Producing Open Source Software

Index

A note on the digital index

A link in an index entry is displayed as the section title in which that entry appears. Because some sections have multiple index markers, it is not unusual for an entry to have several links to the same section. Clicking on any link will take you directly to the place in the text in which the marker appears.

A

Aegis, Aegis

Alpha qualifier, Release Number Components

alpha release, Development Status

Ant build system, Compilation and Installation

Apache Software Foundation, Prevent Territoriality

governance documents, Writing It All Down

licensing and patents, Patents

approval voting, When Consensus Cannot Be Reached, Vote

APR project, numbering, The Simple Strategy

Arch, Arch

Artificial Intelligence Lab, Conscious resistance

ArX, ArX

author tags in source code, Prevent Territoriality

automated testing, Automated testing

B

backward-compatible releases, The Simple Strategy

Bazaar and Bazaar-NG, Bazaar

benevolent dictators, Benevolent Dictators

Berkeley Software Distribution (see BSD)

Beta qualifier, Release Number Components

beta release, Development Status

Bikeshed Effect, The Softer the Topic, the Longer the Debate, Why Should I Care What Color the Bikeshed Is?

binary packages, Binary Packages

Blandy, Jim, You Are What You Write

branches, Version Control Vocabulary

release branches, Release Branches–Mechanics of Release Branches

using to avoid bottlenecks, Use branches to avoid bottlenecks

Brooks, Fred, Technical Infrastructure

Brooks’ Law, Technical Infrastructure

BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution), Accidental resistance

licensing, What About The BSD License?

BTT (Bluetail Ticket Tracker), BTT

bug reports, example instructions, Example Instructions for Reporting Bugs

bug tracking, Version Control and Bug Tracker Access

communications and, No Conversations in the Bug Tracker–No Conversations in the Bug Tracker

bug tracking software, What a Project Needs, Bug Tracker–Prefiltering the Bug Tracker, Free Bug Trackers–BTT

Bugzilla, Bugzilla

DBTS, DBTS

GNATS, GNATS

Mantis, Mantis

Roundup, Roundup

RT, RT

Scarab, Scarab

Trac, Trac

Bugzilla, Bugzilla

C

CAN/CVE numbers, CAN/CVE numbers

candidate releases, Candidate Releases

canned hosting, Canned Hosting, What a Project Needs, Canned Hosting–Anonymity and involvement

change management, Version Control

ChangeLog files, Name and Layout

changes and changesets, Version Control Vocabulary

CHANGES files, Name and Layout

checkouts, Version Control Vocabulary

closed-source licensing, Terminology

code review, Practice Conspicuous Code Review

Codeville, Codeville

CollabNet, Types of Involvement

commits, Version Control Vocabulary

committers, Committers–Avoid Mystery

COMMITTERS file, Avoid Mystery

dormant committers, Dormant Committers

partial commit access, Partial Commit Access

qualities of, Choosing Committers

revocation of commit access, Revoking Commit Access

voting, and, Who Votes?

communication, Communications Channels, Communications–Distribute the fix publicly

bug tracking and, No Conversations in the Bug Tracker–No Conversations in the Bug Tracker

difficult people, Difficult People–Case Study

mailing lists (see mailing lists)

publicity, Publicity–Publicity

security vulnerabilities, Announcing Security Vulnerabilities–Distribute the fix publicly

CAN/CVE numbers, CAN/CVE numbers

fix distribution, Distribute the fix publicly

prenotification, Pre-notification

writing, You Are What You Write–Face

content, Content

email conventions, Structure and Formatting

face, Face

impact of good writing, You Are What You Write

rudeness, Recognizing Rudeness

signature blocks, Face

structure and format, Structure and Formatting

tone, Tone

compilation process, Compilation and Installation

conflicts, Version Control Vocabulary

consensus, Consensus-Based Democracy

voting and, When Consensus Cannot Be Reached, Vote

contract work, Contracting–Case study: the CVS password-authentication protocol

contrib/ area, Prevent Territoriality

copy-modify-merge model, Version Control Vocabulary

COPYING files, How to Apply a License to Your Software, Name and Layout

copyleft, Terminology

copyright, How to Apply a License to Your Software

assignment of, Copyright Assignment and Ownership

corporate funding, Money–Don’t Bash Competing Open Source Products

contracting, Contracting–Case study: the CVS password-authentication protocol

funder relations to open source community, Appear as Many, Not as One–Money Can’t Buy You Love

impacts on open source projects, Money

issues for funders, Money

marketing concerns, Remember That You Are Being Watched–Don’t Bash Competing Open Source Products

motivations for, Types of Involvement–Types of Involvement

dual-licensing, Types of Involvement

non-programming activities, Funding Non-Programming Activities–Providing Hosting/Bandwidth

documentation, Documentation and Usability

hosting and bandwidth, Providing Hosting/Bandwidth

legal issues, addressing, Legal Advice and Protection

quality assurance, Quality Assurance (i.e., Professional Testing)

usability testing, Documentation and Usability

programmers, hiring of, Hire for the Long Term

credit for participation, Credit

criticism, employing toward project members, Praise and Criticism

CVS (Concurrent Version System), Choosing a Version Control System

regression test suite, Automated testing

CVSNT, CVSNT

D

Darcs (David’s Advanced Revision Control System), Darcs

DBTS (Debian Bug Tracking System), DBTS

delegation, Delegation–Notice what people are interested in

democracy, Consensus-Based Democracy

developer documentation, Developer documentation

developer guidelines, Developer Guidelines

development status, Development Status

DFSG-compliant (Debian Free Software Guidelines) licensing, Terminology

diffs, Version Control Vocabulary

discussion threads, Productive Versus Unproductive Threads–The “Noisy Minority” Effect

holy wars, Avoid Holy Wars

noisy minorities, The “Noisy Minority” Effect

productive and unproductive, Productive Versus Unproductive Threads–Productive Versus Unproductive Threads

soft topics and debate, The Softer the Topic, the Longer the Debate

documentation, Documentation–Example Output and Screenshots

automated compilation, The Automation Ratio

availability, Availability of documentation

developer documentation, Developer documentation

documentation managers, Documentation Manager

documentation patches, Documentation Manager

example output, Example Output and Screenshots

format, Availability of documentation

funding of, Documentation and Usability

governance and, Writing It All Down

screenshots, Example Output and Screenshots

downloads, Downloads

dual-licensing, Types of Involvement, Dual Licensing Schemes

E

email

content, Content

conventions, Structure and Formatting

signature blocks, Face

tone, Tone

employing programmers, Hire for the Long Term

contract work, Contracting–Case study: the CVS password-authentication protocol

F

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions), Documentation

FAQ managers, FAQ Manager

FastCST, FastCST

features lists, Features and Requirements List

filtering email, Filtering posts

filtering mailing list posts, Filtering posts

forks, Forkability, Forks–Initiating a Fork

causes, Forks

GCC/EGCS example, Handling a Fork

initiating, Initiating a Fork

managing, Handling a Fork

forward-compatible releases, The Simple Strategy

FOSS, F/OSS, and FLOSS licensing, Terminology

free software, Why Write This Book?, Free Versus Open Source, The Situation Today

(see also open source software)

culture, The Situation Today

licensing, Terminology

open source software, versus, Free Versus Open Source–Free Versus Open Source

Free Software Foundation (FSF), Conscious resistance, Conscious resistance

free software directory, First, Look Around

Frequently Asked Questions (see FAQs)

freshmeat.net, First, Look Around

funding, Money, Money

(see also corporate funding)

donations, Types of Involvement

G

GCC/EGCS fork, Handling a Fork

GIT, GIT

GNATS, GNATS

GNU General Public License (see GPL)

GNU Project, Conscious resistance

governance, Social and Political Infrastructure–Writing It All Down

Apache Software Foundation governance documents, Writing It All Down

benevolent dictators, Benevolent Dictators

consensus, Consensus-Based Democracy

democracy, Consensus-Based Democracy

documentation, Writing It All Down

forks, impact of, Forkability

funding of projects (see corporate funding)

honest brokers, When Consensus Cannot Be Reached, Vote

polling, Polls Versus Votes

Subversion HACKING file, Writing It All Down

version control, impact of, Version Control Means You Can Relax

vetoes, Vetoes

voting, When Consensus Cannot Be Reached, Vote–Who Votes?

approval voting, When Consensus Cannot Be Reached, Vote

circumstances requiring, When to Vote

voting privileges, assigning, Who Votes?

GPL (GNU General Public License), Conscious resistance, The GPL, Terminology, The GNU General Public License

compatibility with other licensing, The GPL and License Compatibility

patents and, Patents

H

hacker ethic, Conscious resistance

hacktivation energy, Starting from What You Have

headers, Identification and Header Management

holy wars, Avoid Holy Wars–Avoid Holy Wars

honest brokers, When Consensus Cannot Be Reached, Vote

hosting, funding of, Providing Hosting/Bandwidth

hyperbole, Content

I

information management, Technical Infrastructure–Anonymity and involvement

bug tracking software, Bug Tracker–Prefiltering the Bug Tracker

canned hosting (see canned hosting)

essential components, What a Project Needs

mailing lists (see mailing lists)

management software, Software

real-time chat software, IRC/Real-Time Chat Systems–Archiving IRC

version control (see version control)

web sites, Web Site

wikis, Wikis

INSTALL files, Name and Layout

installation process, Compilation and Installation

internationalization (118N) and localization (L10N), Translation Manager

IRC (Internet Relay Chat), IRC/Real-Time Chat Systems–Archiving IRC

issue managers, Issue Manager–Issue Manager

K

Kamp, Poul-Henning, The Softer the Topic, the Longer the Debate

complete bikeshed post, Why Should I Care What Color the Bikeshed Is?

Knuth, Donald, Accidental resistance

L

legal issues, Legal Advice and Protection

LICENSE files, Name and Layout

licensing, Choosing a License and Applying It–How to Apply a License to Your Software, Licenses, Copyrights, and Patents–What About The BSD License?

BSD license, What About The BSD License?

choosing a license, Choosing a License

copyleft, Terminology

DFSG-compliant, Terminology

dual-licensing, Dual Licensing Schemes

enforcement, Aspects of Licenses

FOSS, F/OSS, and FLOSS, Terminology

free licenses, compatibility with each other, Aspects of Licenses

free software, Terminology

further resources, Further Resources

GPL license, The GNU General Public License

compatibility with other licensing, The GPL and License Compatibility

MIT/X Window System license, The MIT/X Window System License

open source software, Terminology

OSI-approved, Terminology

proprietary or closed-source, Terminology

protection of artistic integrity, Aspects of Licenses

public domain, Terminology

trademark protection, Aspects of Licenses

Linux, Conscious resistance

localization (L10N) and internationalization (118N), Translation Manager

lock-modify-unlock model, Version Control Vocabulary

locks, Version Control Vocabulary

log messages, Version Control Vocabulary

M

mailing lists, Mailing Lists–Software, Don’t Post Without a Purpose–The “Noisy Minority” Effect

archiving, Archiving

archiving software, Software

growth, handling, Handling Growth–Codifying Tradition

archives, Conspicuous Use of Archives–Treat all resources like archives

codifying tradition, Codifying Tradition–Codifying Tradition

holy wars, Avoid Holy Wars–Avoid Holy Wars

identification and headers, Identification and Header Management

management software, Mailing Lists, Software

moderation, Filtering posts

noisy minorities, The “Noisy Minority” Effect

purposeful posting, Don’t Post Without a Purpose

reply-to headers, The Great Reply-to Debate–Two fantasies

spam prevention, Spam Prevention–Address hiding in archives

address hiding, Address hiding in archives

filtering posts, Filtering posts

threads, productive and unproductive, Productive Versus Unproductive Threads–Productive Versus Unproductive Threads

topics and debates, The Softer the Topic, the Longer the Debate

MAINTAINERS file, Avoid Mystery

management tasks, Share Management Tasks as Well as Technical Tasks–FAQ Manager

documentation managers, Documentation Manager

FAQ managers, FAQ Manager

issue managers, Issue Manager–Issue Manager

patch managers, Patch Manager

translation managers, Translation Manager

volunteer management (see volunteer management)

Mantis, Mantis

merges, Version Control Vocabulary

Meta-CVS, Meta-CVS

mission statements, Have a Clear Mission Statement

MIT/X-style licenses, The “Do Anything” Licenses, The MIT/X Window System License

monotone, monotone

Mozilla, Introduction

MySQL, Types of Involvement

licensing, Dual Licensing Schemes

O

open source, Free Versus Open Source

open source culture, Introduction

Open Source Initiative (see OSI)

open source software, Why Write This Book?, The Situation Today

(see also free software)

development, motivation for, Getting Started

free software, versus, Free Versus Open Source–Free Versus Open Source

history, History–Accidental resistance

licensing, Terminology

marketing concerns, Remember That You Are Being Watched–Don’t Bash Competing Open Source Products

open source software projects, Why Write This Book?

code review, Practice Conspicuous Code Review

failure, causes of, Introduction–Introduction

funding (see corporate funding)

governance (see governance)

information management (see information management)

initial research, First, Look Around

licensing, Choosing a License and Applying It–How to Apply a License to Your Software

presentation, Getting Started–Canned Hosting

announcing the project, Announcing

communications, Communications Channels

developer guidelines, Developer Guidelines

development status, Development Status

documentation, Documentation–Example Output and Screenshots

downloads, Downloads

features and requirements, Features and Requirements List

licensing, How to Apply a License to Your Software

mission statement, Have a Clear Mission Statement

naming, Choose a Good Name

opening closed projects, When Opening a Formerly Closed Project, Be Sensitive to the Magnitude of the Change

packaging, Starting from What You Have

social aspects, Setting the Tone–When Opening a Formerly Closed Project, Be Sensitive to the Magnitude of the Change

version control and bug tracking, Version Control and Bug Tracker Access

releases (see releases)

social and political infrastructure (see governance)

success rate, Introduction

technical infrastructure (see information management)

OpenAdapter project, Getting Started

OpenCM, OpenCM

OpenOffice.org, Have a Clear Mission Statement, Types of Involvement

OSI (Open Source Initiative), Free Versus Open Source

OSI-approved licensing, Terminology

P

packaging, Packaging–Binary Packages

binary packages, Binary Packages

capitalization of packages, To capitalize or not to capitalize

compilation and installation processes, Compilation and Installation

name and layout, Name and Layout

package, versus, Name and Layout

pre-releases, Pre-releases

source code, Packaging

format, Format

TAR files, Format

Windows, Compilation and Installation

parliamentary procedure, Technical Infrastructure

paste sites, IRC/Real-Time Chat Systems

patch managers, Patch Manager

patents (see software patents)

politics, Managing Volunteers

polling, Polls Versus Votes

praise, employing toward project members, Praise and Criticism

PRCS (Project Revision Control System), PRCS

private discussions, Avoid Private Discussions

project management, Introduction

proprietary licensing, Terminology

public domain licensing, Terminology

publicity for releases, Announcing Releases

Q

quality assurance, Quality Assurance (i.e., Professional Testing)

R

Raymond, Eric, Getting Started

RC (Release Candidate), Release Number Components

README files, Name and Layout

real-time chat software, What a Project Needs, IRC/Real-Time Chat Systems–Archiving IRC

regression testing, Automated testing

releases, Packaging, Releasing, and Daily Development

backward- and forward-compatibility, The Simple Strategy

compatibility domains, The Simple Strategy

daily development, Releases and Daily Development

even/odd strategy, The Even/Odd Strategy

maintaining multiple lines, Maintaining Multiple Release Lines–Security Releases

security releases, Security Releases

terminating a line, Maintaining Multiple Release Lines

numbering, Release Numbering–The Even/Odd Strategy

example, The Simple Strategy

numbering components, Release Number Components

planning, Planning Releases–Planning Releases

qualifiers, Release Number Components

release branches, Release Branches–Mechanics of Release Branches

mechanics, Mechanics of Release Branches

release managers, Release manager

stabilization, Stabilizing a Release–Release manager

change voting, Change Voting–Release manager

release managers, Release manager

release owners, Dictatorship by Release Owner

target versions, Maintaining Multiple Release Lines

testing and public release, Testing and Releasing–Announcing Releases

announcing, Announcing Releases

candidate releases, Candidate Releases

reply-to headers, The Great Reply-to Debate–Two fantasies

repositories, Version Control Vocabulary

requirements lists, Features and Requirements List

revision control systems, Version Control

version control, versus, Version Control Vocabulary

revisions, Version Control Vocabulary

Roundup, Roundup

RT (RequestTracker), RT

rudeness, Nip Rudeness in the Bud

S

sanity.sh, Automated testing

Scanley, Announcing

Scarab, Scarab

screen names, Face

screenshots, Example Output and Screenshots

security

checksums and digital signatures, Testing and Releasing

releases addressing security issues, Security Releases

vulnerabilities, communication, Announcing Security Vulnerabilities–Distribute the fix publicly

CAN/CVE numbers, CAN/CVE numbers

fix distribution, Distribute the fix publicly

prenotification, Pre-notification

signature blocks, Face

Sleepycat, Types of Involvement

software license, Dual Licensing Schemes

software development, alpha and beta releases, Development Status

software patents, Patents–Patents

Apache License, Version 2.0, and, Patents

further resources, Further Resources

GPL and, Patents

source code with author tags, Prevent Territoriality

sourceforge.net, First, Look Around

SourceJammer, SourceJammer

spam prevention, Spam Prevention–Address hiding in archives

address hiding, Address hiding in archives

filtering posts, Filtering posts

SpamAssassin, Filtering posts

SpamProbe, Filtering posts

stabilization, Stabilizing a Release

Stallman, Richard, Conscious resistance

Stein, Greg, Practice Conspicuous Code Review

Stellation, Stellation

Striker, Sander, Prevent Territoriality

Subversion project, Setting the Tone, Types of Involvement, Subversion

bug reporting instructions, Example Instructions for Reporting Bugs

Superversion, Superversion

SVK, SVK

T

tags, Version Control Vocabulary

TAR (Tape ARchive) files, Format

tarballs, Format

territoriality, Prevent Territoriality

author tags in source code, Prevent Territoriality

testing

automated testing, Automated testing

funding of usability testing, Documentation and Usability

regression testing, Automated testing

TeX, Accidental resistance

Trac, Trac

translation managers, Translation Manager

trouble-ticket trackers, Trouble-Ticket Trackers

U

updates, Version Control Vocabulary

usability testing, funding of, Documentation and Usability

users, treatment of, Treat Every User as a Potential Volunteer–Treat Every User as a Potential Volunteer

V

version control, Version Control and Bug Tracker Access, What a Project Needs, Version Control–Authorization

branches, Version Control Vocabulary

changes, Version Control Vocabulary

checkouts, Version Control Vocabulary

commits, Version Control Vocabulary

conflicts, Version Control Vocabulary

diffs, Version Control Vocabulary

impact on decision making, Version Control Means You Can Relax

locks, Version Control Vocabulary

log messages, Version Control Vocabulary

merges, Version Control Vocabulary

repositories, Version Control Vocabulary

tags, Version Control Vocabulary

updates, Version Control Vocabulary

version control versus revision, Version Control Vocabulary

vocabulary, Version Control Vocabulary

working copies, Version Control Vocabulary

version control systems, Free Version Control Systems–Superversion

Aegis, Aegis

Arch, Arch

ArX, ArX

Bazaar and Bazaar-NG, Bazaar

Codeville, Codeville

CVS (Concurrent Version System), Choosing a Version Control System

CVSNT, CVSNT

Darcs, Darcs

FastCST, FastCST

GIT, GIT

Meta-CVS, Meta-CVS

monotone, monotone

OpenCM, OpenCM

PRCS, PRCS

release branches, Release Branches

SourceJammer, SourceJammer

Stellation, Stellation

Subversion, Subversion

Superversion, Superversion

SVK, SVK

Vesta, Vesta

Vesta, Vesta

vetoes, Vetoes

volunteer management, Managing Volunteers

automated testing, Automated testing

automation versus labor, The Automation Ratio

committers, Committers–Avoid Mystery

choosing, Choosing Committers

dormant committers, Dormant Committers

partial commit access, Partial Commit Access

revocation of commit access, Revoking Commit Access

rules for adding, Avoid Mystery

delegation, Delegation–Notice what people are interested in

forks, Forks–Initiating a Fork

handling, Handling a Fork

initiating, Initiating a Fork

giving credit, Credit

politics, Managing Volunteers

praise and criticism, Praise and Criticism

territoriality, prevention of, Prevent Territoriality

transfer of responsibilities, Transitions–Transitions

treatment of users, Treat Every User as a Potential Volunteer–Treat Every User as a Potential Volunteer

volunteers, motivations of, Getting the Most Out of Volunteers

voting, When Consensus Cannot Be Reached, Vote–Who Votes?

approval voting, When Consensus Cannot Be Reached, Vote

circumstances requiring, When to Vote

consensus and, When Consensus Cannot Be Reached, Vote

W

Wasserstein, Dresdner Kleinwort, Getting Started

web sites, Web Site

wikis, Wikis

working copies, Version Control Vocabulary

X

X Window System, Accidental resistance

Z

Zawinski, Jamie, Introduction