Observing Custom Software Modifications: A Quantitative Approach of Tracking the Evolution of Patch Stacks
- Modifications to open-source software (OSS) are often provided in the form of "patch stacks" -- sets of changes (patches) that modify a given body of source code. Maintaining patch stacks over extended periods of time is problematic when the underlying base project changes frequently. This necessitates a continuous and engineering-intensive adaptation of the stack. Nonetheless, long-term maintenance is an important problem for changes that are not integrated into projects, for instance when they are controversial or only of value to a limited group of users. We present and implement a methodology to systematically examine the temporal evolution of patch stacks, track non-functional properties like integrability and maintainability, and estimate the eventual economic and engineering effort required to successfully develop and maintain patch stacks. Our results provide a basis for quantitative research on patch stacks, including statistical analyses and other methods that lead to actionable advice on the construction and long-term maintenance of custom extensions to OSS.
Author: | Ralf Ramsauer, Daniel Lohmann, Wolfgang MauererORCiDGND |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1145/2957792.2957810 |
Parent Title (English): | Proceedings of the 12th International Symposium on Open Collaboration (OpenSym '16) |
Publisher: | ACM |
Place of publication: | New York |
Editor: | Tony Wassermann |
Document Type: | conference proceeding (article) |
Language: | English |
Year of first Publication: | 2016 |
Release Date: | 2022/05/10 |
Tag: | CADOS; Linux; collaboration; maintenance; patch stacks |
First Page: | 1 |
Last Page: | 4 |
Institutes: | Fakultät Informatik und Mathematik |
Fakultät Informatik und Mathematik / Labor für Digitalisierung (LFD) | |
Begutachtungsstatus: | peer-reviewed |
research focus: | Digitalisierung |
Licence (German): | Keine Lizenz - Es gilt das deutsche Urheberrecht: § 53 UrhG |