Aldo Eisma Consulting IT Specialist IBM Global Services aldo_eisma@nl.ibm

1. Eclipse and its CoronaInside a Large Scale Open SourceProject - What Can we Learn FromOpen Source Aldo Eisma Consulting IT Specialist IBM Global Services aldo_eisma@nl.ibm.com

2. What is Eclipse?

3. What is Eclipse? • Eclipse - an open extensible IDE for anything and nothing in particular… • out-of-box function and quality to attract developersa development environment for itself • endorsement (i.e, products) by some major tool vendors • open-source and supports open source development • industry standard tools platform

4. Why Should You Care? • as a tool developer… • seamless tool integration • you no longer have to start from scratch • everybody can become a tool smith • Eclipse changes the way tools are built • as a Java developer… • you get a state-of-the-art Java IDE that you can tweak • but Eclipse is more than a Java IDE • as a user… • you get tools from different suppliers to make a tool environment the way you want it • freedom of choice

5. The Way to Eclipse 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 VisualAge/Java VisualAge Micro Edition Eclipse March2.1 June3.0 Nov OpenSource announcement June Tech Preview Oct 1.0 June 2.0

6. Goals • Provide open platform for application development tools • run on a wide range of operating systems • GUI and non-GUI • Language-neutral • permit unrestricted content types • HTML, Java, C/C++, JSP, EJB, XML, GIF, … • Facilitate seamless tool integration • add new tools to existing installed products • Attract community of tool developers • including independent software vendors (ISVs) • capitalize on popularity of Java for writing tools

7. Why Open Source? • Full life cycle tool support requires contributions from partners • Options: • proprietary APIs • defined APIs plus Open Source • Partners want Open Source • less dependency on IBM • freedom of action for partners: • complement IBM products • implement their own products • Platform rule: the more ISVs - the more relevant is the platform

8. eclipse.org • Eclipse Project • builds the Platform • adapt, evolve to meet needs of the community • Eclipse Tools Project • best of breed tools • Eclipse Technology Project • research, incubation, education • Web Tools Platform Project • build tooling for enterprise applications • just forming…

9. eclipse.org Project • Eclipse Project • Platform • JDT: Java Development Tools • PDE: Plug-in Development Environment • Eclipse Tools • GEF: Graphical Editing Framework • EMF, VE, UML2: Modeling frameworks and tools • Hyades: Test, Trace and Monitoring tools • CDT, Cobol: programming tools • Technology • AJDT: Aspect-oriented Java development tools • Equinox: new more dynamic plug-in architecture • … Subprojects

10. Eclipse Community • Open Source is a “community thing” • an active community is the major asset of an OS project • OS project gives and takes: • OS developer gives: • listen to feedback and react • demonstrate continuous progress • transparent development • OS developer takes: • answer user questions so that developers do not have to do it • report defects and feature requests • validate technology by writing plug-ins • submit patches and enhancements • Give and take isn’t always balanced • community isn’t shy and is demanding

11. Community (Cont’d) • Increase the knowledge-level of the community • Requires intense communication • mailing list, newsgroups • news group now mostly self supporting • user maintained wiki • Community events • code camps – work with committers on your projects • “sprints” – committers meet to work on the OS project • EclipseCon – tech community conference

12. Growth of a Community • Vendors are committing to Eclipse • Over 175 vendors including significant commitments from Rational, TogetherSoft, Serena, QNX, Merant • C/C++ IDE plug-in for Linux being led by QNX with RedHat, Rational, and MontaVista • Over 600 open source or freeware plug-in projects available • 450+ plug-ins at: www.eclipse-plugins.info • 150+ plug-ins at: www.eclipse-workbench.com • 50 Eclipse Innovation Grants Approved

13. Open Source Questions • Impact of transition to Open Source? • Is Open Source chaotic? • What are the contributions? • Open Source and quality? • Planning an Open Source project? • Open Source and business?

14. Transitioning to Open Source • Challenges • transparency • the community has to be able to observe what is going on to participate • educate community • this takes time and conflicts with the IBM “shipping software” goal • not all developers enjoy Open Source exposure • loss of the product support “firewall” • developers interact with customers directly • initial slow-down due to community engagement but increased transparency

15. Adopting Open Source Tools • Open Source projects use a common set of tools • Software development: • version configuration management: CVS • build system: Ant • unit testing: JUnit • Integrate OS tools into Eclipse • Collaboration: • bug tracking: Bugzilla • newsgroups/mailing list • user collaboration: Wiki Web • FAQ

16. Open Source Tools (Cont’d) • Open Source tools are Open Source • high quality • validated for distributed development • Transition to OS tools was (surprisingly) smooth

17. Chaotic? • OS projects are highly structured – with explicit rules • Commit right rules: public “meritocracy” • only a small number of developers can modify the source base • key architecture defined by a small team of lead developers • peer pressure among committers – continuous reviewing • contributions from outside (patches) have to be reviewed by committers

18. Contributions? Who is Reporting Bugs? • Eclipse 2.1 (6 months) • Consortium organizations: 7100 defects (= 1185 / m) month) • 341 reporters • Open source community: 3560 defects (= 595 / m) • 1212 reporters

19. Contributions? Code • Eclipse 2.1 • 42 contributions • Expectation level for contributions is high • platform contributions have to have product quality • conforming to all the conventions is difficult • Larger contributions usually start as independent plug-ins • Products can introduce certification process for external plug-ins • Example: “Ready for WebSphere Studio Software plug-in ”

20. Quality? Continuous Integration • Fully automated build process • Ant based • Build quality verified by JUnit tests • for a successful Eclipse build > 10’000 JUnit tests have to pass • Staged builds • nightly builds, weekly integration builds, monthly mile stone builds • “Eat your own dog food”

21. Planning Product requirements suggest improvements commit to plan Eclipse Products Committers • Project Management Committee • posts draft plan • plans start in embryonic form and are revised throughout the release cycle • milestones/time boxes are fixed early on Plan Community enhancements feature requests bug votes

22. Business? • Business opportunities • support • services and education • enhancements, e.g., easy install, better documentation • customization • Who are those guys? • BCG study of 678 Open Source Developers • 58% professional IT programmers • 30% Open Source is their job!

23. Extending Eclipse for Fun and Profit… Commercial Development Environments IBMWebsphere Studio family SAPNetWeaver Developer Studio Eclipse SDK Eclipse SDK Commercial Add-Ons IBMWebsphere Studio family SAPNetWeaver Developer Studio Eclipse SDK Eclipse SDK Instantiations, Borland, Sitraka, SlickEdit…

24. Business? Complementary Products Generate Revenue Enterprise Developer Rational XDE • Enterprise development organizations • Web services based enterprise modernization • Enterprise modeling and RAD Application Developer – Integration Edition • Advanced J2EE developers • Flow composition • Visual adapter creation • Business rule support Application Developer Device Developer • J2EE developers • Relational DB tools • Embedded WebSphere Application Server Site Developer • Professional Web, Java, and Web services developers • Java, XML, Rich media, and Web services WebSphere Studio WorkbenchIBM’s commercially supported version of the Eclipse Workbench

25. Is it Paying Off? • Internal: tool strategies have aligned • all IBM tools build on top of Eclipse • Perception: Eclipse has a significant impact • “IBM is cool” • Products: a complete set of integrated tools is now available • enterprise application development • modeling (Rational) • C/C++ IDE  not built by IBM • 175 tool vendors are providing plug-ins for Eclipse • Community: a growing asset • testing, feedback, contributions • Costs: fixed cost  IBM needs such a platform anyways

26. So? (easy…) • Join the Eclipse community and use Eclipse as… • … your tools platform • vendor support available if desired • “now any Joe Engineer can take the Eclipse product and be productive” • CIO Magazine Apr 15 • listen to your top developers • … a platform for building your own products • CPL license allows shipping commercial products • freedom about adding to WS studio or build your own tools • … a Rich Client Platform for your own applications • leverage the proven Eclipse architecture and UI for your own rich client applications • don’t be afraid of Open Source products

27. So? (increasing aggressiveness…) • Consider “Community Source” Development • use Open Source practices and tools for internal development • you get more transparent processes • more agile development • OS can make a large organization act like a smaller one • more control to the developers • information flows are nakedly visible

28. So? (most aggressive) • Consider Open Source development for your products • split your product into • commodity (platform) layer • differentiator (application) layers • keep the application layer small • become fully transparent • don’t hide your bugs and plans anymore • start to open source once you have something “interesting” • invest into building a community • manage your expectations • your software will not be written by contributors • community building takes time

29. Eclipse Wants You • Use Eclipse (any way you like) • learn about OS (Bugzilla, newsgroups, mailing lists) • enter defect reports • Be your own tool smith - develop plug-ins • Show what you know – participate in the newsgroups • Fix it – provide patches • Grow it – provide plug-ins • Get nominated – become a committer

30. Questions? ! ?

31. Credits Special thanks for being able to reuse material from: • Erich Gamma -Java Development Tools Lead; Eclipse PMC Member.