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Cited by 49Software Engineering ResearchOpen Source Software InnovationsSoftware Engineering Techniques and Practices

Using software trails to reconstruct the evolution of software

German, Daniel M.·2004·Journal of Software Maintenance and Evolution: Research and Practice
DOI 10.1002/smr.301
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Abstract

This paper describes a method to recover the evolution of a software system using its software trails: information left behind by the contributors to the development process of the product, such as mailing lists, Web sites, version control logs, software releases, documentation, and the source code. This paper demonstrates the use of this method by recovering the evolution of Ximian Evolution, a mail client for Unix. By extracting useful facts stored in these software trails and correlating them, it was possible to provide a detailed view of the history of this project. This view provides interesting insight into how an open source software project evolves and some of the practices used by its software developers. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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  • Each module has one or more maintainers who supervise development, coordinate and integrate commits.

    “Cada módulo tiene uno o más mantenedores que supervisan el desarrollo, coordinan e integran los commits(German, 2004).”

    From Desarrollo Floss y gobernanza de pares: el caso del entorno de escritorio Gnome (2020) · cites this paper as German, 2004

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Authors
German, D. M.
Venue
Journal of Software Maintenance and Evolution: Research and Practice
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2004-11
Volume
16
Issue
6
Pages
367-384
ISSN
  • 1532-060X (ISSN-L)
  • 1532-0618
DOI
10.1002/smr.301
OpenAlex
W2027576706
Cited by
49
References
0
Citations by year
2022: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 6
FWCI
10.50
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor, 17 d)
Locations
Journal of Software Maintenance and Evolution Research and Practice (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Software Engineering Research
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Science Applications › Open Source Software Innovations
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Software Engineering Techniques and Practices
Keywords
software evolution, open source software, mailing lists, software release history, developer practices, historical reconstruction

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