13 ms·

Working in Public: The Making and Maintenance of Open Source Software

126 points by joelg 6y ago

exolymph 6y ago
Nadia's website, the portal to her wonderful mind and work: https://nadiaeghbal.com/ https://nadiaeghbal.com/
philips 6y ago
I am only about 30 pages into my copy. I think this book has a strong potential to move the discussion on how and why open source works forward and the analysis thus far reflects many of my personal anecdotes as an OSS developer beginning my career in the Kernel and moving to GitHub style projects. So far I think this book does an excellent job: - Summarizing why the popular analysis of “OSS developers feel overwhelmed because they need more maintainers helping”. Spoiler: it is unlikely that more maintainers or even money is really what most developers need. - Why the values and interests of the GitHub generation of OSS development is different than the Linux Kernel or FSF eras that proceeded it. - A brief introduction to the personalities and movements that have formed OSS development so far.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- lifeisstillgood 6y ago
  >>> Spoiler: it is unlikely that more maintainers or even money is really what most developers need. So what is it ? :-)
  - captain_price7 6y ago
    Fame, bragging rights, catching attention of potential recruiters....
peterdemin 6y ago
Isn’t it ironic to have this book on Amazon?
- xwdv 6y ago
  Frankly if it wasn’t on Amazon I’d write it off as some self published indie dev trash. Instead I ordered a copy damn near instantly.
  - Polylactic_acid 6y ago
    Thats very illogical since there is no acceptance criteria or review of books on Amazon.
  - Kednicma 6y ago
    Surely you mean that if it were not on Amazon, then you would have written it off. The subjunctive mood is important when considering counterfactual possibilities.
- disposedtrolley 6y ago
  I guess it's good for distribution. I live in Australia and I'm more inclined to purchase these books since I get free international shipping via Prime. But being the _only_ distribution channel? Probably not the best!
  - cinntaile 6y ago
    It's not even available on the international Amazon websites. If you want the physical book, the only option seems to be to pay the extra shipping costs and import taxes to get it shipped from the US. Hopefully this is just temporary.
    - disposedtrolley 6y ago
      Seems to be available on the Australian site (albeit shipped from the US). I usually just find something else to buy to reach the $49 free shipping threshold. https://www.amazon.com.au/Working-Public-Making-Maintenance-Software/dp/0578675862/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1596709618&sr=8-1 https://www.amazon.com.au/Working-Public-Making-Maintenance-...
    - 6y ago
mifeng 6y ago
Modern open source projects, like all organizations, need to have an underlying business model to be sustainable. I'm with an open source crypto trading bot project (https://github.com/coinalpha/hummingbot https://github.com/coinalpha/hummingbot). Our business model is to give away the tool for free and get paid by the exchanges and protocols that benefit from our users' collective trading activity. It's still early, but this model works; it allows us to staff a growing engineering team as well as 24/7 tech support for our users.
- Polylactic_acid 6y ago
  Nice advert
feross 6y ago
I read a pre-print of this book and I can't recommend it highly enough. Nadia has spent more time than almost anyone thinking about open source software and how it gets maintained. You couldn't hope for a better guide through the topic than the author of "Roads and Bridges: The Unseen Labor Behind Our Digital Infrastructure" [1], the report that changed the whole conversation on open source funding. On top of that, the quality and design of the book is top-notch. Stripe Press did an amazing job -- it's totally gorgeous. [1] https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/learning/research-reports/roads-and-bridges-the-unseen-labor-behind-our-digital-infrastructure/ https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/learning/research-report...
ofou 6y ago
The fact that is exactly 256 pages to read, makes it congruent to the source code.
- koolba 6y ago
  Yes but are the page numbers zero origin?
  - m463 6y ago
    for page in enumerate(pages,start=xiv): page.read()
LiJiansheng 6y ago
It is highly recommended ！ As a non developer/engineer , Nadia has a very different view for open source. Just like her last paper "Roads and Bridges: The Unseen Labor Behind Our Digital Infrastructure"[0], "Working in Public" is great work again. [0] https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/learning/research-reports/roads-and-bridges-the-unseen-labor-behind-our-digital-infrastructure/ https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/learning/research-report...
biztos 6y ago
There is a very interesting interview with the author on the A16Z podcast, I listened to it today and felt like I learned a few things: https://a16z.com/2020/08/01/working-in-public-communities-open-source-creator-economy-passion-economy/ https://a16z.com/2020/08/01/working-in-public-communities-op...

126 points by joelg 6y ago

Nadia's website, the portal to her wonderful mind and work: https://nadiaeghbal.com/ https://nadiaeghbal.com/

I am only about 30 pages into my copy. I think this book has a strong potential to move the discussion on how and why open source works forward and the analysis thus far reflects many of my personal anecdotes as an OSS developer beginning my career in the Kernel and moving to GitHub style projects. So far I think this book does an excellent job: - Summarizing why the popular analysis of “OSS developers feel overwhelmed because they need more maintainers helping”. Spoiler: it is unlikely that more maintainers or even money is really what most developers need. - Why the values and interests of the GitHub generation of OSS development is different than the Linux Kernel or FSF eras that proceeded it. - A brief introduction to the personalities and movements that have formed OSS development so far.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
lifeisstillgood 6y ago
>>> Spoiler: it is unlikely that more maintainers or even money is really what most developers need. So what is it ? :-)
- captain_price7 6y ago
  Fame, bragging rights, catching attention of potential recruiters....

peterdemin 6y ago

Isn’t it ironic to have this book on Amazon?

xwdv 6y ago
Frankly if it wasn’t on Amazon I’d write it off as some self published indie dev trash. Instead I ordered a copy damn near instantly.
- Polylactic_acid 6y ago
  Thats very illogical since there is no acceptance criteria or review of books on Amazon.
- Kednicma 6y ago
  Surely you mean that if it were not on Amazon, then you would have written it off. The subjunctive mood is important when considering counterfactual possibilities.
disposedtrolley 6y ago
I guess it's good for distribution. I live in Australia and I'm more inclined to purchase these books since I get free international shipping via Prime. But being the _only_ distribution channel? Probably not the best!
- cinntaile 6y ago
  It's not even available on the international Amazon websites. If you want the physical book, the only option seems to be to pay the extra shipping costs and import taxes to get it shipped from the US. Hopefully this is just temporary.
  - disposedtrolley 6y ago
    Seems to be available on the Australian site (albeit shipped from the US). I usually just find something else to buy to reach the $49 free shipping threshold. https://www.amazon.com.au/Working-Public-Making-Maintenance-Software/dp/0578675862/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1596709618&sr=8-1 https://www.amazon.com.au/Working-Public-Making-Maintenance-...
  - 6y ago

mifeng 6y ago

Modern open source projects, like all organizations, need to have an underlying business model to be sustainable. I'm with an open source crypto trading bot project (https://github.com/coinalpha/hummingbot https://github.com/coinalpha/hummingbot). Our business model is to give away the tool for free and get paid by the exchanges and protocols that benefit from our users' collective trading activity. It's still early, but this model works; it allows us to staff a growing engineering team as well as 24/7 tech support for our users.

Polylactic_acid 6y ago
Nice advert

feross 6y ago

I read a pre-print of this book and I can't recommend it highly enough. Nadia has spent more time than almost anyone thinking about open source software and how it gets maintained. You couldn't hope for a better guide through the topic than the author of "Roads and Bridges: The Unseen Labor Behind Our Digital Infrastructure" [1], the report that changed the whole conversation on open source funding. On top of that, the quality and design of the book is top-notch. Stripe Press did an amazing job -- it's totally gorgeous. [1] https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/learning/research-reports/roads-and-bridges-the-unseen-labor-behind-our-digital-infrastructure/ https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/learning/research-report...

ofou 6y ago

The fact that is exactly 256 pages to read, makes it congruent to the source code.

koolba 6y ago
Yes but are the page numbers zero origin?
- m463 6y ago
  for page in enumerate(pages,start=xiv): page.read()

LiJiansheng 6y ago

It is highly recommended ！ As a non developer/engineer , Nadia has a very different view for open source. Just like her last paper "Roads and Bridges: The Unseen Labor Behind Our Digital Infrastructure"[0], "Working in Public" is great work again. [0] https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/learning/research-reports/roads-and-bridges-the-unseen-labor-behind-our-digital-infrastructure/ https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/learning/research-report...

biztos 6y ago

There is a very interesting interview with the author on the A16Z podcast, I listened to it today and felt like I learned a few things: https://a16z.com/2020/08/01/working-in-public-communities-open-source-creator-economy-passion-economy/ https://a16z.com/2020/08/01/working-in-public-communities-op...