Producing Open Source Software

Context: guaka (talk) started this article in 2006.

Producing Open Source Software is a great book by Karl Fogel, on how free software projects function and how to keep them functioning. "How to Run a Successful Free Software Project."

"This book is meant for managers and software developers who are considering starting an open source project, or who have started one and are wondering what to do now. It should also be helpful for people who just want to participate in an open source project but have never done so before."

Some ideas are useful for CouchSurfing right now, and some could be of help to make CS even more free and open.

It's available online.

What a project needs

• Website
  • but not CouchSurfing.com, could be wiki or dev-wiki
• Mailing lists
  • and not the CS groups please
• Version control
• Bug tracking
• Real-time chat
  • NO Flash!
  • IRC, freenode? #couchsurfing (welcome to check out #couchsurfing on IRCnet!) Or some more closed system

Managing Volunteers

• Getting the Most Out of Volunteers
  • Delegation
    • Distinguish clearly between inquiry and assignment
    • Follow up after you delegate
    • Notice what people are interested in
  • Praise and Criticism
• Prevent Territoriality
• The Automation Ratio

• • Automated testing

Treat Every User as a Potential Volunteer

• Share Management Tasks as Well as Technical Tasks
  • Patch Manager
  • Translation Manager
  • Documentation Manager
  • Issue Manager
  • FAQ Manager

• Transitions
• Committers
  • Choosing Committers
  • Revoking Commit Access
  • Partial Commit Access
  • Dormant Committers
  • Avoid Mystery

• Credit