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arXiv:1803.05741cs.SE

Why We Engage in FLOSS: Answers from Core Developers

Jailton Coelho, Marco Tulio Valente, Luciana L. Silva, Andre Hora

Abstract

The maintenance and evolution of Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) projects demand the constant attraction of core developers. In this paper, we report the results of a survey with 52 developers, who recently became core contributors of popular GitHub projects. We reveal their motivations to assume a key role in FLOSS projects (e.g., improving the projects because they are also using it), the project characteristics that most helped in their engagement process (e.g., a friendly community), and the barriers faced by the surveyed core developers (e.g., lack of time of the project leaders). We also compare our results with related studies about others kinds of open source contributors (casual, one-time, and newcomers).

arXiv comments
Accepted at CHASE 2018: 11th International Workshop on Cooperative and Human Aspects of Software Engineering (8 pages)
Journal reference
DOI
doi:10.1145/3195836.3195848
Subjects
cs.SESoftware Engineering

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Linked by 2 identifiable commenters in 2 comments across 1 thread, from Jun 2018 to Jun 2018. Found in 3 HN submissions from Mar 2018 to Jun 2018. Open submission discussions.

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  1. Why We Engage in FLOSS: Answers from Core Developers 2 comments

    • If you're on a phone, here's an HTML version of the article: https://www.arxiv-vanity.com/papers/1803.05741/

      bfirshView on HNParent context

    • The paper also addresses that at section 3, Barriers[1]: - Large and complex project - Lack of time of the project leaders - Non-clear, complex or buggy codebase - Lack of time of the own contributor - Inappropriate design or architecture - etc. [1]…

      jolmgView on HNParent context

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