Dirk Riehle's Industry and Research Publications

Tag: Evergreen

  • The GNU Public License v2 in the land of microservices

    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…

  • Open source license compliance and work-for-hire

    Open source license compliance and work-for-hire

    A common question that I am asked in my seminar on license-compliant delivery of products that contain open source software is: But what about a work-for-hire? We are a consulting company: As we work for our clients, and use open source software, do we have to create all those legal notices? The answer, as so…

  • CTO vs. VP of Engineering

    CTO vs. VP of Engineering

    In tech companies, startups and large companies alike, of the many roles you need to define, two seem to be particularly confusing to German startups: The CTO and the VP of Engineering role. Many German startups I’ve seen simply have a person titled CTO who does both (and sometimes neither). These two roles are very…

  • Escalating levels of complexity in inner source projects

    Escalating levels of complexity in inner source projects

    Yesterday, I discussed what makes a good pilot project in inner source. The main thrust of the suggestion was not to start with a big bang but rather to choose a relevant but not too large project. This begs the question of complexity of projects, specifically viewed from an inner source perspective. How should you…

  • Getting Started With Inner Source

    Getting Started With Inner Source

    I received several requests recently for my inner source charter document to provide it in DOC format, after I thought this work had fallen dormant (or perhaps the PDF version was sufficient). So I wanted to add my thoughts on how to take first steps in inner source, in particular in the selection of a…

  • The Argument For a Moral Machine in Autonomous Driving

    The Argument For a Moral Machine in Autonomous Driving

    I have a strong aversion against letting people drag their feet from being responsible for their actions. I feel particularly strongly about this when delegating work to machines, which are not able to act using an appropriate moral value system. Starting a car and letting an autonomous driving unit take over is one such example:…