Karl Fogel, Open Source Development with CVS, Coriolois Open Press, 1999, 1-57610-490-7. Fogel's "guide to using CVS in the free software
world" is much more than its subtitle. In the publisher's
own words: "Open Source Development with
CVS is one of the first books available that teaches
you development and implementation of Open Source
software." It also includes the best reference and
tutorial to CVS I have ever seen. It is the book that was
so good that it prompted me to write this
HOWTO because I thought the role it tried to serve was so
important and useful. Please check it or buy it if you can and
are seriously interested in running a free software project.
Lawrence Lessig, Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace, Basic Books, 2000, 0-465-03913-8. While it only briefly talks about free software (and does it by
tiptoeing around the free software/open source issue with the
spineless use of the term "open code" that only a
lawyer could coin), Lessig's book is brilliant. Written by a
lawyer, it talks about how regulation on the Internet is not
done with law, but with the code itself and how the nature of
the code will determine the nature of future freedoms. In
addition to being a quick and enjoyable read, it gives some
cool history and describes how we need
free software in a way more powerfully than anything I've read
outside of RMS's
"Right to Read."
Eric Raymond, The Cathedral and the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary, O'Reilly, 1999, 1-56592-724-9. Although I have to honestly say that I am not the ESR fan that
I used to be, this book proved invaluable in getting me where I
am today. The essay that gives the book its title does a good
job of sketching the free software process and does an an
amazing job of making an argument for free software/open source
development as a road to better software. The rest of the book
has other of ESR's articles, which for the most part are posted
on his website. Still, it's nice thing to own in hard copy and
something that every free software/open source hacker should
read.
Richard Gabriel, The Rise of
"Worse is Better". A well written article although I think the title may have
confused as many people as the rest of the essay helped. It
offers a good description of how to design programs that will
succeed and stay maintainable as they grow.
Montey Manley, Managing
Projects the Open Source Way, Linux
Programming, Oct 31, 2000. In one of the better articles on the subject that I've read,
Monty sums up some of the major points I touch on including:
starting a project, testing, documentation, organizing a team and
leadership, and several other topics. While more opinionated that
I try to be, I think its an important article that I found very
helpful in writing this HOWTO. I've tried to cite him in
the places where I borrowed from him most.
I have problems much of this piece and I recommend you read
[KRAWITZ] at the same time you read Monty's
article for a good critique.
Eric Steven Raymond, Software Release Practice HOWTO. At first glance, ESR's release practice HOWTO seems to
share a lot of terrain with this document. Upon closer
examination, the differences become apparent but they are
closely related. His document, read in conjunction with mine,
will give a reader a good picture of how to go about managing a
project. ESR's HOWTO goes into a bit more detail on how to write
and what languages to write in. He tends to give more specific
instructions and checklists ("name this file this, not
this") while this HOWTO speaks more conceptually. There
are several sections that are extremely similar. It's also
much shorter. My favorite quote from his HOWTO is: ""Managing a
project well when all the participants are volunteers presents
some unique challenges. This is too large a topic to cover in a
HOWTO." Oh really? Perhaps I just do a poor job. Vivek Venugopalan, CVS Best Practices. Venugopalan provides one of the best essays on
effective use of CVS that I've come across. It is written for
people who already have a good knowledge of CVS. In the chapter
on branching, he describes when and how to branch but gives no
information on what CVS commands you should use to do this. This
is fine (technical CVS HOWTO have been written) but CVS newbies
will want to spend some time with Fogel's reference before they
will find this one very useful. Venugopalan creates checklists of things to do before,
after, and around releases. It's definitely worth a read through
as most of his ideas will save tons of developer head aches over
any longer period of time. Stephen Hindle, 'Best Practices' for Open Source?, Advogato, March 21, 2001. Touching mostly on programming practice (as most articles on
the subject usually do), the article talks a little about
project management ("Use it!") and a bit about
communication within a free software project.
Bram Cohen, http://www.advogato.org/article/258.htmlHow to
Write Maintainable Code, Advogato, March 15, 2001. This article touches upon the "writing maintainable code"
discussion that I try hard to avoid in my HOWTO. It's one of
the better (and most diplomatic) articles on the subject that
I've found.
Robert Krawitz, Free
Source Project Management, Advogato, November 4, 2000. This article made me happy because it challenged many of the
problems that I had with Monty's article on LinuxProgramming. The
author argues that Monty calls simply for the application of
old (proprietary software) project management techniques in
free software projects instead of working to come up with
something new. I found his article to be extremely well thought
out and I think it's an essential read for any free software
project manager.
Lalo Martins, Ask
the Advogatos: why do Free Software projects
fail?, Advogato, July 20, 2000. While the article is little more than a question, reading the
answers to this question offered by Advogato's readers can
help. In a lot of ways, this HOWTO acts as my answer to the
questions posed in this article but there are others, many of
which might take issue with whats is in this HOWTO. It's worth
checking out.
David Burley, In-Roads to Free
Software Development, Advogato, June 14, 2000. This document was written as a response to another Advogato
article. Although not about running a project, this
describes some of the ways that you can get started with free
software development without starting a project. I think this
is an important article. If you are interested in becoming
involved with free software, this article showcases some of the
ways that you can do this without actually starting a project
(something that I hope this HOWTO has demonstrated is not to be
taken lightly).
Jacob Moorman, Importance of
Non-Developer Supporters in Free Software, , Advogato, April 16, 2000. Moorman's is a short article but it brings up some good
points. The comment reminding developers to thank their testers
and end-users is invaluable and oft-forgotten.
Leslie Orchard, On
Naming an Open Source Project, Advogato, April 12, 2000. I didn't even have a section on project naming in this HOWTO
(See Section 2.2) until Leslie Orchard's article
reminded me of it. Thanks to Leslie for writing this article!
David Allen, Version Numbering Madness, Advogato, February 28, 2000. In this article, David Allen challenges the whole
"Major.Minor.Patch" version numbering scheme. Its
good to read this as you read Section 2.4. I liked the article and it
describes some of the projects that I bring up in my discussion
of version numbering.
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