Twelve steps to building an open source community
by Colin Dodd
Building an Open Source Community | FOSSBazaar
There are many books published that explain how to build communities, but not so many explaining how to build a developer community, and hardly any which focus on open source communities. Some might say that open source communities “just happen”, and that they operate on intuition and unwritten social rules, but this logic overlooks the vast quantity of open source projects that fail.
Given the importance of the communities around open source software, it’s essential to understand the hallmarks of successful open source communities when starting your own open source project. Creating an effective framework in which the community can operate often makes the difference between success and failure.
Doing this properly involves thought and effort, both up front and in life. It’s best for you and your organisation to be aware of this before you get started, rather than being under the illusion that the framework will somehow create and manage itself!
