Introducing Innovations into Open Source Projects Dissertation zur Erlangung des Grades eines Doktors der Naturwissenschaften (Dr. rer. nat.) am Fachbereich Mathematik und Informatik der Freien Universität Berlin von Sinan Christopher Özbek Berlin August 2010 2 Gutachter: Professor Dr. Lutz Prechelt, Freie Universität Berlin Professor Kevin Crowston, Syracuse University Datum der Disputation: 17.12.2010 4 Abstract This thesis presents a qualitative study using Grounded Theory Methodology on the question of how to change development processes in Open Source projects. The mailing list communication of thirteen medium-sized Open Source projects over the year 2007 was analyzed to answer this question. It resulted in eight main concepts revolving around the introduction of innovation, i.e. new processes, services, and tools, into the projects including topics such as the migration to new systems, the question on where to host services, how radical Open Source projects can change their ways, and how compliance to processes and conventions is enforced. These are complemented with (1) the result of five case studies in which innovation introductions were conducted with Open Source projects, and with (2) a theoretical comparison of the results of this thesis to four theories and scientific perspectives from the organizational and social sciences such as Path Dependence, the Garbage Can model, Social-Network analysis, and Actor-Network theory. The results show that innovation introduction is a multifaceted phenomenon, of which this thesis discusses the most salient conceptual aspects. The thesis concludes with practical advice for innovators and specialized hints for the most popular innovations. 5 6 Acknowledgements I want to thank the following individuals for contributing to the completion of this thesis: • Lutz Prechelt for advising me over these long five years. • Stephan Salinger and Florian Thiel for discussion and critique of methodology and results. • Gesine Milde and Anja Kasseckert for countless hours of proof-reading, comma checking, and browsing the dictionaries to find better words to spice up my poor writing. • Many thanks go to my family who have always supported me in doing this Ph.D. and always listened when I explained what it is exactly that I am doing. • Aenslee, Anne, and Ulrike, who each in their own style participated in the genesis of this thesis and motivated me to persevere. • Leonard Dobusch, Steven Evers, and Lina Böcker—in their facility as the Open Source Research Network—for inspirational discussion in the early days of my thesis. • Karl Beecher, Julia Schenk, Ulrich Stärk, Janine Rohde, Isabella Peukes, and Moritz Minzlaff for proof-reading selected chapters. • Martin Gruhn and Sebastian Jekutsch for keeping room 008 a great place for working. • The Saros Team for providing a welcome relief from the sociological work of this thesis. 7 8 Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Germany This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Germany License. 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The best way to do this is with a link to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc-sa/3.0/de/deed.en. 9 10 Contents 1 Introduction 19 1.1 Goal and Motivation.................................... 19 1.2 Context.......................................... 20 1.3 Contributions....................................... 20 1.4 Outline........................................... 21 1.5 Note to the Reader.................................... 21 2 Background 23 2.1 Defining Innovation Introduction............................. 23 2.1.1 Introduction vs. Diffusion............................. 25 2.2 Types of Innovations................................... 25 2.3 Open Source........................................ 26 2.3.1 Historical Introduction.............................. 27 2.3.2 Terminology.................................... 28 2.3.3 Licensing...................................... 29 2.3.4 Research on Open Source............................. 30 2.3.5 The Participants.................................. 31 2.3.6 Open Source and Organizations......................... 33 2.3.7 Community Ideology............................... 34 2.3.8 The Open Source Development Process..................... 35 2.3.9 Decision Making.................................. 41 2.3.10 Defining Success.................................. 42 3 Methodology 45 3.1 Development of the Methodology............................. 45 3.1.1 Action research and field experiments...................... 45 3.1.2 Surveying the Open Source Community for Change Episodes.......... 47 3.1.3 Using Grounded Theory Methodology...................... 48 3.2 Grounded Theory Methodology.............................. 48 3.2.1 Open Coding................................... 49 3.2.2 Axial Coding.................................... 54 3.2.3 Selective Coding.................................. 58 3.2.4 The Paradigm................................... 61 3.3 Use of GTM in Related and Open Source Research................... 62 3.4 GmanDA – Tool Support for Qualitative Data Analysis of E-mail Data......... 63 3.4.1 User Interface................................... 65 3.4.2 Software Design.................................. 68 3.5 Visualization of Temporal Data.............................. 71 3.6 Data............................................ 75 3.6.1 Selection Criteria................................. 75 3.6.2 Data Collection Site................................ 76 3.6.3 List of Projects.................................. 76 11 12 CONTENTS 3.7 Threats to Validity.................................... 79 3.7.1 Credibility and Internal Validity.......................... 79 3.7.2 Relevance and External Validity......................... 80 4 Related Work 83 4.1 Optimizing Open Source Projects............................. 83 4.2 Innovation Adoption in Debian.............................. 85 4.3 Innovation Introduction and Design Discussions..................... 88 4.4 Community Building.................................... 93 4.5 Other Related Work.................................... 94 5 Results 97 5.1 Quantitative Overview................................... 97 5.2 The Introduction Lifecycle................................ 98 5.2.1 Failure Reasons.................................. 101 5.3 Partial Migrations..................................... 102 5.3.1 Partial Migration at KVM............................. 103 5.3.2 Partial Migration at ROX............................. 105 5.4 Enactment Scopes of Process Innovation......................... 107 5.5 Hosting.......................................... 111 5.5.1 Strategies for Hosting............................... 116 5.5.2 Relating Hosting to Innovation Introduction................... 116 5.5.3 Summary..................................... 118 5.6 Adapter Innovations.................................... 118 5.7 Forcing, Compliance, and Decisions............................ 119 5.7.1 Organizational Innovation Decisions....................... 119 5.7.2 Individual Innovation Decisions.......................... 121 5.7.3 Compliance and its Enforcement......................... 123 5.8 Participation Sprints and Time-dependent Behavior................... 126 5.9 Radical vs. Evolutionary Innovation............................ 129 5.9.1 Reimplementation in Open Source Development................. 129 5.9.2 Radical Innovation Introductions......................... 132 5.10 Tool Independence..................................... 134 6 Comparison with Classic Models 137 6.1 Path Dependence..................................... 138 6.1.1 Literature on Path Dependence and Open Source................ 141 6.1.2 Path Dependence and Innovation Episodes.................... 142 6.1.3 Implications for the Innovator........................... 147 6.2 Garbage Can Model.................................... 148 6.2.1 The Garbage Can in the Open Source Literature................. 148 6.2.2 The Garbage Can and Innovation Episodes.................... 149 6.2.3 Implications for the Innovator........................... 155 6.3 Social Network Analysis and Social Network Theory................... 156 6.3.1 SNA in the Open Source Literature....................... 156 6.3.2 Social Network Analysis and Innovation Episodes................ 158 6.3.3 Summary and Recommendations for the Innovator..............