Code Forking, Governance, and Sustainability in Open Source Software
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چکیده
This article addresses the question of how the right to fork open source projects – to use the source code of an existing program to start a new, independent version – works as a governance mechanism to provide sustainability in open source software. The concept of sustainability is under debate, with numerous rubrics against which the sustainability of a product may be measured (e.g., Connelly, 2007: tinyurl.com/atjcgq3; Davison, 2001: tinyurl.com/aukl5ch; McManus, 1996: tinyurl.com/a5usfo3). Within the context of the current study, sustainability is defined as the possibility of an open source program to continue to serve the needs of its developers and users.
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تاریخ انتشار 2013