Sampling in Open Source Software Development: The case for using the Debian GNUILinux Distribution

Research on open source software (OSS) projects often focuses on the SourceForge collaboration platform. We argue that a GNU/Linwr distribution, such as Debian, is better suited for the sampling ofprojects because it avoids biases and contains unique information only available in an integrated environment. Especially research on the reuse of components can build on dependency information inherent in the Debian GNU/Linux packaging system. This paper therefore contributes to the practice of sampling methods in OSS research and provides empirical data on reuse dependencies in Debian.

Construcción de repositorios institucionales open source con Software Greenstone

Se aborda la construcción de repositorios institucionales open source con Software Greenstone. Se realiza un recorrido teórico y otro modélico desarrollando en él una aplicación práctica. El primer recorrido, que constituye el marco teórico, comprende una descripción, de: la filosofía open access (acceso abierto) y open source (código abierto) para la creación de repositorios institucionales. También abarca en líneas generales las temáticas relacionadas al protocolo OAI, el marco legal en lo que hace a la propiedad intelectual, las licencias y una aproximación a los metadatos. En el mismo recorrido se abordan aspectos teóricos de los repositorios institucionales: acepciones, beneficios, tipos, componentes intervinientes, herramientas open source para la creación de repositorios, descripción de las herramientas y finalmente, la descripción ampliada del Software Greenstone; elegido para el desarrollo modélico del repositorio institucional colocado en un demostrativo digital. El segundo recorrido, correspondiente al desarrollo modélico, incluye por un lado el modelo en sí del repositorio con el Software Greenstone; detallándose aquí uno a uno los componentes que lo conforman. Es el insumo teórico-práctico para el diseño -paso a paso- del repositorio institucional. Por otro lado, se incluye el resultado de la modelización, es decir el repositorio creado, el cual es exportado en entorno web a un soporte digital para su visibilización. El diseño del repositorio, paso a paso, constituye el núcleo sustantivo de aportes de este trabajo de tesina

Construcción de repositorios institucionales open source con Software Greenstone

Se aborda la construcción de repositorios institucionales open source con Software Greenstone. Se realiza un recorrido teórico y otro modélico desarrollando en él una aplicación práctica. El primer recorrido, que constituye el marco teórico, comprende una descripción, de: la filosofía open access (acceso abierto) y open source (código abierto) para la creación de repositorios institucionales. También abarca en líneas generales las temáticas relacionadas al protocolo OAI, el marco legal en lo que hace a la propiedad intelectual, las licencias y una aproximación a los metadatos. En el mismo recorrido se abordan aspectos teóricos de los repositorios institucionales: acepciones, beneficios, tipos, componentes intervinientes, herramientas open source para la creación de repositorios, descripción de las herramientas y finalmente, la descripción ampliada del Software Greenstone; elegido para el desarrollo modélico del repositorio institucional colocado en un demostrativo digital. El segundo recorrido, correspondiente al desarrollo modélico, incluye por un lado el modelo en sí del repositorio con el Software Greenstone; detallándose aquí uno a uno los componentes que lo conforman. Es el insumo teórico-práctico para el diseño -paso a paso- del repositorio institucional. Por otro lado, se incluye el resultado de la modelización, es decir el repositorio creado, el cual es exportado en entorno web a un soporte digital para su visibilización. El diseño del repositorio, paso a paso, constituye el núcleo sustantivo de aportes de este trabajo de tesina

A Model-based Repository for Open Source Service and Component Integration.

Open source is a software development paradigm that has seen a huge rise in recent years. It reduces IT costs and time to market, while increasing security and reliability. However, the difficulty in integrating developments from different communities and stakeholders prevents this model from reaching its full potential. This is mainly due to the challenge of determining and locating the correct dependencies for a given software artifact. To solve this problem we propose the development of an extensible software component repository based upon models. This repository should be capable of solving the dependencies between several components and work with already existing repositories to access the needed artifacts transparently. This repository will also be easily expandable, enabling the creation of modules that support new kinds of dependencies or other existing repository technologies. The proposed solution will work with OSGi components and use OSGi itself.

Intensive Metrics for the Study of the Evolution of Open Source Projects: Case Studies from Apache Software Foundation Projects

Based on the empirical evidence that the ratio of email messages in public mailing lists to versioning system commits has remained relatively constant along the history of the Apache Software Foundation (ASF), this paper has as goal to study what can be inferred from such a metric for projects of the ASF. We have found that the metric seems to be an intensive metric as it is independent of the size of the project, its activity, or the number of developers, and remains relatively independent of the technology or functional area of the project. Our analysis provides evidence that the metric is related to the technical effervescence and popularity of project, and as such can be a good candidate to measure its healthy evolution. Other, similar metrics -like the ratio of developer messages to commits and the ratio of issue tracker messages to commits- are studied for several projects as well, in order to see if they have similar characteristics.

Diferencias entre las Actividades de Mantenimiento en los Procesos de Desarrollo Tradicional y Open Source

Antecedentes. La creciente importancia del Open Source Software (OSS) ha llevado a los investigadores a estudiar cómo los procesos OSS difieren de los procesos de la ingeniería del software tradicional. Objetivo. Determinar las diferencias y similitudes entre las actividades del proceso de mantenimiento seguido por la comunidad OSS y el establecido por el estándar IEEE 1074:2006. Método. Para conocer las actividades que conforman el proceso de desarrollo OSS realizamos un Systematic Mapping Study. Posteriormente, realizamos un emparejamiento entre las actividades del estándar IEEE 1074:2006 con las actividades del proceso OSS. Resultados. Encontramos un total de 22 estudios primarios. De estos estudios, el 73% contaba con actividades relacionadas con el proceso de mantenimiento. Conclusiones. El proceso de mantenimiento tradicional del software no encaja con lo que ocurre en la comunidad OSS. En su lugar, puede ser mejor caracterizar la dinámica general de la evolución OSS como reinvención. Esta reinvención emerge continuamente de la adaptación, aprendizaje, y mejora de las funcionalidadess y calidad del OSS. Los proyectos OSS evolucionan a través de mejoras menores donde participan tanto usuarios como desarrolladores.

A systematic mapping study on the open source software development process.

Abstract?Background: There is no globally accepted open source software development process to define how open source software is developed in practice. A process description is important for coordinating all the software development activities involving both people and technology. Aim: The research question that this study sets out to answer is: What activities do open source software process models contain? The activity groups on which it focuses are Concept Exploration, Software Requirements, Design, Maintenance and Evaluation. Method: We conduct a systematic mapping study (SMS). A SMS is a form of systematic literature review that aims to identify and classify available research papers concerning a particular issue. Results: We located a total of 29 primary studies, which we categorized by the open source software project that they examine and by activity types (Concept Exploration, Software Requirements, Design, Maintenance and Evaluation). The activities present in most of the open source software development processes were Execute Tests and Conduct Reviews, which belong to the Evaluation activities group. Maintenance is the only group that has primary studies addressing all the activities that it contains. Conclusions: The primary studies located by the SMS are the starting point for analyzing the open source software development process and proposing a process model for this community. The papers in our paper pool that describe a specific open source software project provide more regarding our research question than the papers that talk about open source software development without referring to a specific open source software project.

Development of a wake model for wind farms based on an open source CFD solver. Strategies on parabolization and turbulence modeling

Wake effect represents one of the most important aspects to be analyzed at the engineering phase of every wind farm since it supposes an important power deficit and an increase of turbulence levels with the consequent decrease of the lifetime. It depends on the wind farm design, wind turbine type and the atmospheric conditions prevailing at the site. Traditionally industry has used analytical models, quick and robust, which allow carry out at the preliminary stages wind farm engineering in a flexible way. However, new models based on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) are needed. These models must increase the accuracy of the output variables avoiding at the same time an increase in the computational time. Among them, the elliptic models based on the actuator disk technique have reached an extended use during the last years. These models present three important problems in case of being used by default for the solution of large wind farms: the estimation of the reference wind speed upstream of each rotor disk, turbulence modeling and computational time. In order to minimize the consequence of these problems, this PhD Thesis proposes solutions implemented under the open source CFD solver OpenFOAM and adapted for each type of site: a correction on the reference wind speed for the general elliptic models, the semi-parabollic model for large offshore wind farms and the hybrid model for wind farms in complex terrain. All the models are validated in terms of power ratios by means of experimental data derived from real operating wind farms.

Open Technologies for prototyping the Internet of Things

The worldwide "hyper-connection" of any object around us is the challenge that promises to cover the paradigm of the Internet of Things. If the Internet has colonized the daily life of more than 2000 million1 people around the globe, the Internet of Things faces of connecting more than 100000 million2 "things" by 2020. The underlying Internet of Things’ technologies are the cornerstone that promises to solve interrelated global problems such as exponential population growth, energy management in cities, and environmental sustainability in the average and long term. On the one hand, this Project has the goal of knowledge acquisition about prototyping technologies available in the market for the Internet of Things. On the other hand, the Project focuses on the development of a system for devices management within a Wireless Sensor and Actuator Network to offer some services accessible from the Internet. To accomplish the objectives, the Project will begin with a detailed analysis of various “open source” hardware platforms to encourage creative development of applications, and automatically extract information from the environment around them for transmission to external systems. In addition, web platforms that enable mass storage with the philosophy of the Internet of Things will be studied. The project will culminate in the proposal and specification of a service-oriented software architecture for embedded systems that allows communication between devices on the network, and the data transmission to external systems. Furthermore, it abstracts the complexities of hardware to application developers. RESUMEN. La “hiper-conexión” a nivel mundial de cualquier objeto que nos rodea es el desafío al que promete dar cobertura el paradigma de la Internet de las Cosas. Si la Internet ha colonizado el día a día de más de 2000 millones1 de personas en todo el planeta, la Internet de las Cosas plantea el reto de conectar a más de 100000 millones2 de “cosas” para el año 2020. Las tecnologías subyacentes de la Internet de las Cosas son la piedra angular que prometen dar solución a problemas globales interrelacionados como el crecimiento exponencial de la población, la gestión de la energía en las ciudades o la sostenibilidad del medioambiente a largo plazo. Este Proyecto Fin de Carrera tiene como principales objetivos por un lado, la adquisición de conocimientos acerca de las tecnologías para prototipos disponibles en el mercado para la Internet de las Cosas, y por otro lado el desarrollo de un sistema para la gestión de dispositivos de una red inalámbrica de sensores que ofrezcan unos servicios accesibles desde la Internet. Con el fin de abordar los objetivos marcados, el proyecto comenzará con un análisis detallado de varias plataformas hardware de tipo “open source” que estimulen el desarrollo creativo de aplicaciones y que permitan extraer de forma automática información del medio que les rodea para transmitirlo a sistemas externos para su posterior procesamiento. Por otro lado, se estudiarán plataformas web identificadas con la filosofía de la Internet de las Cosas que permitan el almacenamiento masivo de datos que diferentes plataformas hardware transfieren a través de la Internet. El Proyecto culminará con la propuesta y la especificación una arquitectura software orientada a servicios para sistemas empotrados que permita la comunicación entre los dispositivos de la red y la transmisión de datos a sistemas externos, así como facilitar el desarrollo de aplicaciones a los programadores mediante la abstracción de la complejidad del hardware.

UBURYO: open source software for managing microcredits in education

One of the major problems in developing countries is minority access to higher education. Traditional scholarships usually focus on paying tuition fees for bringing brilliant students to developed countries (from where they seldom return). But local grants seldom target the more needy students. We propose a system of student loans to pay tuition fees in exchange for technical work. This appears to be a satisfactory and sustainable solution. We also provide UBURYO (a Kirundi word meaning opportunity). UBURYO is the free open source software, that we have developed, to manage this loan system in a simple, trustworthy, fair and efficient way.

An open-source simulation tool of grid-connected PV systems.

This paper will present an open-source simulation tool, which is being developed in the frame of an European research project1. The tool, whose final version will be freely available through a website, allows the modelling and the design of different types of grid-connected PV systems, such as large grid-connected plants and building-integrated installations. The tool is based on previous software developed by the IES-UPM2, whose models and energy losses scenarios have been validated in the commissioning of PV projects3 carried out in Spain, Portugal, France and Italy, whose aggregated capacity is nearly 300MW. This link between design and commissioning is one of the key points of tool presented here, which is not usually addressed by present commercial software. The tool provides, among other simulation results, the energy yield, the analysis and breakdown of energy losses, and the estimations of financial returns adapted to the legal and financial frameworks of each European country. Besides, educational facilities will be developed and integrated in the tool, not only devoted to learn how to use this software, but also to train the users on the best design PV systems practices. The tool will also include the recommendation of several PV community experts, which have been invited to identify present necessities in the field of PV systems simulation. For example, the possibility of using meteorological forecasts as input data, or modelling the integration of large energy storage systems, such as vanadium redox or lithium-ion batteries. Finally, it is worth mentioning that during the verification and testing stages of this software development, it will be also open to the suggestions received from the different actors of the PV community, such as promoters, installers, consultants, etc.

MIA - a free and open source software for gray scale medical image analysis

Background Gray scale images make the bulk of data in bio-medical image analysis, and hence, the main focus of many image processing tasks lies in the processing of these monochrome images. With ever improving acquisition devices, spatial and temporal image resolution increases, and data sets become very large. Various image processing frameworks exists that make the development of new algorithms easy by using high level programming languages or visual programming. These frameworks are also accessable to researchers that have no background or little in software development because they take care of otherwise complex tasks. Specifically, the management of working memory is taken care of automatically, usually at the price of requiring more it. As a result, processing large data sets with these tools becomes increasingly difficult on work station class computers. One alternative to using these high level processing tools is the development of new algorithms in a languages like C++, that gives the developer full control over how memory is handled, but the resulting workflow for the prototyping of new algorithms is rather time intensive, and also not appropriate for a researcher with little or no knowledge in software development. Another alternative is in using command line tools that run image processing tasks, use the hard disk to store intermediate results, and provide automation by using shell scripts. Although not as convenient as, e.g. visual programming, this approach is still accessable to researchers without a background in computer science. However, only few tools exist that provide this kind of processing interface, they are usually quite task specific, and don’t provide an clear approach when one wants to shape a new command line tool from a prototype shell script. Results The proposed framework, MIA, provides a combination of command line tools, plug-ins, and libraries that make it possible to run image processing tasks interactively in a command shell and to prototype by using the according shell scripting language. Since the hard disk becomes the temporal storage memory management is usually a non-issue in the prototyping phase. By using string-based descriptions for filters, optimizers, and the likes, the transition from shell scripts to full fledged programs implemented in C++ is also made easy. In addition, its design based on atomic plug-ins and single tasks command line tools makes it easy to extend MIA, usually without the requirement to touch or recompile existing code. Conclusion In this article, we describe the general design of MIA, a general purpouse framework for gray scale image processing. We demonstrated the applicability of the software with example applications from three different research scenarios, namely motion compensation in myocardial perfusion imaging, the processing of high resolution image data that arises in virtual anthropology, and retrospective analysis of treatment outcome in orthognathic surgery. With MIA prototyping algorithms by using shell scripts that combine small, single-task command line tools is a viable alternative to the use of high level languages, an approach that is especially useful when large data sets need to be processed.