Developer experience · Longitudinal empirical case study

Sustainability of open source software communities beyond a fork

Journal of Systems and Software. · 2014

Riehle, D., Riemer, P., Hodapp, D., Zesch, A.

Summary

Community sustainability depends on governance, participation and maintaining a viable project after organizational rupture.

For your marketing

Possible founder application

Plan fork-resilient governance, contributor continuity and independent infrastructure.

Reported result

What the study found

Community sustainability depends on governance, participation and maintaining a viable project after organizational rupture.

Research question

What the authors investigated

How do OSS communities remain sustainable after a fork?

Design

Longitudinal empirical case study

Sample and setting

LibreOffice community after the OpenOffice fork

Scope and transfer

Limitations to keep in view

Abstract evidence; single fork case.

Research sources

Publisher DOI landing page abstract; design, context and findings are taken from the abstract.

Study strength

3.5/5 Abstract-level evidence is useful for framing questions; verify full methods before transfer.

How this was assessed

The 1–5 evidence-check score is a practical reading aid, not a formal peer review or a probability that a conclusion is true. It combines design strength (2 points), sample reporting (1), comparison/control clarity (1), and how much of the paper could be checked (1). Access affects how confidently this directory can assess a study, not the study's underlying quality. Blinding is reported separately because it is not relevant to every design.

Design transparency · 2/2

Based on the reported study design in the retrieved source.

Sample and setting · 1/1

The sample context is stated; a numerical count is preserved only when reported.

Outcome clarity · 1/1

The finding is summarized from publisher or article metadata.

Access for checking · 0.5/1

Only abstract or bibliographic access was confirmed.

Double-blind? The retrieved publisher record does not establish whether participants or outcome assessors were blinded.