Small world characteristics of FLOSS distributions

Book chapter

Boender, J. and Fernandes, S. 2014. Small world characteristics of FLOSS distributions. in: Counsell, S. and Núñez, M. (ed.) Software Engineering and Formal Methods : SEFM 2013 Collocated Workshops: BEAT2, WS-FMDS, FM-RAIL-Bok, MoKMaSD, and OpenCert, Madrid, Spain, September 23-24, 2013, Revised Selected Papers Springer International Publishing. pp. 417-429
Chapter titleSmall world characteristics of FLOSS distributions
AuthorsBoender, J. and Fernandes, S.
Abstract

Over the years, Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) distributions have become more and more complex and recent versions contain tens of thousands of packages. This has made it impossible to do quality control by hand. Instead, distribution editors must look to automated methods to ensure the quality of their distributions.
In the present paper, we present some insights into the general structure of FLOSS distributions. We notably show that such distributions have the characteristics of a small world network: there are only a few important packages, and many less important packages. Identifying the important packages can help editors focus their efforts on parts of the distribution where errors will have important consequences.

Research GroupFoundations of Computing group
Artificial Intelligence group
Page range417-429
Book titleSoftware Engineering and Formal Methods : SEFM 2013 Collocated Workshops: BEAT2, WS-FMDS, FM-RAIL-Bok, MoKMaSD, and OpenCert, Madrid, Spain, September 23-24, 2013, Revised Selected Papers
EditorsCounsell, S. and Núñez, M.
PublisherSpringer International Publishing
SeriesLecture Notes in Computer Science
ISBN
Hardcover9783319050317
ISSN0302-9743
Publication dates
Print31 Mar 2014
Publication process dates
Deposited05 Sep 2014
Output statusPublished
Accepted author manuscript
Copyright Statement

Publisher requires full text of accepted version be embargoed until 12 months after publication.

Web address (URL)http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05032-4_30
LanguageEnglish
JournalLecture Notes in Computer Science
Permalink -

https://repository.mdx.ac.uk/item/84x2y

Log in to edit

Download files

Accepted author manuscript
merged_document_2.pdf

  • 28
    total views
  • 5
    total downloads
  • 1
    views this month
  • 1
    downloads this month

Export as