Category: 2.3 Open Source (Building)
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A researcher’s perspective on “Do developers care about open source?”
Senior developers weigh costs and benefits when deciding what code components to use
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The German Corona Warn App, a legally defective product?
By all measures, the German Corona Warn app is already a highly successful software product. However, from the perspective of open source license compliance, it is defective. Using open source code in your product requires that you fulfill the obligations of the open source licenses of that code, and the Corona Warn app does not…
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What is open collaboration?
Open collaboration is collaboration that is egalitarian, meritocratic, and self-organizing.
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What is open communication?
Open source collaboration requires open communication, they say. Just what is open communication, exactly? Drawing on past research [1], here are the four principles that make communication open. Open communication is communication that is The benefits for open communication as practiced like above are plentiful. It allows asynchronous communication and is inclusive of non-native speakers.…
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The GNU Public License v2 in the land of microservices
Another question I get asked is how containers and new architectural styles like microservices-based architectures relate to copyleft licenses, in particular the GPLv2 license. First things first: I don’t recommend taking a “let’s work around this pesky license” approach. You should follow both a license’s spirit and letter; license evasion (“Umgehungsversuch”) may not hold up…
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How to read open source license obligations
Interpreting open source licenses requires considerable skills and experience. Ideally, engineers and lawyers work together: Lawyers know the meaning and consequences of legal terms, and engineers can make sense of it in the context of software. There are some basics, however, that help set your thinking straight. A critical aspect is: What is a (re-)distribution…