Is Open Source Software Development Essentially an Agile Method?

It has been argued that Open Source Software (OSS) development differs from the agile software development mode in philosophical, economical, and team structural aspects. This paper investigates the OSS development characteristics from four perspectives: process, roles and responsibilities, practices, and scope of use. The study shows that while from a legal perspective the OSS development paradigm could be seen more as a licensing structure exploiting the terms of the General Public License or similar, the OSS does in many ways follow the same lines of thought and practices as the main stream of existing agile methods. The principal differences and similarities are highlighted and discussed. It is suggested that the OSS community could benefit from the practical solutions put forward by the agile proponents and vice versa.