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Peeling the onion

Author

Listed:
  • Jean-Michel Dalle

    (ENS Cachan - École normale supérieure - Cachan)

  • Claude Deloupy
  • Matthijs Den-Besten

    (CRG - Centre de recherche en gestion - X - École polytechnique - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Hela Masmoudi

    (DECISION - LIP6 - Laboratoire d'Informatique de Paris 6 - UPMC - Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

According to the now widely accepted onion-model 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's Linus's Law which states that given enough eyeballs all bugs are shallow 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'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's dictum show me the code, perhaps even more than Linus's law, seems to be the dominant rule that governs the development of software like Firefox.

Suggested Citation

  • Jean-Michel Dalle & Claude Deloupy & Matthijs Den-Besten & Hela Masmoudi, 2009. "Peeling the onion," Post-Print hal-00402998, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00402998
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    Cited by:

    1. Masmoudi, Héla, 2011. "La résolution distribuée dans les communautés Open Source : propriétés organisationnelles et modes de coordination," Economics Thesis from University Paris Dauphine, Paris Dauphine University, number 123456789/10709 edited by Dalle, Jean-Michel.
    2. Jean-Michel Dalle & Matthijs Den-Besten, 2010. "Voting for bugs in Firefox: a voice for Mom and Dad?," Post-Print hal-00549769, HAL.
    3. Thierry Pénard & Sylvain Dejean & Raphaël Suire, 2011. "Olson’s Paradox Revisited: An Empirical Analysis of Incentives to Contribute in P2P File-sharing Communities," Economics Working Paper Archive (University of Rennes & University of Caen) 201105, Center for Research in Economics and Management (CREM), University of Rennes, University of Caen and CNRS.

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