Library portability • 1.0 = no non-ANSI/non-ISO libraries • Market share of all other libraries • Penalties for compiler limitations, excessive size

  9. Population Rationale: more eyes = more open • Users: generate (or reflect) openness, accessibility, internationalization • 1.0 = 100K+; .9 = 10K+; .8 = 1K+; .7 = 100+ • Contributors: a form of proof that the software is built successfully by many • 1.0 = 1000+; .9 = 100+; .8 = 10+

  10. Documentation • User Documentation • 1.0 = good books; .9 = TRs, articles • 0.8 = website, online help; 0.5 = documented • Build Documentation • 1.0 = automated or well documented • 0.5 = build requires training • Source Documentation • 1.0 = books on the implementation • 0.9 = design docs; 0.8 = code comments

  11. Misc • License • 1.0 = public; 0.9 = liberal; 0.8 = GNU • Permanence of Repository • 1.0 = many mirrors • 0.9 = major third party repository • 0.8 = 1-2 major institutional sites • 0.7 = canonical but obscure site

  12. Case Studies • Galib .77 cathedral, institutional • Unicon .85 niche, library pains • Alice .49 no build doc, cathedral • Linux .95 assembler • Open Office .93 repository • LaTeX .9 cathedral, LPPL license • OpenSolaris .9 compiler sensitive • SecondLife .68 major library issues • Freespire .69 non-open mix-ins • MediaPortal .72 build challenges

  13. Openness Classes • Class I : >= 0.9 • Class II : >= 0.75 • Class III: < 0.75 • Two “failing scores” produces Class II; four produces a Class III rating

  14. Conclusions • OFR version 1 is simplistic • Could find new categories, or better measures for existing categories • OFR1 does separate sheep and goats • We are looking for posers • We hope such a measure will encourage open source projects to be more open

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