A New Method for Evaluating Core Developers In Open Source Software
Yulin Song, Tao Wang, Yang Shen, Junsheng Chang · 2022
The high-quality development of Open Source Software(OSS) benefits from the contributions of developers. An important research question is how to truly assess the extent of contribution of all developers in open source software and effectively identify the core developers to avoid their loss. In this paper, we use the undirected weighted network model to build a Developer Collaboration Network(DCN) based on developers and their contributions to the GitHub community’s open source software Rails, analyse the characteristics of developer partnerships through the Developer Collaboration Network, and propose a Developer Personal Impact Factor(DPIF) to evaluate the importance of developer, select the top 10 core developers in Rails, focus on their participation in the open source software process, and predicting the changes of their contributions. The experimental results show that core developers with extensive partnerships are more likely to associate with developers with fewer partnerships. The average degree of developer contribution does not increase with more developers. Developer partnerships are characterized by close localization and loose overall relationships. The Developer Personal Impact Factor identifies the core developers in open source software well. The Developer Personal Impact Factor gives a ranking in which the core team members rank in the top 1.17% on average.