Abstract
Free/Open Source software (F/OSS) is a novel way of developing and deploying software systems on a global basis. Collaborative efforts of developers and users towards identifying and correcting defects as well as requesting and enhancing features form the major foundation of this innovative model. An empirical study using questionnaire survey has been conducted among F/OSS developers to gain an insight of defect management among various F/OSS projects. The present paper focuses on exploring extent of use of defect tracking systems among F/OSS projects and evaluating the perception of F/OSS developers about effectiveness of user participation and efficiency of defect resolution. The findings indicate that the defect management activities significantly vary among F/OSS projects depending on project size, type of user participation and severity of defects. The findings of the present study can help in future to determine the impact of such variations in defect management on overall quality of F/OSS products by using defect data extracted from publicly accessible F/OSS repository.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
E.S. Raymond, “The Cathedral and the Bazaar”, http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue3_3/raymond/
Free Software definition, http://www.fsf.org/licensing/essays/free-sw.html
Open Source Initiative, http://www.opensource.org
A. Boulanger, “Open-source versus proprietary software: Is one more reliable and secure than the other?”, IBM Systems Journal, 2005, Vol. 44, No. 2.
Stefan Koch, “Evolution of Open Source Software Systems – A Large-Scale Investigation”, Proceedings of the First International Conference on Open Source Systems, Geneva, 11th-15th July 2005.
Jim Rapoza, “Open Source Quicker at Fixing Flaws”, eWeek Labs, http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,562226,00.asp
K. Crowston, H. Annabi, J. Howison, “Defining Open Source Software Project Success”, Twenty-Fourth International Conference on Information Systems, Seattle, Washington, December14-17 2003, http://floss.syr.edu/publications/icis2003success.pdf
Bug Tracking, http://www.bug-tracking.net/tracking-source.htm
Defect management, http://www.defectmanagement.com/
A. G. Koru, J. Tian, “Defect Handling in Medium and Large Open Source Projects”, IEEE Software, Jul/Aug 2004, Vol. 21, No. 4.
G. Robles, J.M. González-Barahona, C. José, M. Vicente, R. Luis, “Studying the Evolution Of Libre Software Projects Using Publicly Available Data”, International Conference on Software Engineering, 3rd Workshop on Open Source Software Engineering, Portland, Oregon, May 3-11, 2003. http://opensource.ucc.ie/icse2003/3rd-WS-on-OSS-Engineering.pdf
R. Glass, “Is open source software more reliable? An elusive answer”, The Software Practitioner, 2001, Vol. 11, No.6.
Walt Scacchi, “Software Development Practices in Open Software Development Communities: A Comparative Case Study (Position Paper)”, Workshop on Open Source Software Engineering, Toronto, Ontario, May 2001.
L. Zhao and S. Elbaum, “Quality Assurance Under the Open Source Development Model”, Journal of System and Software, Apr. 2003, Vol. 66, No. 1, pp. 65-75.
A. Mockus, R.T. Fielding, and J. Herbsleb, “Two Case Studies of Open Source Software Development: Apache and Mozilla”, ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology, 2002, Vol. 11, No. 3, 309-346.
M. Michlmayr, “Software Process Maturity and the Success of Free Software Projects", Software Engineering: Evolution and Emerging Technologies, 2005, Vol. 130, pp. 3-14.
Survey Management Tool, http://phpesp.sourceforge.net/
Survey Questionnaire, http://anu.puchd.ac.in/
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this paper
Cite this paper
Gupta, A., Singla, R.K. (2008). An Empirical Investigation of Defect Management in Free/Open Source Software Projects. In: Sobh, T. (eds) Advances in Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8741-7_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8741-7_13
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-8740-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-8741-7
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)