So you’ve released an open source project to the world, people are using it …the hard part is done, right? No, far from it. Open sourcing a project is only a fraction of the effort that will go into it over time. Come to this talk to earn how to triage and determine levels of support for issues that come into your projects (open source users are customers!). Also learn how to handle when something goes wrong – whether it is with your own project or an upstream project two levels up from yours. Walk away knowing how to handle the hardest (and most rewarding) parts of open source governance.
11. @nellshamrellOpen Source Governance - The Hard Parts
• Sr. Software Engineer at Chef Software
• Open Source Contributor and Maintainer
• Supermarket
• Habitat
• @nellshamrell
• nshamrell@chef.io
Nell Shamrell-Harrington
14. @nellshamrellOpen Source Governance - The Hard Parts
• Make it easy to contribute
• Assist users of the project
Duties of Open Source Governance
15. @nellshamrellOpen Source Governance - The Hard Parts
• Make it easy to contribute
• Assist users of the project
• Manage contributions to the project
Duties of Open Source Governance
47. @nellshamrellOpen Source Governance - The Hard Parts
• Communicate it to the maintainers of
the upstream project
Dealing with an upstream issue
48. @nellshamrellOpen Source Governance - The Hard Parts
• Communicate it to the maintainers of the
upstream project
• Communicate it to the person(s) who
filed the issue
Dealing with an upstream issue
49. @nellshamrellOpen Source Governance - The Hard Parts
• Communicate it to the maintainers of the
upstream project
• Communicate it to the person(s) who
filed the issue
• Update the issue in your project
regularly with progress
Dealing with an upstream issue
50. If the upstream maintainer
does not fix the issue,
change the dependency
61. @nellshamrellOpen Source Governance - The Hard Parts
• Whitespace changes
• Large features (without talking to the
maintainer first)
Does Not Add Value
64. @nellshamrellOpen Source Governance - The Hard Parts
• Small features (less than100 lines non-
test code)
• Large features (if you talk to the
maintainer first)
Sometimes Add Value
67. @nellshamrellOpen Source Governance - The Hard Parts
• Does it fix an existing issue?
• Does it replicate work done
elsewhere?
How do you tell if it adds value?
68. @nellshamrellOpen Source Governance - The Hard Parts
• Does it fix an existing issue?
• Does it replicate work done elsewhere?
• Does it affect in progress work?
How do you tell if it adds value?
79. @nellshamrellOpen Source Governance - The Hard Parts
• Sr. Software Engineer at Chef Software
• Open Source Contributor and Maintainer
• Supermarket
• Habitat
• @nellshamrell
• nshamrell@chef.io
Nell Shamrell-Harrington