Here is the first of three books about how to manage a Free Software / Open Source community and process that are freely available online. They are very important for two reasons: they represent a good introduction to how Free Software / Open Source projects work, and they can be very useful resources in the organization of an Open P2P Design project. With their explanation of copyleft licenses, processes and tools we can always take a look at them while designing an open p2p project.

The first book is “Producing Open Source Software. How to Run a Successful Free Software Project” by Karl Fogel, available here under a Creative Commons license. This book is a practical guide, not an anthropological study or a history of Free Software / Open Source: it is a guide for designers and for participants and users too.

Producing Open Source Software is a book about the human side of open source development. It describes how successful projects operate, the expectations of users and developers, and the culture of free software. It is available in bookstores and from the publisher (O’Reilly Media), or you can browse or download it here.

Producing Open Source Software is released under an open copyright that allows everyone to share and modify the book freely. The latest version is always here. The online version is the same as the commercially available print version — in other words, you can buy a printed copy and know that it’s up-to-date. When and if there are significant differences, we will list them here.

This book is meant for software developers and managers who are considering starting an open source project, or who have started one and are wondering what to do now. It should also be helpful for people who just want to participate in an open source project but have never done so before.

via | ossblog