Slashdot Mirror
Challenges in Releasing Open Source Software?
Chris Vaughan asks: "Me and my Co-Workers at the Advanced Computing Research Lab are just about ready to release our first Open Source package on SourceForge.net I ask the Slashdot community what hurdles they had to overcome and how much involvement do they still have in their project years later. Also what types of licensing did you pick and why did it suit your project best? Our project, MyPBS is a PHP/MySQL/Perl frontend accounting package for the Portable Batch System (PBS). Which is used to account for super computing usage. I appreciate any comments you may have."
License: Pick the one that best suits your project and how you expect people to use it (or not). Normally SF requires that you use one of the OSI approved licenses.. For example, if your application is a library (doesn't seem to be) then you wouldn't want to use the GPL; OTOH the GPL is normally fine for standalone apps. If you're not sure, talk to a lawyer.
Other than that, in SourceForge the trick is to categorize your project in the Software Trove very carefully. Otherwise people will have trouble finding it. I've found stuff in Freshmeat through Google that I couldn't find browsing the trove because the developer miscategorized his/her work.
No one will use your stuff if they can't find it.
Web2.0: I love when people Flickr my cuil and digg my boingboing until my google is reddit and I start to yahoo
MySQL has changed their licensing recently and they are very restrictive about which OSI Approved licenses are acceptable for use with their product (without paying the licensing fee). If it's not GPL, you are likely going to have issues. They have a very short list of what does and does not qualify. However, they are responsive when you write them at licensing@mysql.com (albeit it took several days) when you need clarification.
Apparently PostFix's OSI Approved IBM Public License does not qualify so I'm having to prep to pay for licensing since we use postfix with MySQL (confirmed with their licensing folks). They did assert that they were still in the process of reviewing other licenses.
You picked a good time to ask -- I just spent the last few hours putting out a new alpha release of the jSyncManager (http://www.jsyncmanager.org) up on our project site at SourceForge (http://sf.jsyncmanager.org).
(The jSyncManager is a pure-Java data synchronization solution for PalmOS based handhelds that is completely platform-neutral, with an open API, easy extensibility, and its own jConduit plug-in architecture).
I started this project back in 1997, writing the jSerial API, and latest the jSyncManager itself. It saw its first release (free, but under a closed-source license) in May 1999. It's gone through several iterations (including an IBM released version called ManplatoSync for Java), finally being released under an Open Source license in September 2002.
I not only work on it daily still, but I'm in the process of setting up a software service/integration/development company around it.
My biggest challenges include trying to involve other developers in the project -- we have a small core, and users do occassionally submit patches, but attracting Open Source developers that actually make any contributions can be a real hassle. If your experience turns out to be like mine, you'll have lots of good intentioned people offer to help out, but will have a very difficult time finding people who will actually do any work, or make contributions without prodding. It can take a while to find developers who are real gems (although when you do, you'll invariably find yourself making some good friends and contacts -- your core developers are your biggest asset).
Some suggestions:
As for licensing, I chose to release the API under the LGPL to allow developers to choose their own licensing for any plug-ins they develop that use the API, and the GPL for our applications and the core plug-ins that we've developed. In this way we can ensure that our applications and plug-ins can't be integrated into a closed-source project, and can't be modified and released as closed source by third parties, but they can develop closed-source applications that call our library (although any changes to the library sources must be released as Open Source). So far users appear to be very happy with this arrangement.
Brad BARCLAY
Lead Developer & Projet Administrator,
The jSyncManager Project.
For the open-source projects I have, I simple made them available via freshmeat. My CVS repository is on my own machine. I have the projects' home pages on a seperate web server machine. That's it.
As for remaining involved, I'm still involved almost exclusively. I know the romanticized "bazarr" model of development envisions lots of contributors. The reality is that most open-source projects just get downloaded. Rarely do they accumulate talented people who make contributions. For all my projects combined, I've maybe gotten a handful of patches over the years (and most of those were pretty crappy quality, so I ended up rewriting them).
Hence, unless you expect your project to be wildly successful, don't expect much of anything, problems or otherwise.
If you reply, do so only to what I explicitly wrote. If I didn't write it, don't assume or infer it.
1. Introduction
As everyone knows, Open Source software is the wave of the future. With the market share of GNU/Linux and *BSD increasing every day, interest in Open Source Software is at an all time high.
Developing software within the Open Source model benefits everyone. People can take your code, improve it and then release it back to the community. This cycle continues and leads to the creation of far more stable software than the 'Closed Source' shops can ever hope to create.
So you're itching to create that Doom 3 killer but don't know where to start? Read on!
2. First Steps
The most important thing that any Open Source project needs is a Sourceforge page. There are tens of thousands of successful Open Source projects on Sourceforge; the support you receive here will be invaluable.
OK, so you've registered your Sourceforge project and set the status to '0: Pre-Thinking About It', what's next?
3. Don't Waste Time!
Now you need to set up your SourceForge homepage. Keep it plain and simple - don't use too many HTML tags, just knock something up in VI. Website editors like FrontPage and DreamWeaver just create bloated eye-candy - you need to get your message to the masses!
4. Ask For Help
Since you probably can't program at all you'll need to try and find some people who think they can. If your project is a game you'll probably need an artist too. Ask for help on your new Sourceforge pages. Here is an example to get you started:
Thousands of talented programmers and artists hang out at Sourceforge ready to devote their time to projects so you should get a team together in no time!5. The A-Team
So now you have your team together you are ready to change your projects status to '1: Pre-Bickering'. You will need to discuss your ideas with your team mates and see what value they can add to the project. You could use an Instant Messaging program like MSN for this, but since you run Linux you'll have to stick to e-mail.
Don't forget that YOU are in charge! If your team doesn't like the idea of giant robotic spiders just delete them from the project and move on. Someone else can fill their place and this is the beauty of Open Source development. The code might end up a bit messy and the graphics inconsistant - but it's still 'Free as in Speech'!
6. Getting Down To It
Now that you've found a team of right thinking people you're ready to start development. Be prepared for some delays though. Programming is a craft and can take years to learn. Your programmer may be a bit rusty but will probably be writing "hello world" programs after school in no time.
Closed Source games like Doom 3 use the graphics card to do all the hard stuff anyhow, so your programmer will just have to get the NVidia 'API' and it will be plain sailing! Giant robot spiders, here we come!
7. The Outcome
So it's been a few years, you still have no files released or in CVS. Your programmer can't get enough time on the PC because his mother won't let him use it after 8pm. Your artist has run off with a Thai She-Male. Your project is still at '1: Pre-Bickering'...
Congratulations! You now have a successful Open Source project on Sourceforge! Pat yourself on the back, think up another idea and do it all again! See how simple it is?
I mean, asking about license choices on Slashdot?
In all seriousness, though, like others have said, look at the various licenses out there (GPL, CPL, LGPL, BSD, CC, MIT) and decide what best fits your needs. You could even consider a multi-license scheme like Mozilla has.
As far as involvement, Sourceforge is a place to put it if you want development to continue. Someone has to admin the project (the CVS repo won't patch itself, and you don't want everyone to have write access), though, so if you don't want to be personally involved, find someone to give ownership of the project to (give the official-ness label to them, not necessarilly have them own the original IP) or put it on Freshmeat.