The Open Source Dilemma:
Not all open-source products can
be offered free-of-charge.
User modification can void any
required product certifications.
Not all users have the best
interest of the product or
developers in mind.
An Interesting example of
this dilemma is the Security
Enhanced Linux Operating System
(SELinux) being developed by
Red-Hat and NSA:
-
The technology of SELinux will
be documented in its source
code.
-
The user will bear the cost of developing,
certifying and maintaining SELinux.
-
The
Common-Criteria certification
of SELinux can be voided by
modification.
-
Some of the users may wish to
defeat the protection provided
by SELinux.
Sounds like some compromises
to the idealism of Open Source
have been made.
The
What If We Programmable
Software Development Environment
(SPDE)
can provide some interesting
solutions to the Open
Source Dilemma:
-
A
Group's technology is no longer
contained exclusively in its
product's source code. It
is also contained in the
Software Kits and Software
definition files used to
prepare the source code.
-
The
quantity of documentation
contained in the source code
can be controlled by a single
command line parameter.
Documentation can be included
during checkout and if
necessary completely removed
from the product delivered.
- The quantity and content of
the documentation can be
tailored for particular
categories of users.
For example, not all users of
SELinux are qualified to make
maintenance modifications.
These source code versions can
be selected by a single SPDE
command line parameter.
Unfortunately, the idealism of
Open Source is not always
practical. The SPDE can
offer the developer with some
measure of control over the
level of documentation contained
in the delivered software.
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