Search

Reproducible builds (R-Bs) are software engineering practices that reliably create bit-for-bit identical binary executable files from specified source code. R-Bs are applied in someopen source software (OSS) projects and distributions to allow verification that the distrib-uted binary has been built from the released source code. The use of R-Bs has been advo-cated in software maintenance and R-Bs are applied in the development of some OSS secu-rity applications. Nonetheless, industry application of R-Bs appears limited, and we seekto understand whether awareness is low or if significant technical and business reasonsprevent wider adoption. Through interviews with software practitioners and business man-agers, this study explores the utility of applying R-Bs in businesses in the primary and sec-ondary software sectors and the business and technical reasons supporting their adoption.We find businesses use R-Bs in the safety-critical and security domains, and R-Bs are valu-able for traceability and support collaborative software development. We also found thatR-Bs are valued as engineering processes and are seen as a badge of software quality, butwithout a tangible value proposition. There are good engineering reasons to use R-Bs inindustrial software development, and the principle of establishing correspondence betweensource code and binary offers opportunities for the development of further applications., CC BY 4.0Published: 29 November 2022Simon Butler simon.butler@his.seCorrection in: Software Quality Journal. doi:10.1007/s11219-024-09664-6Open access funding provided by University of Skövde. This research has been financially supported by the Swedish Knowledge Foundation (KK-stiftelsen) and participating partner organisations in the LIM-IT project.© 2022 Springer Nature Switzerland AG. Part of Springer Nature.

Component-Based Software Development is a conventional way of working for software-intensive businesses and OpenSource Software (OSS) components are frequently considered by businesses for adoption and inclusion in softwareproducts. Previous research has found a variety of practices used to support the adoption of OSS components, in-cluding formally specified processes and less formal, developer-led approaches, and that the practices used continue todevelop. Evolutionary pressures identified include the proliferation of available OSS components and increases in thepace of software development as businesses move towards continuous integration and delivery. We investigate workpractices used in six software-intensive businesses in the primary and secondary software sectors to understand currentapproaches to OSS component adoption and the challenges businesses face establishing effective work practices to eval-uate OSS components. We find businesses have established processes for evaluating OSS components and communitiesthat support more complex and nuanced considerations of the cost and risks of component adoption alongside matterssuch as licence compliance and functional requirements. We also found that the increasing pace and volume of softwaredevelopment within some businesses provides pressure to continue to evolve software evaluation processes., CC BY 4.0Corresponding author: simon.butler@his.se (Simon Butler)Available online 24 December 2021

Open source software (OSS) and open standards have become increasingly important for addressing challenges related to lock-in, interoperability and long-term maintenance of systems and associated digital assets. OSS projects operate under different conditions and many projects and organisations consider successful governance and strategic involvement with projects to constitute major challenges. Today, many companies seek to establish work practices which facilitate strategic engagement with OSS projects. Based on findings from collaborative research which draws from rich insights and extensive experiences from practice, the paper presents seven actionable strategies for organisations that seek to leverage long-term involvement with OSS projects., CC BY 4.0Tidigare titel: Effective Organizational Strategies for Use of Open Source Software and Open Standards in Organizational Contexts

Web analytics technologies provide opportunities for organisations to obtain information about users visiting their websites in order to understand and optimise web usage. Use of such technologies often leads to issues related to data privacy and potential lock-in to specific suppliers and proprietary technologies. Use of open source software (OSS) for web analytics can create conditions for avoiding issues related to data privacy and lock-in, and thereby provides opportunities for a long-term sustainable solution for organisations both in the public and private sectors. This paper characterises use of and engagement with OSS projects for web analytics. Specifically, we contribute a characterisation of use of OSS licensed web analytics technologies in Swedish government authorities, and a characterisation of organisational engagement with the Matomo OSS project for web analytics., CC BY 3.0

Software interoperability is commonly achieved through the implementation of standards for communication protocols or data representation formats. Standards documents are often complex, difficult to interpret, and may contain errors and inconsistencies, which can lead to differing interpretations and implementations that inhibit interoperability. Through a case study of two years of activity in the Apache PDFBox project we examine day-to-day decisions made concerning implementation of the PDF specifications and standards in a community open source software (OSS) project. Thematic analysis is used to identify semantic themes describing the context of observed decisions concerning interoperability. Fundamental decision types are identified including emulation of the behaviour of dominant implementations and the extent to which to implement the PDF standards. Many factors influencing the decisions are related to the sustainability of the project itself, while other influences result from decisions made by external actors, including the developers of dependencies of PDFBox. This article contributes a fine grained perspective of decision-making about software interoperability by contributors to a community OSS project. The study identifies how decisions made support the continuing technical relevance of the software, and factors that motivate and constrain project activity., CC BY 4.0

Professionals contribute to open source software (OSS) projects aspart of their employment. Previous research has addressed motivationsof individuals and the ways they engage with OSS projects.However, there is a lack of research which examines and explainswork practices used by companies in their engagement with projects.Work practices used by companies to contribute to five establishedOSS projects are investigated through examination of the actions ofemployees in public communication channels and draw on our experienceswhen analysing engagement with the same projects. Wefind that companies utilise work practices for contributing whichare congruent with the circumstances and their capabilities thatsupport their short and long term needs. We find that companiescontribute to OSS projects in different ways, such as employing coreproject developers, making donations, and joining project steeringcommittees in order to advance strategic interests.

This industry paper reports on how strategic use of open source in company contexts can provide effective support for addressing the fundamental challenges of lock-in, interoperability, and longevity of software and associated digital assets. The fundamental challenges and an overview of an ongoing collaborative research project are presented. Through a conceptual model for open source usage in company contexts we characterise how companies engage with open source and elaborate on how the fundamental challenges can be effectively addressed through open source usage in company contexts.