Open Sources | Rodrigues & Urlocker » Stephen O'Grady explains open source development models

April 30, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Stephen O'Grady explains open source development models

TAGS: Open Source

Over at Tecosystems, SOG was trying to explain a misquote of his in Computerworld re:MySQL and somehow drafted a great explanation of dual-license models.

The short version of my explanation went something like this: in layman's terms (I know there are exceptions and gray cases), there are two basic models for open source development. Single-entity development, as I've referred to it (feel free to come up with a better name), and what Simon (Phipps) would call co-development.

In the first model, a single entity such as MySQL is responsible for the overwhelming majority of all development on a given codebase. Anything they don't produce themselves, they license. Very often this is practiced in conjunction with the dual-license model; because MySQL is responsible for virtually all of the development of the core code, they own or have licensed appropriately all of the involved IP. As such, they're free to issue commercial licenses to those who would cannot or choose not to comply with the terms of the open source license - the GPL, in this case.

In the second model, multiple entities collaborate on a given piece of code, each contributing under the same terms to the overall project itself. The canonical example of this style of development is Linux, to which firms and individuals alike contribute to the betterment of the overall project. Because there is no one single "owner" of the IP involved in co-developed projects, the dual-license model is not an option: you can't uniquely license, after all, what you don't own.

Contributing code back to projects under either model is an involved process - contrary to what some of our less educated legislators might understand about how Linux in particular is developed. There are always IP licensing and ownership issues to consider; governance is never a simple subject. The combination of single-entity development and dual licensing does impose additional restrictions on what code can and cannot be accepted, but as several firms prove on a continuing basis, it's a model that has legs.

Somewhere I have an idiot-savant joke but will spare SOG today.

Posted by Dave Rosenberg on April 30, 2007 01:36 PM

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