Considerations and challenges for the adoption of open source components in software-intensive businesses

Component-Based Software Development is a conventional way of working for software-intensive businesses and Open Source Software (OSS) components are frequently considered by businesses for adoption and inclusion in software products. Previous research has found a variety of practices used to support the adoption of OSS components, including formally specified processes and less formal, developer-led approaches, and that the practices used continue to develop. Evolutionary pressures identified include the proliferation of available OSS components and increases in the pace of software development as businesses move towards continuous integration and delivery. We investigate work practices used in six software-intensive businesses in the primary and secondary software sectors to understand current approaches to OSS component adoption and the challenges businesses face establishing effective work practices to evaluate OSS components. We find businesses have established processes for evaluating OSS components and communities that support more complex and nuanced considerations of the cost and risks of component adoption alongside matters such as licence compliance and functional requirements. We also found that the increasing pace and volume of software development within some businesses provides pressure to continue to evolve software evaluation processes. (c) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Automated summary

Component-Based Software Development is a conventional working approach for software-intensive businesses. These businesses often consider adopting Open Source Software (OSS) components in their software products. Previous research has shown various practices for supporting OSS component adoption, which continue to evolve. Evolutionary pressures include the proliferation of available OSS components and the increasing pace of software development. This study investigates the work practices used by six software-intensive businesses to understand current approaches to OSS component adoption and the challenges they face. The findings reveal that businesses have established evaluation processes and communities that consider cost, risks, license compliance, and functional requirements. The increasing pace and volume of software development within some businesses drive the continual evolution of software evaluation processes.