Abstract
Problem statement: The Software Industry has changed and developed as a consequence of the impact of Open Source Software (OSS) since 1990s. Over a period of time, OSS has evolved in an integrated manner and most of the participants in OSS activity are volunteers. Approach: This coordination form of development has produced a considerable quantity of software; and often, the development method has been viewed as an unorganized and unstructured method of development. Few existing researches deal with the Open Source Software phenomenon from a quality perception point of view and studies where enhancements are possible in the development process. Results: Release Process in OSS plays a key role in most of the OSS projects. As this process is related to the evolution of a quality software from the community of OSS developers, this research attempts to explore the process practices which are employed by OSS developers and examines the problems associated with the development process. The scope of the study is mainly confined to process management in OSS. “Prototype development and iterative development process” approaches were adapted as a methodology. Conclusion/Recommendations: The major finding and conclusion drawn is ‘lack of coordination among developers’ who are geographically isolated. Hence, the study suggests the need for coordination among developers to line up their development process for achieving the goal of the software release process.
Highlights
Management of the release process is an important component of Open Source Software (OSS) development as it is largely concerned with the distribution of quality product to users
This study has provided an in depth understanding of OSS release process, which is an area of contemporary significance
The core finding of this research work is that in complex OSS projects, the volunteers experience many difficulties with the release approach. These include lack of coordination among OSS developers’, who are distantly located in geographical isolation; and are mostly participating volunteer developers
Summary
Management of the release process is an important component of OSS development as it is largely concerned with the distribution of quality product to users. Development process in OSS is considered as a life cycle approach method of development, wherein the new software development process are enabled to be made available to OSS users (Aberdour, 2007; Coffin, 2006; Crowston and Howison, 2005; Erenkrantz, 2003; Feller, 2005; Fitzgerald, 2006; Greer and Ruhe, 2004; Iannacci, 2005; Koch and Schneider, 2002; Michlmayr, 2005; Michlmayr et al, 2005; Robles et al, 2005). Few problems may be experienced with release phase in spite of the development process in OSS projects. This study is exploratory in nature to obtain an enhanced view of real practices in OSS release process in OSS project manager. The research study has been analyzed in terms of quality perception
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