@proceedings {1294, title = {Something of a Potemkin Village? Acid2 and Mozilla{\textquoteright}s Efforts to Comply with HTML4}, year = {2011}, month = {10/2011}, pages = {320-324}, publisher = {Springer}, abstract = {The real point here is that the Acid3 test isn{\textquoteright}t a broad-spectrum standards-support test. It{\textquoteright}s a showpiece, and something of a Potemkin village at that. Which is a shame, because what{\textquoteright}s really needed right now is exhaustive test suites for specifications{\textemdash} XHTML, CSS, DOM, SVG.}, author = {den Besten, Matthijs and Jean-Michel Dalle} } @conference {593, title = {Peeling the Onion}, booktitle = {OSS2009: Open Source Ecosystems: Diverse Communities Interacting (IFIP 2.13)}, series = {IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology }, volume = {299/2009}, year = {2009}, month = {2009///}, pages = {284 - 297}, publisher = {Springer}, organization = {Springer}, chapter = {25}, abstract = {According to the now widely accepted {\textquotedblleft}onion-model{\textquotedblright} of the organization of open source software development, an open source project typically relies on a core of developers that is assisted by a larger periphery of users. But what does the role of the periphery consist of? Raymond{\textquoteright}s Linus{\textquoteright}s Law which states that {\textquotedblleft}given enough eyeballs all bugs are shallow{\textquotedblright} suggests at least one important function: the detection of defects. Yet, what are the ways through which core and periphery interact with each other? With the help of text-mining methods, we study the treatment of bugs that affected the Firefox Internet browser as reflected in the discussions and actions recorded in Mozilla{\textquoteright}s issue tracking system Bugzilla. We find various patterns in the modes of interactions between core and peripheral members of the community. For instance, core members seem to engage more frequently with the periphery when the latter proposes a solution (a patch). This leads us to conclude that Alan Cox{\textquoteright}s dictum {\textquotedblleft}show me the code{\textquotedblright}, perhaps even more than Linus{\textquoteright}s law, seems to be the dominant rule that governs the development of software like Firefox. }, issn = {978-3-642-02031-5}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02032-2_25}, attachments = {https://flosshub.org/sites/flosshub.org/files/Peeling\%20the\%20Onion.pdf}, author = {Masmoudi, H{\'e}la and den Besten, Matthijs and de Loupy, Claude and Jean-Michel Dalle} } @article {denBesten2008316, title = {The allocation of collaborative efforts in open-source software}, journal = {Information Economics and Policy}, volume = {20}, number = {4}, year = {2008}, note = {"we have selected a set of 10 large open-source projects" apache, cvs, gaim, gcc, ghostscript, mozilla, netbsd, openssh, postgresql, python "Our data were extracted from logs of development activity generated by software version control systems. For each project in the selection, we extracted CVS development logs" "We notably computed for each file in the sample, and for each month in its history, the number of distinct maintainers that had committed a change during that month, and the number of commits, the blocks of code addition, each file had received during that month." "other variables used in the regressions are proxies for the size, age, and granularity of files; the size of a file is represented as its number of lines of code (LOCs), its age by its creation date (Youth), and its granularity by the number of functions it contains."}, pages = {316 - 322}, abstract = {The article investigates the allocation of collaborative efforts among core developers (maintainers) of open-source software by analyzing on-line development traces (logs) for a set of 10 large projects. Specifically, we investigate whether the division of labor within open-source projects is influenced by characteristics of software code. We suggest that the collaboration among maintainers tends to be influenced by different measures of code complexity. We interpret these findings by providing preliminary evidence that the organization of open-source software development would self-adapt to characteristics of the code base, in a {\textquoteright}stigmergic{\textquoteright} manner.}, keywords = {age, apache, complexity, cvs, division of labor, functions, gaim, gcc, ghostscript, lines of code, loc, log files, mozilla, netbsd, openssh, postgresql, python, revision control, scm, size, source code, Stigmergy, version control}, issn = {0167-6245}, doi = {DOI: 10.1016/j.infoecopol.2008.06.003}, url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6V8J-4SSG4PN-1/2/88b3824c30a31c18929d8a5ca6d64f62}, author = {den Besten, Matthijs and Jean-Michel Dalle and Galia, Fabrice} } @conference {549, title = {Channeling Firefox Developers: Mom and Dad Aren{\textquoteright}t Happy Yet}, booktitle = {OSS2008: Open Source Development, Communities and Quality (IFIP 2.13)}, series = {IFIP International Federation for Information Processing}, volume = {275/2008}, year = {2008}, month = {2008///}, pages = {265 - 271}, publisher = {Springer}, organization = {Springer}, chapter = {22}, abstract = {Firefox, a browser targeted at mainstream users, has been one of the big successes of open source development in recent years. That Firefox succeeded where earlier attempts failed is undoubtedly due to the particular choices that were made in the process of development. In this paper, we look at this process in more detail. Mining bug reports and feature requests related to Firefox in Mozilla{\textquoteright}s Bugzilla bug tracker system, we find that the attention developers devoted to reports and requests was influenced by several factors. Most importantly, other things being equal, reports and requests from outsiders increasingly tend to be ignored. While such behavior may have helped to shield Firefox from the {\textquotedblleft}alpha-geek power user{\textquotedblright} in the early stages of development, it also makes it difficult for {\textquotedblleft}mom and dad{\textquotedblright} to let their voice be heard even after they have adopted Firefox. }, issn = {978-0-387-09683-4}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09684-1_22}, attachments = {https://flosshub.org/sites/flosshub.org/files/Channeling\%20Firefox\%20Developers.pdf}, author = {Jean-Michel Dalle and den Besten, Matthijs and Masmoudi, H{\'e}la} } @conference {536, title = {Mining for Practices in Community Collections: Finds From Simple Wikipedia}, booktitle = {OSS2008: Open Source Development, Communities and Quality (IFIP 2.13)}, series = {IFIP International Federation for Information Processing}, volume = {275/2008}, year = {2008}, month = {2008///}, pages = {105 - 120}, publisher = {Springer}, organization = {Springer}, chapter = {9}, abstract = {The challenges of commons based peer production are usually associated with the development of complex software projects such as Linux and Apache. But the case of open content production should not be treated as a trivial one. For instance, while the task of maintaining a collection of encyclopedic articles might seem negligible compared to the one of keeping together a software system with its many modules and interdependencies, it still poses quite demanding problems. In this paper, we describe the methods and practices adopted by Simple Wikipedia to keep its articles easy to read. Based on measurements of article readability and similarity, we conclude that while the mechanisms adopted by the community had some effect, in the long run more efforts and new practices might be necessary in order to maintain an acceptable level of readability in the Simple Wikipedia collection. }, issn = {978-0-387-09683-4}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09684-1_9}, attachments = {https://flosshub.org/sites/flosshub.org/files/Mining\%20for\%20Practices.pdf}, author = {den Besten, Matthijs and Rossi, Alessandro and Gaio, Loris and Loubser, Max and Jean-Michel Dalle} } @conference {639, title = {Different Bug Fixing Regimes? A Preliminary Case for Superbugs}, booktitle = {OSS2007: Open Source Development, Adoption and Innovation (IFIP 2.13)}, series = {IFIP International Federation for Information Processing }, volume = {234/2007}, year = {2007}, month = {2007///}, pages = {247 - 252}, publisher = {Springer}, organization = {Springer}, chapter = {23}, abstract = {The paper investigates the processes by which bugs are fixed in open-source software projects. Focusing on Mozilla and combining data from both its bug tracker (Bugzilla) and from its CVS, we suggest that: a) Some bugs resist beyond the first patch applied to the main branch of the source code in relation to them, which we denote as superbugs; b) There might exist different bug fixing regimes; c) priority and severity flags as defined in bug repositories are not optimized for superbugs and might lead to a involuntary side effects; d) The survival time of superbugs is influenced by the nature of the discussions within Bugzilla, by bug dependencies and by the provision of contextual elements. }, issn = {978-0-387-72485-0}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-72486-7_23}, attachments = {https://flosshub.org/sites/flosshub.org/files/Different\%20Bug\%20Fixing\%20Regimes.pdf}, author = {Jean-Michel Dalle and den Besten, Matthijs} } @conference {1213, title = {Working with Open Source Development Data: Considerations triggered by a study of bug scenarios}, booktitle = {2nd Workshop on Public Data about Software Development (WoPDaSD 2007)}, year = {2007}, month = {2007}, abstract = {The retrieval and preparation of public data on software development calls for more than just technical skills. In addition, care and judgement are needed to avoid disproportionate costs to the providers of data or unnecessary embarrassment to the participants tracked in the data. Taking the extraction of bug scenarios as a use case, we illustrate these concerns and discuss how they could be translated into social requirements that would help to make retrieval and preparation a sustainable exercise. In particular, we call for more efforts to establish institutional repositories of public data on software development and, besides, we suggest that reviewers could play a role in making sure that empirical research is performed in a way that does not bring the long-term relationship between software developers and researchers in jeopardy. }, keywords = {bug reports, bug scenarios, Data Collection}, attachments = {https://flosshub.org/sites/flosshub.org/files/denBesten-wopdasd.pdf}, author = {den Besten, Matthijs and Masmoudi, H{\'e}la and Jean-Michel Dalle} } @conference {682, title = {Collaborative Maintenance in Large Open-Source Projects}, booktitle = {OSS2006: Open Source Systems (IFIP 2.13)}, series = {IFIP International Federation for Information Processing}, year = {2006}, pages = {233 - 244}, publisher = {Springer}, organization = {Springer}, abstract = {The paper investigates collaborative work among maintainers of open source software by analyzing the logs of a set of 10 large projects. We inquire whether teamwork can be influenced by several characteristics of code. Preliminary results suggest that collaboration among maintainers in most large open-source projects seems to be positively influenced by file vintage and by Halstead volume of files, and negatively by McCabe complexity and size measured in SLOCs. These results could be consistent with an increased attractivity of files created early in the history of a project, and with maintainers being less attracted by more verbose code and by more complex code, although in this last case it might also reflect the fact that more complex files would be de facto more exclusive in terms of maintenance. }, keywords = {apache, COLLABORATION, complexity, cvs, gaim, gcc, ghostscript, halstead, lines of code, loc, mccabe, mozilla, netbsd, openssh, postgresql, python, sloc}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/0-387-34226-5_23}, attachments = {https://flosshub.org/sites/flosshub.org/files/Collaborative\%20Maintenance.pdf}, author = {den Besten, Matthijs and Jean-Michel Dalle and Galia, Fabrice} } @conference {1228, title = {Mining CVS Signals}, booktitle = {1st Workshop on Public Data about Software Development (WoPDaSD 2006)}, year = {2006}, pages = {10-19}, author = {Jean-Michel Dalle and L. Daudet and den Besten, Matthijs} }