Open Source Project Management Software

The manager's guide to using Linux and open source for competitive advantage. Using Linux and open source technologies, thousands of enterprises are cutting costs, gaining flexibility, and discovering powerful new sources of business value. Now, there's an objective, realistic manager's guide to using Linux and open source technology for competitive advantage. Martin Fink helps you get past both the hypesters and the naysayers, so you can accurately assess the benefits, costs, and risks of open source in your organization. Writing strictly from the manager's viewpoint, Fink covers every step of the Linux and open source project lifecycle, and every crucial issue, from licensing to collaborating with the open source community of developers. Coverage includes: Assessing the costs, benefits, and risks of pursuing Linux and open source initiativesOpen source licensing: avoiding the minefieldsManaging Linux and open source projects within your companyAssessing the size, breadth, and capabilities of the open source communityBuilding strong, positive, synergistic relationships with external open source communitiesThe crucial role of Linux standardsIntegration, development, deployment, migration, coexistence, support, and trainingUnderstanding the difference between the Linux kernel and the Linux operating systemUnderstanding and choosing Linux distributionsHow the open source paradigm impacts commercial software developersOpen source business models: what it takes to make a profit from open source technologyApplying the open source development methodology in a corporate setting"A thought-provoking analysis of the role of open source software in the corporate environment. A must-read guidefor managers considering how open source can help their organization." --Tim O'Reilly, O'Reilly and Associates, Inc.

This monograph, and accompanying open-source software Vesta, addresses two core problems in developing large software projects: 1) versioning and 2) building. In order to develop and sustain automated, scalable "software configuration management (SCM) systems," software systems engineers need to understand how large software code bases can be effectively managed and evolved. Using a well-known open-source software prototype system (Vesta developed at Digital and Compaq Systems Research Lab), the authors meticulously assess, develop, and demonstrate key concepts and methods to achieve such evolvable and scalable software systems. The concepts, lessons, and executable code allow researchers to develop a deeper understanding of the problems, and solution domains possible, for large-scale software construction practices.