Seminar: "Working with open source software: Selecting, using, adapting, and contributing back"

AUEB STATISTICS SEMINAR SERIES 2023-24

Diomidis Spinellis, Professor of Software Engineering| Department of Management Science and Technology| AUEB, Professor of Software Analytics| Department of Software Technology| Delft University of Technology

Working with open source software: Selecting, using, adapting, and contributing back

ROOM T202

ABSTRACT

Software components, such as the zlib compression library, the SQLite relational database engine, and the JPEG and PNG reference implementations, are deployed in billions of devices. Thanks to open source licensing and package managers, hundreds of thousands of components often lie one click away from a developer. We will examine how to select appropriate open source components based on attributes associated with the product itself and with its development process. Given that open source components may also require adjustments and maintenance, we will also discuss how to integrate the open source components into existing projects and how to ensure the long-term viability of locally performed changes through upstream contributions.