Linux Kernel Developer Collaboration Model And Evolution Analysis

Open source software is developing rapidly,and 80%of the software is currently being developed in the form of open source.Open source software is popular with users for its high-quality performance and efficient development process.Open source software has the characteristics of no central control in the development process,large developer group and voluntary participation.This brings up a research question worth exploring:what kind of collaboration model exists that can organize seemingly loose large-scale groups so that developers can efficiently complete complex development tasks with lower communication costs?We crawls the Linux kernel developer mailing list data,and analyzes the developer collaboration model through data analysis and complex network methods,revealing the differences and interaction modes of developer collaboration functions in the self-organizing group collaboration system.Furthermore,we analyzes the evolution process of the developer collaboration model,clarifies the evolution process of the developer collaboration network structure and collaboration theme,and explores the internal reasons for the formation of differences in developer collaboration functions.(1)Use the Linux developer static cumulative collaboration communication network to study the developer collaboration model.The analysis found that the collaboration network is a very economical and efficient network,with obvious characteristics of a small world.The collaboration network presents an obvious community structure horizontally and a core-periphery hierarchical structure vertically.A small number of developers in core-level are the core of the collaboration network,and a large number of periphery-level developers collaborate with core developers in a low-frequency and radial manner.In the core layer,some core developers based on the community frequently collaborate in the community,which plays a role in aggregate the community together;there are also some global core developers who participate in multi-community collaboration extensively and frequently,and play a role in integrate the communities together.The existence of gateway developers between communities has played a role in cross-community connectivity.This feature of local segmentation and global integration not only ensures the community specialization of the collaboration process,but also ensures the flexibility of collaboration.(2)Analyze the collaboration mode of Linux kernel developers from a dynamic perspective.The analysis found that with the development of the Linux kernel,the size of the developer community is constantly expanding,and they have maintained efficient communication and collaboration.The community-based structure of the developer collaboration network has gradually evolved.The community has developed from a single community to multiple communities,and the development topics have also changed from a few topics to multi-topics collaborative development.The community presents a trend of professional development around specific topics.At the same time,the balance of developers'participation in the development topic was discussed,and the analysis found that early Linux developers had to collaborate and communicate with "veteran" developers to ensure the efficiency of the development process.With the development of collaborative networks to multi-communities and multi-themes,core developers have gradually evolved differences in collaboration functions aimed at local community information aggregation and network global information integration.This result also confirms that the differences in developers'collaboration functions are not only reflected in the level of collaboration in the community,but also in the level of topical information exchange.