Open Sources

Open Sources

by Chris DiBona, Sam Ockman
Released January 1999
Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ISBN: 9781565925823

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Book description

Freely available source code, with contributions from thousands of programmers around the world: this is the spirit of the software revolution known as Open Source. Open Source has grabbed the computer industry's attention. Netscape has opened the source code to Mozilla; IBM supports Apache; major database vendors haved ported their products to Linux. As enterprises realize the power of the open-source development model, Open Source is becoming a viable mainstream alternative to commercial software.Now in Open Sources, leaders of Open Source come together for the first time to discuss the new vision of the software industry they have created. The essays in this volume offer insight into how the Open Source movement works, why it succeeds, and where it is going.For programmers who have labored on open-source projects, Open Sources is the new gospel: a powerful vision from the movement's spiritual leaders. For businesses integrating open-source software into their enterprise, Open Sources reveals the mysteries of how open development builds better software, and how businesses can leverage freely available software for a competitive business advantage.The contributors here have been the leaders in the open-source arena:

  • Brian Behlendorf (Apache)
  • Kirk McKusick (Berkeley Unix)
  • Tim O'Reilly (Publisher, O'Reilly & Associates)
  • Bruce Perens (Debian Project, Open Source Initiative)
  • Tom Paquin and Jim Hamerly (mozilla.org, Netscape)
  • Eric Raymond (Open Source Initiative)
  • Richard Stallman (GNU, Free Software Foundation, Emacs)
  • Michael Tiemann (Cygnus Solutions)
  • Linus Torvalds (Linux)
  • Paul Vixie (Bind)
  • Larry Wall (Perl)
This book explains why the majority of the Internet's servers use open- source technologies for everything from the operating system to Web serving and email. Key technology products developed with open-source software have overtaken and surpassed the commercial efforts of billion dollar companies like Microsoft and IBM to dominate software markets. Learn the inside story of what led Netscape to decide to release its source code using the open-source mode. Learn how Cygnus Solutions builds the world's best compilers by sharing the source code. Learn why venture capitalists are eagerly watching Red Hat Software, a company that gives its key product -- Linux -- away.For the first time in print, this book presents the story of the open- source phenomenon told by the people who created this movement.Open Sources will bring you into the world of free software and show you the revolution.

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Table of contents

  1. 1. Acknowledgments
  2. 1. Introduction
    1. 1.1. Prologue
    2. 1.2. What Is Free Software and How Does It Relate to Open Source?
    3. 1.3. What Is Open Source Software?
    4. 1.4. The Dark Side of the Force
    5. 1.5. Use the Source, Luke
    6. 1.6. Innovation Through the Scientific Method
    7. 1.7. Perils to Open Source
    8. 1.8. Motivating the Open Source Hacker
    9. 1.9. The Venture and Investment Future of Linux
    10. 1.10. Science and the New Renaissance
  3. 2. A Brief History of Hackerdom
    1. 2.1. Prologue: The Real Programmers
    2. 2.2. The Early Hackers
    3. 2.3. The Rise of Unix
    4. 2.4. The End of Elder Days
    5. 2.5. The Proprietary Unix Era
    6. 2.6. The Early Free Unixes
    7. 2.7. The Great Web Explosion
  4. 3. Twenty Years of Berkeley Unix: From AT&T-Owned to Freely Redistributable
    1. 3.1. Early History
    2. 3.2. Early Distributions
    3. 3.3. VAX Unix
    4. 3.4. DARPA Support
    5. 3.5. 4.2BSD
    6. 3.6. 4.3BSD
    7. 3.7. Networking, Release 1
    8. 3.8. 4.3BSD-Reno
    9. 3.9. Networking, Release 2
    10. 3.10. The Lawsuit
    11. 3.11. 4.4BSD
    12. 3.12. 4.4BSD-Lite, Release 2
  5. 4. The Internet Engineering Task Force
    1. 4.1. The History of the IETF
    2. 4.2. IETF Structure and Features
    3. 4.3. IETF Working Groups
    4. 4.4. IETF Documents
    5. 4.5. The IETF Process
    6. 4.6. Open Standards, Open Documents, and Open Source
  6. 5. The GNU Operating System and the Free Software Movement
    1. 5.1. The First Software-Sharing Community
    2. 5.2. The Collapse of the Community
    3. 5.3. A Stark Moral Choice
    4. 5.4. Free as in Freedom
    5. 5.5. GNU Software and the GNU System
    6. 5.6. Commencing the Project
    7. 5.7. The First Steps
    8. 5.8. GNU Emacs
    9. 5.9. Is a Program Free for Every User?
    10. 5.10. Copyleft and the GNU GPL
    11. 5.11. The Free Software Foundation
    12. 5.12. Free Software Support
    13. 5.13. Technical Goals
    14. 5.14. Donated Computers
    15. 5.15. The GNU Task List
    16. 5.16. The GNU Library GPL
    17. 5.17. Scratching an Itch?
    18. 5.18. Unexpected Developments
    19. 5.19. The GNU HURD
    20. 5.20. Alix
    21. 5.21. Linux and GNU/Linux
    22. 5.22. Challenges in Our Future
      1. 5.22.1. Secret Hardware
      2. 5.22.2. Non-Free Libraries
      3. 5.22.3. Software Patents
      4. 5.22.4. Free Documentation
      5. 5.22.5. We Must Talk About Freedom
    23. 5.23. “Open Source”
    24. 5.24. Try!
  7. 6. Future of Cygnus Solutions: An Entrepreneur’s Account
    1. 6.1. Cygnus in the Early Years
    2. 6.2. GNUPro
    3. 6.3. Challenges
    4. 6.4. Getting Funded Beyond Open Source—eCos
    5. 6.5. Reflections and Vision of the Future
  8. 7. Software Engineering
    1. 7.1. The Software Engineering Process
      1. 7.1.1. Marketing Requirements
      2. 7.1.2. System-Level Design
      3. 7.1.3. Detailed Design
      4. 7.1.4. Implementation
      5. 7.1.5. Integration
      6. 7.1.6. Field Testing
      7. 7.1.7. Support
    2. 7.2. Testing Details
      1. 7.2.1. Code Coverage Analysis
      2. 7.2.2. Regression Tests
    3. 7.3. Open Source Software Engineering
      1. 7.3.1. Marketing Requirements
      2. 7.3.2. System-Level Design
      3. 7.3.3. Detailed Design
      4. 7.3.4. Implementation
      5. 7.3.5. Integration
      6. 7.3.6. Field Testing
      7. 7.3.7. Support
    4. 7.4. Conclusions
  9. 8. The Linux Edge
    1. 8.1. Amiga and the Motorola Port
    2. 8.2. Microkernels
    3. 8.3. From Alpha to Portability
    4. 8.4. Kernel Space and User Space
    5. 8.5. GCC
    6. 8.6. Kernel Modules
    7. 8.7. Portability Today
    8. 8.8. The Future of Linux
  10. 9. Giving It Away: How Red Hat Software Stumbled Across a New Economic Model and Helped Improve an Industry
    1. 9.1. Where Did Red Hat Come From?
    2. 9.2. How Do You Make Money in Free Software?
    3. 9.3. We Are in the Commodity Product Business
    4. 9.4. The Strategic Appeal of This Model to the Corporate Computing Industry
    5. 9.5. Licensing, Open Source, or Free Software
    6. 9.6. The Economic Engine Behind Development of Open Source Software
    7. 9.7. Unique Benefits
    8. 9.8. The Great Unix Flaw
    9. 9.9. It’s Your Choice
  11. 10. Diligence, Patience, and Humility
  12. 11. Open Source as a Business Strategy
    1. 11.1. It’s All About Platforms
    2. 11.2. Analyzing Your Goals for an Open-Source Project
    3. 11.3. Evaluating the Market Need for Your Project
    4. 11.4. Open Source’s Position in the Spectrum of Software
    5. 11.5. Nature Abhors a Vacuum
    6. 11.6. Donate, or Go It Alone?
    7. 11.7. Bootstrapping
    8. 11.8. What License to Use?
      1. 11.8.1. The BSD-Style Copyright
      2. 11.8.2. The Mozilla Public License
      3. 11.8.3. The GNU Public License
    9. 11.9. Tools for Launching Open Source Projects
  13. 12. The Open Source Definition
    1. 12.1. History
    2. 12.2. KDE, Qt, and Troll Tech
    3. 12.3. Analysis of the Open Source Definition
      1. 12.3.1. The Open Source Definition (Version 1.0)
    4. 12.4. Analysis of Licenses and Their Open Source Compliance
      1. 12.4.1. Public Domain
      2. 12.4.2. Free Software Licenses in General
      3. 12.4.3. The GNU General Public License
      4. 12.4.4. The GNU Library General Public License
      5. 12.4.5. The X, BSD, and Apache Licenses
      6. 12.4.6. The Artistic License
      7. 12.4.7. The Netscape Public License and the Mozilla Public License
    5. 12.5. Choosing a License
    6. 12.6. The Future
  14. 13. Hardware, Software, and Infoware
  15. 14. Freeing the Source: The Story of Mozilla
    1. 14.1. Making It Happen
    2. 14.2. Creating the License
    3. 14.3. Mozilla.org
    4. 14.4. Behind the Curtain
    5. 14.5. April Fool’s Day, 1998
  16. 15. The Revenge of the Hackers
    1. 15.1. Beyond Brooks’s Law
    2. 15.2. Memes and Mythmaking
    3. 15.3. The Road to Mountain View
    4. 15.4. The Origins of “Open Source”
    5. 15.5. The Accidental Revolutionary
    6. 15.6. Phases of the Campaign
    7. 15.7. The Facts on the Ground
    8. 15.8. Into the Future
  17. A. The Tanenbaum-Torvalds Debate
  18. B. The Open Source Definition, Version 1.0
    1. B.1. GNU General Public License
      1. B.1.1. Table of Contents
      2. B.1.2. GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
        1. B.1.2.1. Preamble
        2. B.1.2.2. TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION
        3. B.1.2.3. How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs
  19. C. Contributors
  20. About the Authors
  21. Copyright

Product information

  • Title: Open Sources
  • Author(s): Chris DiBona, Sam Ockman
  • Release date: January 1999
  • Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
  • ISBN: 9781565925823