Impact of License Choice on Open Source Software Development Activity

Citation: Jorge Colazo, Yulin Fang Impact of License Choice on Open Source Software Development Activity.
Internet Archive Scholar (search for fulltext): Impact of License Choice on Open Source Software Development Activity
Wikidata (metadata): Q64226266
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Summary

RQ: How do different OSS licenses relate to the level of activity of the OSS software development process?

Authors build on Social Movement Theory which suggests actions may be a result calculation of the costs and benefits of participation and/or identification with the movement. Propose that copyleft licenses contribute to the OSS development process because copyleft provides a set of selective incentives to volunteer developers other than access to the source code itself; and because it also strengthens the developers’ collective identity by signaling adherence to the idea that “software should be free.

H1: Developer membership is higher in copylefted OSS projects than in noncopylefted OSS project

H2: Developer coding activity is higher in copylefted OSS projects than in noncopylefted OSS projects.

H3: Project speed is faster in copylefted OSS projects than in noncopylefted OSS projects.

H4: Developer permanence is higher in copylefted OSS projects than in non copylefted OSS projects

Analyzed the development process of 62 OSS projects (sampled from sourceforge.net, with additional data gathered from project mailing lists and home pages) over an average of 3 years of development time, also used semistructured interviews with 10 experienced OSS developers.

The 62 projects included 44 under copyleft licenses and 18 under non-copyleft licenses. However, 2 of the latter are "proprietary-style licenses".

Found support for H1, H2, and H3. H4 was not supported: developers were 27% more likely to leave a copylefted project.