[Ag Meinungsfindungstool] FYI: How to Have a Successful Free Software Project

[Dinu Gherman <gherman AT darwin.in-berlin.de>]

Hallo zusammen,

ich bin vor kurzem wieder auf einige Publikationen von Martin Michlmayr zu 
FLOS-Software aufmerksam geworden, die zwar nicht mehr ganz neu sind, die ich 
aber immer noch für relevant halte. Ich finde das ganz spanned wieder zu 
lesen, wenn ich dabei an LQFB und ähnliche hier diskutierte Systeme denke. 

Hier die Sammlung von Martins Publikationen:

  http://www.cyrius.com/publications/

Davon sind einige an dieser Stelle relevant, aber ich zitiere mal nur aus der 
folgenden die Konklusion unten:

  http://www.cyrius.com/publications/senyard_michlmayr-successful_project.html

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How to Have a Successful Free Software Project

Conclusion

Free software is a phenomenon which has attracted much attention recently. 
The bazaar phase of such projects can be credited with the feature richness 
and high quality of free software. The bazaar phase exploits a large number 
of volunteers who contribute to the development of the software through bug 
reports, additional requirements, bug fixes and features. However, it has not 
been previously described how a project can establish this community and be a 
success. The lifecycle model of free software presented in this paper fills 
this gap.

We describe a three phase lifecycle for free software projects. The first 
phase is characterised by closed development performed by a small group or 
developer with much in common with tradi- tional software development from 
which we have named the cathedral phase in reference to Eric Raymond. The 
second phase is a move from traditional development to community based 
develop- ment which we have named the transition phase. Only projects with 
certain properties can successfully pass the transition phase.

In order to operate successfully in the bazaar phase a number of activities 
must be completed. The first six are crucial, numbers seven to eleven are 
important and twelve is desirable:

1. A prototype with plausible promise must have been created.
2. The design of the prototype must be modular.
3. The source code of the prototype must be available and workable (ie. 
compiles and executes).
4. A community of users and developers must be attracted to the project.
5. The project author must be motivated to manage the project or find a 
replacement.
6. Project communication and contribution mechanisms must be in place.
7. The scope of the project must be well defined.
8. A coding standard or style must be established.
9. Development versions of software must have short release cycles while user 
versions must be stable and consistent.
10. A license must be chosen which is attractive to developers. 
11. A suitable management style must be selected. 
12. An appropriate amount of project documentation must exist.

The final phase is where the project becomes a community based project and 
gains the associated advantages — we have named this the bazaar phase. The 
lifecycle model proposed here gives a better understanding of the dynamics of 
free software and can assist in their success.
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Vielleicht hilft das ja dem ein oder anderen bei der Meinungsfindung dazu, 
welche Faktoren einen positiven Einfluss auf erfolgreiche FLOSS-Projekte 
haben.

Gruß,

Dinu