Preface
Open source has become not only the most dominant software development methodology but also a preeminent strategy for rapid innovation, decentralized collaboration, ecosystem building, and career growth. You can’t go anywhere these days without interacting with open source. Open source is in your mobile phone, car, and refrigerator; it enables the distribution and production of your favorite show or movie, keeps planes in the air, and helps impoverished sectors of society leap forward to being a part of the digital world. It’s even responsible for helping write this book (thank you, Neovim and Pandoc!).
With the vast amount of open source out there comes immense variety. While one big part of that variety is the technology stack being used, another just as important part is how open source projects operate. There has been a cornucopia of intellectual property (IP) strategies, hosting and governance models, community structures, commercial engagement, and growth trajectories. While the technology stack of an open source project tends to be more of a science, the operational end is more of an art. No two projects are alike; what works for one project may not work for another.
This is precisely what this book is focused on; the art of how open source projects work. Chapters 1 and 2 will give you the base knowledge of an open source project, why you would participate in or create an open source project, and the characteristics of a good open source project. From there, you will dive into multiple aspects of an open source project; think of Chapters 3 through 14 as a cookbook. One big difference from what you might expect from a cookbook is that there is not a clear answer on “the right way” for any of the topics covered; you will learn from the examples of many projects that have been successful (along with ones that haven’t been as successful). These examples will hopefully resonate with the focuses your open source project might have and give you more of a framework for working through a focus. After all, open source is an art and not a science.
Who this book is for
This book is for anyone with an interest in open source, particularly those looking to launch an open source project or currently running an open source project and looking to gain knowledge on how better operate their project or scale it for growth and sustainability.
What this book covers
Chapter 1, The What’s and Whys of Open Source, digs into what open source is and the history of open source. From there, you will learn about how open source is used and some example projects that showcase different motivators for open source.
Chapter 2, What Makes a Good Open Source Project?, identifies the core characteristics of an open source project. You will learn the difference between “open sourcing code” versus “creating an open source project,” along with exploring various patterns and anti-patterns in open source projects.
Chapter 3, Open Source License and IP Management, will explore the various aspects of licensing, copyright management, contribution sign-off, and brand and marks management, although coming from a non-lawyer.
Chapter 4, Aligning the Business Value of Open Source for Your Employer, will help you build the case for having your employer contribute to open source or start an open source project. This will cover why a company would want to open source code, getting support and building the business case for open sourcing code, and how to execute the open sourcing process and measure success.
Chapter 5, Governance and Hosting Models, explains how open source projects can structure governance. You will learn about the various governance models, the roles in open source projects, documenting your project structure, and getting financial support for your project.
Chapter 6, Making Your Project Feel Welcoming, provides guidance and best practices for creating an inclusive community. Topics will include setting up your project for newcomers, supporting end users effectively, and engaging your community when it grows beyond the scope of your project.
Chapter 7, Growing Contributors to Maintainers, covers why it’s important to convert contributors into maintainers and then looks at the process of identifying contributors who could become maintainers and how to know when they are ready to become a maintainer.
Chapter 8, Dealing with Conflict, approaches understanding how humans think and their motivations as a way to better deal with conflict in open source projects. You will also learn about inclusive decision-making and how to remedy toxic behavior in your project.
Chapter 9, Handling Growth, is all about measuring growth, assessing areas of your project with low growth, and figuring out how to remedy them. You will also learn about how to scale project leadership to manage their time better and focuses as a project grows to help them avoid burnout.
Chapter 10, Commercialization of Open Source, will review the importance and value of open source projects being used commercially. You will learn about commercialization models for open source projects and how to set up your project for commercial usage.
Chapter 11, Open Source and the Talent Ecosystem, will look at the intersections between open source projects and talent. You will learn about personal career growth using open source, how to find talent using open source, and how to recognize employees who contribute to open source.
Chapter 12, Marketing for Open Source - Advocacy and Outreach, discusses the need for marketing for open source projects. You will learn about how to develop the base marketing materials open source projects should have, and then explore broader ways to drive engagement in your project through marketing.
Chapter 13, Transitioning Leadership, tackles the topic of succession planning for open source project leadership. You will learn how to build a transition plan and how leaders can step back comfortably to let the next generation of leaders take the project forward.
Chapter 14, Sunsetting an Open Source Project, will prepare you to identify when an open source project is approaching its sunset. You will see how to sunset an open source project, both in terms of the work to be done before sunsetting and the considerations post-sunsetting.
To get the most out of this book
This book isn’t a technical book, but more of a guide to the art of open source projects. While there aren’t any prerequisites per se, it’s best to have a base knowledge of what open source is before reading this book. You don’t need to have a technical background to be able to get the most out of this book.
Download the color images
We also provide a PDF file that has color images of the screenshots and diagrams used in this book. You can download it here: https://packt.link/FZrJq
Conventions used
There are a number of text conventions used throughout this book.
Code in text: Indicates code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles. Here is an example: “The simplest way is for the project to have an ADOPTERS file in its code repository.”
Bold: Indicates a new term, an important word, or words that you see onscreen. For instance, words in menus or dialog boxes appear in bold. Here is an example: “The backend of the life cycle is Sustain…, which sometimes means the project is just maintained over time.”
Tips or important notes
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