Starting An Open Source Project
There are several ways in which work on an open source project can start:
- An individual who senses the need for a project announces the intent to develop the project in public. The individual may receive offers of help from others. The group may then proceed to work on the code.
- A developer working on a limited but working codebase, releases it to the public as the first version of an open-source program. The developer continues to work on improving it, and possibly is joined by other developers.
- The source code of a mature project is released to the public, after being developed as proprietary software or in-house software.
- A well-established open-source project can be forked by an interested outside party. Several developers can then start a new project, whose source code then diverges from the original.
Eric Raymond observed in his famous essay "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" that announcing the intent for a project is usually inferior to releasing a working project to the public.
It's a common mistake to start a project when contributing to an existing similar project would be more effective (NIH syndrome). To start a successful project it is very important to investigate what's already there.
Read more about this topic: Open Source Software Development
Famous quotes containing the words starting, open, source and/or project:
“A hook shot kisses the rim and
hangs there, helplessly, but doesn’t drop
and for once our gangly starting center
boxes out his man and times his jump
perfectly, gathering the orange leather
from the air like a cherished possession”
—Edward Hirsch (b. 1950)
“Thoroughly to unfold the labyrinths of the human mind is an arduous task.... In order to dive into those recesses and lay them open to the reader in a striking and intelligible manner, ‘tis necessary to assume a certain freedom in writing, not strictly perhaps within the limits prescribed by rules.”
—Sarah Fielding (1710–1768)
“The source of all life and knowledge is in man and woman, and the source of all living is in the interchange and the meeting and mingling of these two: man-life and woman-life, man-knowledge and woman-knowledge, man-being and woman-being.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“In 1862 the congregation of the church forwarded the church bell to General Beauregard to be melted into cannon, “hoping that its gentle tones, that have so often called us to the House of God, may be transmuted into war’s resounding rhyme to repel the ruthless invader from the beautiful land God, in his goodness, has given us.””
—Federal Writers’ Project Of The Wor, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)