The Patch-Flow Method for Measuring Inner Source Collaboration
Capraro M, Dorner M, Riehle D (2018)
Publication Language: English
Publication Type: Conference contribution, Conference Contribution
Publication year: 2018
Publisher: Association for Computing Machinery
City/Town: New York
Conference Proceedings Title: MSR’18: 15th International Conference on Mining Software Repositories
Event location: Gothenburg
ISBN: 978-1-4503-5716-6/18/05
URI: https://osr.cs.fau.de/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/msr-2018-capraro-dorner-riehle.pdf
Abstract
Inner source (IS) is the use of open source software development (SD) practices and the establishment of an open source-like culture within an organization. IS enables and requires developers to collaborate more than traditional SD methods such as plan-driven or agile development. To better understand IS, researchers and practitioners need to measure IS collaboration. However, there is no method yet for doing so. In this paper, we present a method for measuring IS collaboration by measuring the patch-flow within an organization. Patch-flow is the flow of code contributions across organizational boundaries such as project, organizational unit, or profit center boundaries. We evaluate our patch-flow measurement method using case study research with a software developing multi-industry company. By applying the method in the case organization, we evaluate its relevance and viability and discuss its usefulness. We found that about half (47.9%) of all code contributions constitute patch-flow between organizational units, almost all (42.2%) being between organizational units working on different products. Such significant patch-flow indicates high relevance of the patch-flow phenomenon and hence the method presented in this paper. Our patch-flow measurement method is the first of its kind to measure and quantify IS collaboration. It can serve as a base for further quantitative analyses of IS collaboration.
Authors with CRIS profile
Maximilian Capraro
Professur für Open Source Software
Michael Dorner
Professur für Open Source Software
Dirk Riehle
Professur für Open Source Software
How to cite
APA:
Capraro, M., Dorner, M., & Riehle, D. (2018). The Patch-Flow Method for Measuring Inner Source Collaboration. In MSR’18: 15th International Conference on Mining Software Repositories. Gothenburg, SE: New York: Association for Computing Machinery.
MLA:
Capraro, Maximilian, Michael Dorner, and Dirk Riehle. "The Patch-Flow Method for Measuring Inner Source Collaboration." Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Mining Software Repositories, Gothenburg New York: Association for Computing Machinery, 2018.
BibTeX: Download