Requirements elicitation in open source software development: A case study

John Noll, Wei Ming Liu

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

A growing body of empirical research has examined large, successful open source software projects such as the Linux kernel, Apache web server, and Mozilla web browser. Do these results extend to small open source efforts involving a handful of developers? A study of the OpenEMR open source electronic medical record project was conducted, with the goal of understanding how requirements are elicited, documented, agreed, and validated in a small open source software project The results show that the majority of features are asserted by developers, based on either their personal experience, or knowledge of users' needs. Relatively few were requested directly by users. Validation and documentation took the form of informal discussions via the project's developer mailing list. These results are consistent with an earlier study of the Firefox web browser, suggesting that there is a common open source requirements approach that is independent of project size.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication3rd Int. Workshop on Emerging Trends in Free/Libre/Open Source Software Research and Development, FLOSS-3, in Conj. with the 32nd ACM/IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering, ICSE 2010
Pages35-40
Number of pages6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2010
Event3rd International Workshop on Emerging Trends in Free/Libre/Open Source Software Research and Development, FLOSS-3, in Conjunction with the 32nd ACM/IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering, ICSE 2010 - Cape Town, South Africa
Duration: 8 May 20108 May 2010

Publication series

NameProceedings - International Conference on Software Engineering
ISSN (Print)0270-5257

Conference

Conference3rd International Workshop on Emerging Trends in Free/Libre/Open Source Software Research and Development, FLOSS-3, in Conjunction with the 32nd ACM/IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering, ICSE 2010
Country/TerritorySouth Africa
CityCape Town
Period8/05/108/05/10

Keywords

  • electronic health record
  • electronic medical record
  • open source software
  • software requirements

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