opensourcelinks.md

A Compilation of On-line Open-Source-Related Resources

This is a collection of links to on-line resources related to open source. It is organized by topic to the extent that this is possible, as sometimes a website may be placed into multiple categories. This is by no means a thorough list; it is intended to include those that are either important or provide many services and resources for those interested in all things open source.

Contents

• Open Source Supporting Institutions and Organizations
• Websites Providing Definitions, Commentary, and General Information About Open Source
• History of Open Source and the Free Software Movement
• The Business of Open Source
• Open Source Stories and Projects
• Intellectual Property Rights and License
• Contributing to Open Source Projects
• Links to Tutorials, Resources, and Other Help In Using Open Source-Related Tools

Open Source Supporting Institutions and Organizations

These websites are the landing pages of important organizations that have been supporting the Open Source movement, or that provide useful resources such as tutorials, guides, links to other resources, and so on.

• opensource.com publishes stories about creating, adopting, and sharing open source solutions. It provides many resources for and about open source and the "open source way", as well as various other useful resources. The open source way is about applying the principles of open source software development beyond software.

• opensource.org is the website for the Open Source Initiative (OSI), which is a non-profit corporation with global scope created to educate about and advocate for the benefits of open source and to build bridges among different constituencies in the open source community. It has many valuable resources on its website.

• openhatch.org is the website of OpenHatch, a non-profit organization whose goal is to lower the barriers to entry into the open source community and increase its diversity. As they put it, they are "dedicated to matching prospective free software contributors with communities, tools, and education. " CAVEAT: This website is not being supported at present, so the data might be stale.

• openhub.net is the website of OpenHub. It collects metadata about open source projects. It is a great resource for researching open source projects. As the website states, it is to "Discover, Track and Compare Open Source"

• fsf.org is the website of the Free Software Foundation. The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a non-profit organization founded by Richard Stallman in 1985 to support the free software movement, which promotes the universal freedom to study, distribute, create, and modify computer software. The FSF sponsors the GNU project and publishes the many different forms of the GNU General Public License. It also maintains the Free Software Definition.

• sfconservancy.org is the website of the Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC), which is a non-profit charity that helps promote, improve, develop, and defend Free, Libre, and Open Source Software (FLOSS) projects. Some of the major projects supported by the SFC are Boost, Git, GoDot, HomeBrew, and Sugar Labs.

• foundation.mozilla.org is the website of the Mozilla Foundation, a non-profit organization that is the sole shareholder in the Mozilla Corporation, the maker of Firefox and other open source tools. Mozilla is involved in many initiatives to keep the Internet free and open.

• linuxfoundation.org is the website of the Linux Foundation, which is "dedicated to building sustainable ecosystems around open source projects to accelerate technology development and industry adoption."

• code.gov is the U.S. Government's Code.gov portal to the open source projects maintained by the federal government. As they put it, it "leverages the power of code sharing and collaboration to help the U.S. Government cut down on duplicative software development and save millions of taxpayer dollars for the American people."

• U.S. Open Government Directive is the directive issued by President Obama to create more transparency in the United States Government. Each agency of the Executive branch has an Open Government Initiative or Plan.

Websites Providing Definitions, Commentary, and General Information About Open Source

This is a collection of links to websites that explain basic concepts, answer the most important questions, debunk myths, and give context to the Open Source Movement.

• OSI's Open Source Definition is the definition of open source as seen by OSI.

• FSF's Free Software Definition is the definition of free software, which is different than the OSI open software definition. The Free Software Foundation, founded by Richard Stallman in 1985, has a very precise notion of free software. In short, it views open source as a development methodology, whereas it views free software as a social movement.

• Debian's Social Contract contains the set of guidelines used by Debian, the producers of the Debian operating system, to determine whether a software work is free. The page also contains Debian's social contract, a commitment by Debian to its users.

• Frequently Asked Questions is a collection of answers from OSI to questions covering the general topics of the basics of Open Source, distributing and using Open Source software, and the commercial aspects of Open Source.

• 10 things you should know about open source before you use it debunks many myths surrounding open source. It is good reading for anyone who thinks they know everything they need to know about open source.

• open source way, explained is a brief explanation of the concept of open-ness beyond software.

• Lightning talk by Eric Schabell is a short YouTube video in which he explains how to jump start a career in open source. There as a very important message in this talk, which most people need to hear (and which I will not reveal.)

• What is Open Source, and Why Should You Care? is a YouTube video in which Kevin Fleming gives a brief history of open source software, and talks about open source beyond software, and various ways that students can get involved in open source projects to develop useful and marketable skills.

• Doing your civic duty is an article by Tee Morris, who is the Communications Chief for Code.gov, the nation’s primary platform for sharing and improving government software. In this article he urges us all to take ownership of the software that runs things in this country, i.e., to work with open source software that belongs to you.

• Opensource.com's explanation of Open Source Software answers the question, "What is open source?" as well as related questions.

• Mozilla's Explanation of Open Source is an inspiring YouTube video.

• Intel Software's Explanation of Open Source is a YouTube video from Intel explaining open source in very simple terms.

• TED talk by Richard Stallman on Free Software is a YouTube video of a TED talk by Richard Stallman, in which you can listen to Stallman's passion for what he does and what he created. No one can say that understand open source unless they have heard him speak.

• Richard Stallman's Critique of Open Source is what you need to read to understand how the FSF differs in ideology and mission from the OSI and the Open Source Movement in general.

• Summary of TED Interview with Linus Torvalds is a synopsis of what Linus Torvalds (the original creator of Linux) had to say about open source software. You will be surprised.

• How Not to Fail is a YouTube video of a presentation by Tom Callaway of RedHat at SoutheEast LinuxFest in which he discusses what one should and should not do in order for open source software projects to succeed.

• The Personalities of Open Source is an interesting article that ponders the question, "Do open source projects attract a certain type of personality?"

History of Open Source and the Free Software Movement

These links are to articles about the history of open source and/or free software movement.

• History of the GNU Project by Richard Stallman

• The Cathedral and the Bazaar is a link to an on-line version of this must-read book by Eric Raymond about the fundamental principles of open source software development.

• Command-line Heroes-Season-1: The OS Wars is the first part of a podcast about the "war" between Apple and Microsoft and how open source was growing in the background.

• Command-line Heroes-Season-1: The Rise of Linux is a continuation of the preceding podcast.

• Unix at 50 is a history of Unix on the 50th anniversary of its creation.

The Business of Open Source

How is money made in the world of open source? Many people think that open source, as an idea, is antithetical to the idea of making money. These articles are about commerce and open source.

• Explosive growth of open source software is an article about the growth of and tracking of open source software companies, with the BOSS index to rank them.

• Wikipedia's Business Models for Open Source is a Wikipedia article on various business models used in the open source community.

• Projected revenue of open source services from 2017 to 2022 is a paid site but you might catch a glimpse of the data.

• Musings on open source software business models is an article by Tom Callaway of RedHat in which he discusses various business models for open source software.

• TideLift.com is the webpage that describes TideLift, a company with a novel business plan that acts as an intermediary between open source software companies and the companies that use their products.

• 8 advantages of using open source in the enterprise is an article aimed at CIOs to convince them that open source software is good for their companies.

• 10 ways to learn more about open source software and trends is an article aimed at CIOs with descriptions of reports, conferences, newsletters, and other media, to educate professionals about open source and its importance in the enterprise.

• The Linux Foundation's 2018 Open Source Jobs Report is a report on jobs in the open source world in 2018. To give you some idea, from the report: "Open source continues its long stretch of popularity, becoming the software of choice for businesses large and small."

• Open Source Within Modern Companies is an explanation of why modern software companies need an office that can exert influence on various sectors of software ecosystems, clarify its open source messaging, maximize the clout of its projects, or increase the efficiency of its product development.

• Balancing Makers and Takers to Scale and Sustain Open Source is an article written by Dries Buytaert, the founder of Drupal, about scaling open source software and making it sustainable.

Open Source Stories and Projects

These are selected websites that contain stories about open source projects, not necessarily software.

• Three women who built their own open hardware is a collection of stories from RedHat about three women who started open hardware projects.

• RedHat Featured Video: Four stories about collective discovery is a video from RedHat about how citizen scientists are using open hardware to make groundbreaking discoveries and help their commuinities.

• RedHat's Open Source Stories is the landing page for RedHat's collection of video stories about open source. This is a page to explore.

• Humanitarian Open Source Projects is a small sample of some of the humanitarian open source projects around the world.

• Penn Manor High School's Linux Laptop Initiative is a story about a high school in Lancaster County Pennsylvania that tossed their proprietary software and devices, saved hundreds of thousands of dollars and gave control of their computing devices to the students themselves.

• Open Source Firmware (and the danger of using closed firmware) is an article from the Communications of the ACM, October 2019, about the importance of open source firmware.

• System76 and the CoreBoot Project is an article about the System76 and the CoreBoot project, an open source project aimed at replacing the proprietary BIOS (firmware) found in most computers.

Intellectual Property Rights and License

These are selected articles and talks about intellectual property rights and licenses.

• OSI's Comprehensive List of Open Source Licenses is a list of all OSI-approved licenses.

• Creative Commons Licenses is the website in which the Creative Commons describes and explains its various licenses.

• GNU's Summary of Various Licenses is an excellent, comprehensive summary and guide to the various free software and non-software licenses (e.g., for documentation and other intellectual property).

• A Crash Course in Open Source Licensing is a YouTube video of a presentation by Kevin Fleming about open source licenses.

• Tom Callaway's Talk on Licenses is a YouTube video of a presentation by Tom Callaway (of RedHat) about patents and licenses entitled "Understanding FOSS licenses (without a lawyer)".

• Open Source Licensing War: Commons Clause is an article about a restrictive addendum, Commons Clause, added to an open source sofwtare license issued by a company called Redis, that has sparked a controversy. The addendum limits commercial reuse of the licensed work.

• choosealicense.com is a website that guides you through a question and answer process to the right license, and then displays the license text, and choosealicense.com summary is a tabular summary on this site.

• A Short Guide to Open Source Licenses is a very short and clear explanation of the most common licenses.

• A Summary of Open Source Licenses is yet another explanation of licenses.

Contributing to Open Source Projects

These are links to websites with advice about how to contribute to software projects, to websites that describe open source communities, and to websites that are related in general to the act of contributing.

• Four Types of Open Source Communities is an article about the different ways in which organizations can be structured around open source projects.

• The Beginner's Guide to Contributing to Open Source Projects is more advice on ways to get started in open source projects.

• 7 Things That Make a Great Open Source Contribution is a guide for anyone who wants to make their contributions to open source projects as valuable as possible.

• The 8 Essential Traits of a Great Open Source Contributor is an article about the personal qualities that you should cultivate if you want to be a great contributor to open source projects.

• A Beginner‘s Very Bumpy Journey Through The World of Open Source is a pep talk for anyway who has been or is afraid that they might be intimidated by the prospect of interacting with an open source project's community.

• How to Contribute to Open Source Without Coding is a collection of good advice on how you can contribute to a project without writing code or even knowing how to write code.

• How to Contribute to Open Source (from GitHub Guides) is GitHub's advice on how to contribute to open source projects. This is highly recommended reading.

• GitHub Flow is Scott Chacon's comments about a method of working known as git-flow and his recommendation for another workflow that is used within GitHub itself, known as GitHub Flow.

• 11 ways to get involved with Humanitarian FOSS contains 11 ways to get involved with Humanitarian open source software projects. "FOSS" means "Free and Open Source Software".

• Why To Report Bugs is a blog post by the creator of an open source Just In Time compiler who has an important message for users in general.

• hechingerreport is really intended for teachers, but it should be interesting for a student to read the advice given to teachers about humanitarian open source software development.

• Really Big List of Open Source Projects is a list compiled in 2016 by Líkið Geimfari of projects to which you might consider contributing.

Links to Tutorials, Resources, and Other Help In Using Open Source-Related Tools

These are links to tutorials, technical information, and resources related to practical things like version control systems, markdown, and so on.

Markdown

• Mastering Markdown is a guide from GitHub in mastering Markdown

• GitHub-Flavored Markdown Specification is the formal specification of GitHub-Flavored Markdown, dated 2019-04-06.

• Common Markdown Specification is the formal specification of general markdown, dated 2019-04-06.

Git Resources

• Glossary of Git and GitHub specific terms is a glossary of Git and GitHub terminology.

• Git Cheat Sheet is what it says. Download it and keep it close at hand.

• Git Reference Manual is an online reference manual for Git.

• Atlassian BitBucket Git Tutorial is another complete set of tutorials on Git and version control, for beginners and advanced Git users.

• Katacoda Interactive Git Tutorial is an interactive Git tutorial from Katacoda.

• Git Flight Rules is a collection of what to do when things go wrong in using Git.

• Git Cheat Sheet is a useful cheat sheet with some pictures that are helpful to remember.

• Git Visualization Tool is a page that displays a simplified visualization of the effects of various git commands on the internal representation used by git to represent a repository. It is an open source tool whose repository is here.

Unix/Linux Resources

• Bash Reference Manual is the GNU reference manual for bash. If you need details about things, or want to learn more, this is a good place to browse.

• Bash Cheat Sheet is a very simple cheat sheet for people who know almost no basic bash.

• Linux Scripting Tutorial is a tututorial on writing bash scripts in Linux.

IRC Resources

• Opensource.com IRC Quick Start Guide is a good page to read to learn something about IRC and how it is used.

• Opensource.com IRC Getting Started Guide provides soem basic nuts and bolts information for using IRC.

• Opensource.com IRC Client Guide has a list of some IRC clients for various platforms.

• Greenday's List of (IRC)Chat Commands is a comprehensive listof IRC commands.

• IRC General Help is a landiong page with links to many IRC related resources.

• irchelp.org's IRC tutorial is a very good tutorial on IRC.

• IRC Cheatsheet is an IRC cheat sheet courtesy of OpenSource.com.