When to Release Source Code - Bioinformatics.org

J.W. Bizzaro • August 4, 2000

When to Release Source Code

This is an `Ask Slashdot' question with some interesting comments:

Release Early:
``Releasing early also gives you the advantage of having more eyes looking at your code early to spot any bad design decisions – it's a lot easier to fix bad choices early in the project than it is when the code is more developed... You don't want to have to rewrite the entire foundation just because you made a seemingly good decision early on, which later turns out to cause issues.''

Release Late:
``I'd suggest releasing code at your v0.99 point which should be a code-freeze state and final bug-fixes. At this point, OSS people will no doubt grab the source and put it through the ringer. After a couple of weeks worth of reports and suggestions, you'll probably be able to put together a release.''

Words of Caution:
``You sure as [at]%&! had better not be releasing the source code as an alternative to having your own people test it. `Why pay QA when geeks will test it for free?!' Nonono, make sure the code is secure after you have your own people banging on it for a while, make sure it's well documented, THEN feel free to release whenever and however you want.''

``Both Mozilla and Java have the problem of long development / consumer introduction periods. So the general public (or, in the case of smaller technologies) gets really sick of hearing about them (but knowing that they can't relly use them), until, eventually, they get sick of them. I've been willing to be part of testing Mozilla, and I love it. So have many of us. But most consumers aren't so forgiving. Be careful of saturating the market with concept so that people have tuned it out by the time you have some substance.''

Ask Slashdot article, including the comments made above:
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/07/29/1816254

Eric Raymond's `The Magic Cauldron' is a good source for advise on OSS project management:
http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/writings/magic-cauldron/magic-cauldron.html

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