All Things Open 2025: Open Source Survival Guide

From navigating different incentive structures to fostering healthy collaboration, this practical session delivers hard-earned wisdom from 25+ years of open source experience. Whether you’re a newcomer curious about contributing or a seasoned maintainer, Chris Short’s “Open Source Survival Guide” offers concrete rules that help technical professionals, community leaders, and companies work effectively in open source environments. Learn to build trust, share knowledge, manage contributions, and avoid common pitfalls that can damage projects and careers.

Transcript

1. Open Source Survival Guide Rules to keep you sane in the open source world Chris Short, Head of Open Source
2. ©2025 CIQ INC. Hi! Iʼm Chris • Over 25 years in open source • Makes mistakes in public • Made a lot of friends along the way • Learned a ton about doing open source • Sharing knowledge is a strength • Learn more at ChrisShort.net
3. ©2025 CIQ INC. Terms and Entities • Upstream: The open source project (think "community") • Downstream: Consumes open source project as part of another project or product • Open Source definition & what licenses are open source are governed by the Open Source Initiative OSI; US 501(c)(3) charitable organization • Apache Software Foundation oversees 300+ projects; U.S. 501(c)(3) charitable organization • Free Software Foundation created the free software movement and the GNU General Public License; 501(c)(3) charitable organization • Linux Foundation is home to many other open source foundations; they are a 501(c)(6) "non-profit" (more of a trade organization)
4. ©2025 CIQ INC. What is Open Source Open source software OSS) is software released under an Open Source Initiative OSI) approved license OSI makes sure licenses comply with the Open Source Definition OSD Different licenses grant different rights; choose wisely
5. ©2025 CIQ INC. What is Free Software Free Software Foundation FSF) founded in 1985 Goal of creating a complete and free software operating system via GNU Project Free software licenses are referred to as “copyleftˮ because they stipulate: • Works must be released with the original license • Works may be used, modified, and distributed freely • Those works are bound by the same conditions The license terms helps grow the free software community
6. ©2025 CIQ INC. Popular Free Software
7. ©2025 CIQ INC. Reciprocal GPL, AGPL, MPL • Derivative works must use same/compatible license • Ensures modifications remain open source • Stronger community protection • Complex compliance (linking, distribution triggers) • Can be incorporated into proprietary software • Minimal obligations (mainly attribution) • Easier for compliance • No guarantee modifications come back Permissive MIT, BSD, Apache 2 Both are open source
8. ©2025 CIQ INC. Open source is a software development method, not a business model.
9. ©2025 CIQ INC. Rule #1 Don't take yourself too seriously
10. ©2025 CIQ INC. • Donʼt take feedback personally • Stay grounded and balanced around how your work helps the community • Community over product or company Don't take yourself too seriously
11. ©2025 CIQ INC. When I worked at Red Hat… Clair is an open source container security tool commercialized by Red Hat Clair community announced & implemented a breaking change Change in Clair upstream broke an AWS product pipeline AWS customer-facing work was delayed due to need for a fix AWS Product Manager berated a Red Hat employee about the change and the impact to AWS customers …my next job was at AWS, where this talk originated An open source horror story
12. ©2025 CIQ INC. Rule #2 Be humble. Be open. Be honest.
13. ©2025 CIQ INC. • Learn from others in the community • Leave assumptions at the door • Always be friendly • Welcome newcomers; encourage increased participation • Ask questions in public channels • Be transparent about your objectives • Share your knowledge with others Be humble. Be open. Be honest.
14. ©2025 CIQ INC. Rule #3 Everyone has an agenda. That's usually OK (until it isn't)
15. ©2025 CIQ INC. Coopetition
16. ©2025 CIQ INC. Everyone has an agenda Opportunities to collaborate on shared goals
17. ©2025 CIQ INC. Everyone has an agenda Review Objectively. Review Subjectively.
18. ©2025 CIQ INC. Everyone has an agenda Donʼt disguise goals or agendas
19. ©2025 CIQ INC. Everyone has an agenda You represent your organization. You represent yourself.
20. ©2025 CIQ INC. Rule #4 Make your own karma
21. ©2025 CIQ INC. Make your own karma Trust is earned over a long time; lost in a moment Treat people with respect Have empathy when interacting with others "Carry the water, fetch the wood"
22. ©2025 CIQ INC. Rule #5 Meet community where they are, not where you want them to be
23. ©2025 CIQ INC. Learn tooling; ask for help Contributors are globally distributed Participate in planning, meetings, work sessions, etc. Your first contributions will be very small Don't make uninformed assumptions Follow available guides Meet community where they are
24. ©2025 CIQ INC. Rule #6 Contribution comes in many forms
25. ©2025 CIQ INC. Contribution comes in many forms Never underestimate the power of docs Release management is a great way to learn about project tooling Never disregard or dismiss non-code contributions Understand the [product] management used by the project Projects often need help improving quality, communications, and documentation
26. ©2025 CIQ INC. Rule #7 Code reviews are a conversation
27. ©2025 CIQ INC. Code reviews are a conversation Be curious Ask questions; never make assumptions Nit-picking No Nos Good code [reviews] takes time Periods of uninterrupted time to conduct code reviews
28. ©2025 CIQ INC. Rule #8 Explain your work clearly
29. ©2025 CIQ INC. Connect contributions to business or project goals Contribution is an "AND", not an "OR" Be clear about time investment Set up time blocks for uninterrupted contributions Explain your work clearly
30. ©2025 CIQ INC. Rule #9 Share knowledge regularly
31. ©2025 CIQ INC. Code reviews are a conversation Knowledge sharing is a key component of collaboration upstream Share the why not just the how Encourage distribution of useful information in your teams
32. ©2025 CIQ INC. Rule #10 No separate open source teams
33. ©2025 CIQ INC. No separate open source team Leads to an "us vs. them" mentality All team members should be able to participate in open source projects aligned to company goals Contributing is ensuring community and corporate health
34. ©2025 CIQ INC. Questions?
35. Thank You!