Open Source Software Development

7 important questions on Open Source Software Development

What is meant by 'free' in OSS?

Free as in freedom, everyone can adjust software that you buy and redistribute

Why is licensing important for OSS and how?


It differentiates OSS from commercial projects
Licenses formalizes open source ideologies in projects and protects them.


The unique thing about the OSS licenses are unlike the commercial licenses which are intended to protect the rights of the producer, OSS licenses are intended to generally protect the rights of the consumer / developer.


It protects the rights of the consumer rather than the rights of the owner.

Amongst the OSS that exists, there are two broad categories of licensing. Name and explain these categories.

Restrictive and permissive licenses.


Restricted means that it restricts the commercial hijack of an open source code. First kind of licenses that were invented. Any software that uses a restrictive licensed software, it should adopt the same license.

Permissive licenses, you have to release the source code publicly, but it allows you to do something else.

From an ideological perspective, restrictive licenses sort of mimic the socialist ideology.
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What are development platforms in OSS?

Platforms are an intermediary that by definition facilitates the interaction between at least two sides (agents). In the case of development platforms the main agent are - developers and users. Both can be individuals or organizations.

Which two important features do development platforms  offer?

1. Version control system
2. Collaborative environment, where users can create their own projects (repositories)

Why is version control important?

When you think of how big an OSS project can become, it becomes more clear why version control is important. When there are 1000 people contributing to a project, imagine how hard it is to manage the different versions and additions.

What is meant by 'Fork and Merge'?

"Making a copy of the project and integrating the code changes with the project"

Fork: creating a full copy of a project for re-use and development

Merge: integrating a fork or branch to the main project code (master)

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