Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Developer Role Evolution in Open Source Software Ecosystem: An Explanatory Study on GNOME

  • Regular Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Computer Science and Technology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

An open source software (OSS) ecosystem refers to an OSS development community composed of many software projects and developers contributing to these projects. The projects and developers co-evolve in an ecosystem. To keep healthy evolution of such OSS ecosystems, there is a need of attracting and retaining developers, particularly project leaders and core developers who have major impact on the project and the whole team. Therefore, it is important to figure out the factors that influence developers’ chance to evolve into project leaders and core developers. To identify such factors, we conducted a case study on the GNOME ecosystem. First, we collected indicators reflecting developers’ subjective willingness to contribute to the project and the project environment that they stay in. Second, we calculated such indicators based on the GNOME dataset. Then, we fitted logistic regression models by taking as independent variables the resulting indicators after eliminating the most collinear ones, and taking as a dependent variable the future developer role (the core developer or project leader). The results showed that part of such indicators (e.g., the total number of projects that a developer joined) of subjective willingness and project environment significantly influenced the developers’ chance to evolve into core developers and project leaders. With different validation methods, our obtained model performs well on predicting developmental core developers, resulting in stable prediction performance (0.770, F-value).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Notkin D. Software, software engineering and software engineering research: Some unconventional thoughts. Journal of Computer Science and Technology, 2009, 24(2): 189-197.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Bosch J. From software product lines to software ecosystems. In Proc. the 13th International Conference on Software Product Lines, August 2009, pp.111-119.

  3. Manikas K, Hansen K M. Software ecosystems — A systematic literature review. Journal of Systems and Software, 2013, 86(5): 1294-1306.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Zhu J, Huang J, Zhou D, Yin Z, Zhang G, He Q. Software architecture recovery through similarity-based graph clustering. International Journal of Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering, 2013, 23(4): 559-586.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Ampatzoglou A, Stamelos I, Gkortzis A, Deligiannis I. A methodology on extracting reusable software candidate components from open source games. In Proc. the 16th International Conference on Media of the Future, Academic MindTrek, October 2012, pp.93-100.

  6. Madey G, Freeh V, Tynan R. The open source software development phenomenon: An analysis based on social network theory. In Proc. the Americas Conference on Information Systems, August 2002, pp.1806-1813.

  7. Goeminne M, Claes M, Mens T. A historical dataset for the GNOME ecosystem. In Proc. the 10th IEEE Working Conference on Mining Software Repositories, May 2013, pp.225-228.

  8. Jansen S, Finkelstein A, Brinkkemper S. A sense of community: A research agenda for software ecosystems. In Proc. the 31st International Conference on Software Engineering—Companion Volume, May 2009, pp.187-190.

  9. Cardinale B J, Matulich K L, Hooper D U, Byrnes J E, Duffy E, Gamfeldt L, Balvanera P, O’Connor M I, Gonzalez A. The functional role of producer diversity in ecosystems. American Journal of Botany, 2011, 98(3): 572-592.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Long J. Understanding the role of core developers in open source software development. Journal of Information, Information Technology, and Organizations, 2006, 1: 75-85.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Xu B, Jones D R, Shao B. Volunteers’ involvement in online community based software development. Information & Management, 2009, 46(3): 151-158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Zhang W, Yang Y, Wang Q. Network analysis of OSS evolution: An empirical study on ArgoUML project. In Proc. the 12th International Workshop on Principles of Software Evolution and the 7th annual ERCIM Workshop on Software Evolution, September 2011, pp.71-80.

  13. Jensen C, Scacchi W. Role migration and advancement processes in OSSD projects: A comparative case study. In Proc. the 29th International Conference on Software Engineering, May 2007, pp.364-374.

  14. Hong Q, Kim S, Cheung S C, Bird C. Understanding a developer social network and its evolution. In Proc. the 27th IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance, September 2011, pp.323-332.

  15. Ihara A, Kamei Y, Ohira M, Hassan A E, Ubayashi N, Matsumoto K. Early identification of future committers in open source software projects. In Proc. the 14th International Conference on Quality Software, October 2014, pp.47-56.

  16. Nakakoji K, Yamamoto Y, Nishinaka Y, Kishida K, Ye Y. Evolution patterns of open-source software systems and communities. In Proc. the International Workshop on Principles of Software Evolution, May 2002, pp.76-85.

  17. Yan L, Hoo T C, Hai T H. The dynamic transformation of an open source software project leader: A microorganizational behavioral perspective. In Proc. the 8th Annual Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems, July 2004, pp.2226-2232.

  18. Xu J, Gao Y, Christley S, Madey G. A topological analysis of the open souce software development community. In Proc. the 38th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, January 2005.

  19. Aberdour M. Achieving quality in open-source software. IEEE Software, 2007, 24(1): 58-64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Zhou M, Mockus A. What make long term contributors: Willingness and opportunity in OSS community. In Proc. the 34th International Conference on Software Engineering, June 2012, pp.518-528.

  21. Dagenais B, Ossher H, Bellamy R K, Robillard M P, de Vries J P. Moving into a new software project landscape. In Proc. the 32nd ACM/IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering, May 2010, pp.275-284.

  22. BlumbergM, Pringle C D. The missing opportunity in organizational research: Some implications for a theory of work performance. Academy of Management Review, 1982, 7(4): 560-569.

  23. Neisser U, Boodoo G, Bouchard Jr T J, Boykin AW, Brody N, Ceci S J, Halpern D F, Loehlin J C, Perloff R, Sternberg R J, Urbina S. Intelligence: Knowns and unknowns. American Psychologist, 1996, 51(2): 77-101.

  24. Wu C G, Gerlach J H, Young C E. An empirical analysis of open source software developers’ motivations and continuance intentions. Information & Management, 2007, 44(3): 253-262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Six B, Eckes T. Metaanalysen in der einstellungsverhaltens-forschung. Zeitschrift f¨ur Sozialpsychologie, 1996, 27(1): 7-17. (in German)

  26. Hahn J, Moon J Y, Zhang C. Emergence of new project teams from open source software developer networks: Impact of prior collaboration ties. Information Systems Research, 2008, 19(3): 369-391.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Avritzer A, Paulish D, Cai Y, Sethi K. Coordination implications of software architecture in a global software development project. Journal of Systems and Software, 2010, 83(10): 1881-1895.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Lerner J, Tirole J. Some simple economics of open source. The Journal of Industrial Economics, 2002, 50(2): 197-234.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Xu J. Mining and modeling the open source software community [Ph.D. Thesis]. Computer Ccience and Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, USA, 2007.

  30. Mockus A, Fielding R T, Herbsleb J D. Two case studies of open source software development: Apache and Mozilla. ACM Trans. Software Engineering and Methodology, 2002, 11(3): 309-346.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Crowston K,Wei K, Li Q, Howison J. Core and periphery in free/libre and open source software team communications. In Proc. the 39th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, January 2006, pp.118a-124a.

  32. Borgatti S P, Everett M G. Models of core/periphery structures. Social Networks, 2000, 21(4): 375-395.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Runeson P, H¨ost M. Guidelines for conducting and reporting case study research in software engineering. Empirical Software Engineering, 2009, 14(2): 131-164.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Basili V R. Software modeling and measurement: The Goal/Question/Metric paradigm. Technical Report T78, University of Maryland at College Park, 1992. https://www.cs.umd.edu/~basili/publications/technical/-T78.pdf, Sept. 2015.

  35. Koch S, Schneider G. Effort, co-operation and co-ordination in an open source software project: GNOME. Information Systems Journal, 2002, 12(1): 27-42.

  36. Gousios G, Kalliamvakou E, Spinellis D. Measuring developer contribution from software repository data. In Proc. the International Working Conference on Mining Software Repositories, May 2008, pp.129-132.

  37. López-Fernández L, Robles G, Gonzalez-Barahona J M, Herraiz I. Applying social network analysis techniques to community-driven libre software projects. In Integrated Approaches in Information Technology and Web Engineering: Advancing Organizational Knowledge Sharing, IGI Global, 2008, pp.28-50.

  38. Sureka A, Goyal A, Rastogi A. Using social network analysis for mining collaboration data in a defect tracking system for risk and vulnerability analysis. In Proc. the 4th Annual India Software Engineering Conference, February 2011, pp.195-204.

  39. Crowston K, Howison J. Assessing the health of open source communities. IEEE Computer, 2006, 39(5): 89-91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Bitzer J, Geishecker I. Who contributes voluntarily to OSS? An investigation among German IT employees. Research Policy, 2010, 39(1): 165-172.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Judge T A, Bono J E, Ilies R, Gerhardt M W. Personality and leadership: A qualitative and quantitative review. Journal of Applied Psychology, 2002, 87(4): 765-780.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. International School of Software, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Can Cheng, Bing Li, Zeng-Yang Li, Yu-Qi Zhao & Feng-Ling Liao

  2. State Key Laboratory of Software Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Bing Li

  3. Complex Networks Research Center, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Bing Li & Zeng-Yang Li

Authors
  1. Can Cheng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Bing Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Zeng-Yang Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Yu-Qi Zhao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Feng-Ling Liao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

ESM 1

(PDF 177 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Cheng, C., Li, B., Li, ZY. et al. Developer Role Evolution in Open Source Software Ecosystem: An Explanatory Study on GNOME. J. Comput. Sci. Technol. 32, 396–414 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11390-017-1728-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11390-017-1728-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation