Open Source: For Beginners
Explore the way towards Open Source
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Open source is quite a famous term nowadays. It is highly used not only by programmers but also by common people. But what exactly is open source? Let’s have thorough knowledge about it.
What is Open Source? 🤔
An open-source is software whose source code is easily available and accessible to the public. Thus, open-source software can be modified and redistributed. This means that anyone who wishes to improve the software can contribute to it. And this is the exact reason why open source software is constantly under modification and improvement. And it being completely free of cost is a cherry on top!
Open source is more about contributing than about earning. It is about the betterment of the software community along with self-improvement.
History of Open Source
When we see a huge open-source empire today, it is natural to wonder at its history. How the concept of open source was proposed and established is a matter of amusement. So, let’s first have a brief look at the important milestones in the history of open source.
The first milestone worth noting is the foundation of ‘Free Software Foundation’ by Richard Stallman. It is the same legend who created the GNU project around 1983, which marked a long jump in the progress of open source.
This was followed by the introduction of open-source languages like Python. Soon after, Linux followed.
This all was just the beginning of the open-source era. The major milestones like the introduction of GitHub and Android belong to the last decade. And the open-source community is increasing with each passing minute. Projects are being added, modified, and used by a lot of enthusiasts willing to help improve the projects and contribute to the community.
How to develop Open source? 🐧
Developing your open-source sounds cool, doesn’t it? It is. But make sure you know the fundamentals before entering this world.
So, before starting with your very own open-source, make sure you have your documentation right. Here are some of the documents that every new developer must have while starting with their project:-
Open source license - This is a must when you are starting with a new open source project. The open-source license is more or less the same, stating that others can use, modify and contribute to your code. So, you can just copy and paste an existing license into your repository, but do not forget to do that!
README - This file gives the users and contributors an idea about what your project is. So, make sure it is clear and simple.
Contributing guidelines - This will help the willing contributors have an idea about how they can help improve the project.
Code of conduct - Finally, the code of conduct sets certain firm rules about the use of your project. You can copy and paste an existing code of conduct too.
Now that you are done with your documentation, you are free to start with your project. But remember, you are not the only one accessing it; so make sure your coding is simple with proper comments, to help those willing to use and/or contribute to your project.
FAQs and Doubts
Where to get the source code of open-source software?
Now, first of all, to contribute to an OSS, the most fundamental step is to understand the source code.
To get the source code, one must have knowledge of where to get it. So, most of the time, the source code is available on GitHub — the most widely used version control platform.
If you do not find the source code on GitHub, do not give up! Most of the companies have their source codes available on different platforms. May it be on their browser or their website or any other platform. Now, of course, it is impossible to know where each of the companies has made its source code available. So, the easiest way is Google! Just search where to find the source code of a specific company and hit the search button. Google hardly disappoints!
How to modify the source code of an OSS?
The most striking feature of open source is that anybody can modify the source code for the improvement of the software. Now that we have located and understood the source code of the software, all we have to do is add new changes or make some corrections that we think are important.
If the source code is available on GitHub, fork the project and make a local copy of it on your GitHub account. Now, you can modify the source code and push them back into GitHub. These changes will be added to your version of the project.
In case the source code is not available on GitHub, most of the companies have a section on their website guiding developers about how they can contribute to the software. You can go through it and start with the improvement.
Security in Open Source
When it is said that the source code of an OSS is easily available to see and modify, the most important question that arises is — DOESN’T THAT MAKE IT MORE VULNERABLE TO HACKERS?
To answer this question, in today’s world, there exists no technology which can be termed to be completely secure. Like all the other technologies, even open-source is prone to get hacked. And even more easily so! The source code being readily available has its cons too!
But, then why should we use it, if it is this vulnerable? It is because, here the most important advantage of OSS comes into play — transparency. More the contributors, more are the chances of detecting a malicious update. Thus, when a lot of people are working on the same project, it becomes easier to secure the software in the least possible time. So, even if a hacker modifies a source code, there are a lot of eyes and hands to detect this malicious activity and restore the security of the software.
What is the life cycle of open source software?
When the project is done the new work gets started that is nothing but the “Version Control”. As the source code is open to all, the software developers modify the software. Such developers can use that developed software only on their device or can start a new OSS development or can give that updated code to the version control team of that software. The version control team is nothing but the team that started the project. They completely verify the updated code and publish the update. When some user detects the bug in the software he has two options. One is to inform that bug on GitHub and the other is to modify the code to remove that bug and give the updated code to the version control team. Even when someone finds a security vulnerability in OSS there is a whole community to fix it, so it is done very quickly. Whereas, the closed source software takes too much time. Sometimes some software takes that OSS code as a reference and develops new software from it.
When a group of software developers comes up with a unique idea, then they start the execution of their idea. When they want to make that software as OSS they can take the help of GitHub. They create a repository on GitHub then they push their code on GitHub and later the other software developers join the project by giving the pull request. This is how that software’s community gets built.
Is open-source necessarily to be free?
The answer is “NO”. The terms in the license agreement don’t contain anything about the condition that software needs to be free, still, the agreement says that the software must not include an additional cost. Many OSS are completely free but some are not free for example “Watcom”. The “Watcom” open source’s license does not allow making a modified version or using it privately. Fortunately, only a few software uses such a license. There are some OSS like OBS studio with some features which are not open. It means the OBS studios are partially OSS and partially premium software. There are such OSS which are just platforms to use the premium software.
If open sources are that much popular then why do we need closed sources also?
As the source code of the software is open anyone can see it or use it. So the developer can’t stop people with bad intentions to use his work. Some organisations need some software such that only the people related to that organisation can use it. In that case, the developers make that software a closed source. Some software developers want to make money from their work which is NOT wrong so they make their software a closed source. Such software is developed by a small group of programmers and managers in a very disciplined way. Later some open source developers study such closed source software and give the alternative open-source versions and this is completely legal. But still, there are some software used by some defence or intelligence services. Such software are only used by the people related to such an organisation so there is no chance of an alternative version.
Can we earn money from open-source?
The answer is yes and the question raised is how? So to earn money from the open-source we must have computer programming knowledge. Then choose some open source software and study the source code completely. GitHub assigns mainly three jobs related to the OSS. They are “Project maintainers”, “Project users”, and “Project contributors”. This is known as earning the bounties. Even if we are getting into some trouble while creating software we can create a bounty and a software developer at GitHub will solve the problem by earning the bounty you created. Many programmers earn bounties by solving such problems. Now the question is “Do the main developers of OSS get money?” The answer is sometimes yes and sometimes no. If the idea is great then such developers get sponsorship and donations. This is how programmers earn money from open source.
Does the free software need to be open-source?
The answer is NO. Many software's are free to use but their source code is not open. Hence we can’t modify them or use that to code in our software.
So why do they do that and do they earn money from it?
The developers of that software can develop another software using that free software’s source code and make that software paid. Such free software's show ads and get money from that publicity. But there are some software's which don’t make any publicity. Hence completely non-profitable.
What are the advantages of open-source over closed source other than the cost?
The open-source software's are developed by a community and not by a small group of software developers and, open-source creators don’t have any time limits or deadlines so they can give their complete efforts on that software. Open sources are very secured because anyone can find the vulnerability and anyone can fix it. The updates of such software don’t take much time. Suppose we don’t like some features of an OSS then by changing source code we can modify it for our own. Many developers use ‘Linux’ over ‘Windows’, as Linux is more secure, a bit faster, modifiable, and we can do whatever we want by using it.
What is GSOC (Google summer of code)?
It is a global program that is focused on bringing more student developers into open source software development.
How does this program work?
Google shortlists the organisations which are applied to take part in this global program. Then the shortlisted organisations hire some students who are applied for a particular project. Some students already have their project and they just want a platform or a group of people to help them to complete their project.
Some open sources alternatives for closed sources
1. Libre office, the alternative for Microsoft office
Libre office launched in 2011. This project was announced in 2010 and also the beta version was released in 2010. LibreOffice is completely free. It was forked in 2010 from OpenOffice.org which was an open-sourced version of the earlier StarOffice. The latest stable release is on 6-May-2021. The Libre office is now available in 115 languages.
2. Brave browser, the alternative for Chrome
This is the latest tool which was launched in 2016. We can surf on any website from Brave browser. The advantage of this browser is it never shows any ad. While using chrome we get to see a lot of ads so the developers sorted out that problem by developing the brave browser. Watching YouTube without advertisements is the main reason for Brave to become that popular. Even the brave browser pays you if you want to watch the ads.
3. Linux Distributions, the alternative for windows
Linux is an open-source operating system that is widely used by computer programmers. Linux was developed by Linus Torvalds in the early 1990s. The code for Linux is written in C and assembly language. Linux is a kernel on which many operating systems are running, for example, Ubuntu, Kali, Parrot, and many more.
Many developers modified the Linux and now the 3.00 version of Linux is the latest one.
4. Android
The most popular OS on mobile phones. Android provides its users an easy-to-use interface along with good performance. Besides, being open-source, it is constantly being updated. All these features are what led to android gaining its popularity in such a short period. The kernel used in this operating system is nothing but a modified version of our Linux kernel.
5. Openshot for video editing
Openshot is an award-winning tool for video editing. It was launched in 2008 and the stable release of its 2.5.1 version was launched in 2020. Along with Openshot, there is software known as GIMP which is used for image manipulation. There are many paid software's for editing, but in that race, such open software's always been ahead of every closed source software's.
6. The GitHub
GitHub is the goldmine for software developers. GitHub launched in 2008. The surprising thing about GitHub is that it is not open-source but it is fundamentally improving open-source collaboration. The service of GitHub is free for open-source projects. Microsoft is a significant user of GitHub using it to host open-source project and development tools such as MSBuild, Powershell, Power-toys, Visual Studio Code, Windows terminal, and many more.
Even GitHub is a helping buddy for Linux users. Whichever tool we want on our Linux system, we just have to run the GitHub code in the terminal of Linux and that tool will be downloaded. We can post any problem we face on GitHub and we will surely get the solution.
So, that was all you needed to know to get a headstart in your open source journey. There is always more to explore. If you wish to get some more knowledge about any of the points described in this blog or even open source as a whole, there are various sources available.
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