Considerations and challenges for the adoption of open source components in software-intensive businesses

Simon Butler,Jonas Gamalielsson,Björn Lundell,Christoffer Brax,Anders Mattsson,Tomas Gustavsson,Jonas Feist,Bengt Kvarnström,Erik Lönroth

doi:10.1016/j.jss.2021.111152

Abstract

Component-Based Software Development is a conventional way of working for software-intensive businesses and Open Source Software (OSS) components are frequently considered by businesses for adoption and inclusion in software products. Previous research has found a variety of practices used to support the adoption of OSS components, including formally specified processes and less formal, developer-led approaches, and that the practices used continue to develop. Evolutionary pressures identified include the proliferation of available OSS components and increases in the pace of software development as businesses move towards continuous integration and delivery. We investigate work practices used in six software-intensive businesses in the primary and secondary software sectors to understand current approaches to OSS component adoption and the challenges businesses face establishing effective work practices to evaluate OSS components. We find businesses have established processes for evaluating OSS components and communities that support more complex and nuanced considerations of the cost and risks of component adoption alongside matters such as licence compliance and functional requirements. We also found that the increasing pace and volume of software development within some businesses provides pressure to continue to evolve software evaluation processes.

Highlights

In both cases the business has a set of requirements for Open Source Software (OSS) components that support the software evaluation process, and in one case (R11) have led to the design of a process that is applied to the evaluation and adoption of both OSS and proprietary components
In this article we have reported and analysed results from a study of the experiences of managers and practitioners in six businesses in the primary and secondary software sectors in Sweden involved in the selection and evaluation of Open Source Software (OSS) components for use in products and internal tools
The study focused on two research objectives: O1 To identify and analyse the work practices used in softwareintensive businesses to support the evaluation and possible adoption of OSS components in CBSE

Summary

Introduction

Businesses evaluate software components that are candidates for adoption and for OSS components the criteria considered include licensing (Cohn and Spiegel, 2011; Copenhaver, 2010) and the nature of the OSS project (Hauge et al, 2010; Franch et al, 2015), as well as functional requirements (Spinellis, 2019). A systematic literature review by Hauge et al (2010) found six distinct approaches recorded by researchers for evaluating OSS software, including components to be used in software products. Ayala et al.’s (2011b) extensive study of OSS adoption, including the integration of OSS components, found companies used a range of processes to evaluation components. Some businesses used no formal process, others performed no evaluation, while some used third parties to undertake or lead the evaluation process, and some had established their own process and methods (Ayala et al, 2011b)

Results

Discussion

Conclusion