Software developers

1. Open source software development methodology

Developing software using an open source development methodology can be a quite different experience to developing in a closed source model. However, developers with a closed source background may be surprised at the points of similarity as well as difference. These resources explore the background to the open source software world and the way that it works.

• The fundamentals of free and open source software
• Building Communties Around Free & Open Source Software
• Avoiding abandon-ware: getting to grips with the open development method
• Meritocrats, cluebats and the open development method: an interview with Justin Erenkrantz
• Richard Stallman on the road less travelled
• Microsoft: an end to open hostilities?
• How to build an open source community
• Engaging developers workshop, Oxford, 9 October 2009
• From a trickle to a flood: building wide open communities in open source - Community and Open Source Development Workshop, Oxford, 20 October 2008
• Open Accessibility - an overview of projects and communities
• Can you contribute code to an open source project?
• A guide to participating in an open source software community
• Sustainable open source
• WebPA: the road to sustainability
• Open Source Leadership: Debian
• Free and open source software in mobile devices
• Producing Open Source Software - book review
• Community source vs open source
• The community source development model
• Governance models
• Meritocratic governance model
• Benevolent dictator governance model
• Open source and open innovation
• external resources:
  • Open Source Initiative [http://www.opensource.org/index.php]
  • The Free Software Definition [http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html]
  • Philosophy of the GNU Project [http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/]

2. Legal issues

Like any creative professional, a developer needs to understand their intellectual property rights. The code you write may belong to you, your employer or even your college or university. Understanding your responsibilities and rights may seem irrelevant to the core business of getting developing, but unless you take the time to understand these matters then the re-use of code can quickly result in software that cannot be legally released and a lot of wasted effort.

These resources should help you gain a grounding in the legal issues surrounding the creation and reuse of code. Please note: we are not lawyers, and this is not legal advice.

• Free & Open Source Software Licensing
• Releasing your code under an open source licence
• Contributor Licence Agreements
• Creative Commons and Open Content
• Software Patents
• Open Source Development - An Introduction to Ownership and Licensing Issues
• What is version control? Why is it important for due diligence?
• Dual Licensing
• specific licences:
  • The Eclipse Public License - An Overview
  • The GNU General Public License v2 - An Overview
  • GPL v3 - What's New?
  • The GNU Lesser General Public License v2.1 - An Overview
  • The Mozilla Public License - An Overview
  • The Modified BSD License - An Overview
  • The Apache License v2 - An Overview
  • Common Public Attribution License - An Overview
  • GNU Affero General Public License v3 - An Overview
• external resources:
  • An overview of open source software licenses [http://www.abanet.org/intelprop/opensource.html]
  • Intellectual Property [http://www.intellectual-property.gov.uk/]
  • IPR Helpdesk [http://www.ipr-helpdesk.org/]

3. Policy issues

Open source software has relevance to public policy in two distinct areas. Perhaps most obviously it can provide an alternative to the products of proprietary vendors when public bodies look to buy in software. Open source licensing can also be an effective way of making software that has been written by public bodies (with public money) available to the wider community, where it may be taken up and adapted for greater public benefit.

• How to engage OSS Watch in support of your project bid
• Advice for project bids
• The JISC Virtual Research Environment Phase Two Programme: Attitudes to and Awareness of Open Development
• JISC Policy Policy on Open Source Software for JISC Projects and Services
• UK government policy Open Source Software: Use within UK Government

4. Technical issues

Once the legal and policy issues are out of the way, developers usually want to get on with the matter in hand - developing software. Clearly developers need to be well versed in technical matters. Here we link to some more technical resources that may be of interest to those who develop software.

• What is a software patch?
• Creating a new Google Code project
• Creating a project on SourceForge
• Is open source software insecure? An introduction to the issues
• external resources:
  • Freshmeat.net [http://freshmeat.net/], announcements about new software releases
  • SourceForge.net [http://sourceforge.net/], a repository of thousands of open source projects

5. Stay in the loop

OSS Watch also provides institution specific consultation workshops for universities and colleges seeking assistance in thinking through their engagement with free and open source software.

6. Acknowledgements

This document contains Creative Commons licensed photos by Flickr users CrouchingBadger, Joe Gratz and JoGuldi.