Business
4 basic elements required for running production OSS smoothly
The use of open source software (OSS) has exploded, and many companies are using it as the cornerstone of their infrastructure. When buying commercial vendor-supported software, you can expect the vendor to be in charge of the products’ upgrades, maintenance, integration and support.
By going the OSS route, this is no longer the case. Instead, you will interact with components built by different entities, individuals, or communities with different standards and goals. For example, the recent Log4j security issue led multibillion-dollar companies to request support from the project maintainers as they had a contract with them.
Companies need to put many elements in place to use OSS in production smoothly. Here’s how to get started.
Auditing
Before committing to using an OSS project, you first need to complete a full audit: How many contributors does the project count? Are they individuals or organizations? Most OSS maintainers are volunteers, and their level of involvement is never guaranteed.
You are directly contributing to the open source space by working with vendors, ensuring that the OSS tools you are using aren’t going anywhere.
You also need to look at the project’s velocity. For example, how many open feature requests or bug tickets are there? How quickly does the community answer and get them pushed? The goal is to ensure that the project is being maintained and evolving.
Finally, you need to audit the actual code. Is it well-documented? Can it handle the use cases and scale that you need? Picking the wrong project could become a costly mistake in the long run. Countless growing startups that picked what looked like shiny OSS projects were later compelled to spend tremendous effort decommissioning and replacing projects that could not keep up.
-
Entertainment7 days ago
What’s on the far side of the moon? Not darkness.
-
Business6 days ago
TikTok faces a ban in the US, Tesla profits drop and healthcare data leaks
-
Business6 days ago
London’s first defense tech hackathon brings Ukraine war closer to the city’s startups
-
Entertainment7 days ago
How to watch ‘The Idea of You’: Release date, streaming deals
-
Entertainment6 days ago
Mark Zuckerberg has found a new sense of style. Why?
-
Business5 days ago
Humanoid robots are learning to fall well
-
Entertainment5 days ago
2024 summer TV preview: 33 TV shows to watch this summer
-
Business4 days ago
Google Gemini: Everything you need to know about the new generative AI platform