Rebooting Open Source at Facebook

Open source has always been a huge part of Facebook's culture. But in 2013, we rebooted our portfolio and launched a unique suite of internal tools & instrumentation to support hundreds of repos, thousands of engineers, and tens of thousands of contributors. The result? Better-than-ever community adoption - and an open & responsible stewardship, attuned to our ethos of hacking & moving fast.

Video now available; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzL6Zoy_ndk&list=PLb0IAmt7-GS1hdDcokpVp1MBk-IaeaSgP

Transcript

1. Rebooting Open Source

   at Facebook
   JAMES PEARCE

   @jamespearce
   

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5. USE
   SCALE
   IMPROVE REPLACE
   RELEASE
   

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7. #0

   Articulate the value that

   open source brings your company
   

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8. Open source is like 

   the breeze from 

   an open window
   

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9. But…
   

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15. USE
    SCALE
    IMPROVE
    RELEASE
    REPLACE
    

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16. #1

    Use your own open source
    

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18. #2

    Decentralize project ownership
    

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19. What projects did we own?
    Who was contributing to them?
    How healthy were they?
    

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20. https://api.github.com/orgs/facebook/
    

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21. Every repo
    Every commit
    Every pull request
    Every issue
    

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22. [opensource]>  select  

                               name,  followers,  forks,  commits,  issues,  pull_requests  

                               from  github_repos  order  by  created_at  limit  10;

    +-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐+-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐+-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐+-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐+-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐+-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐+  
    |  name                        |  followers  |  forks  |  commits  |  issues  |  pull_requests  |  
    +-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐+-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐+-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐+-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐+-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐+-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐+  
    |  memcached              |              323  |        53  |          209  |            1  |                          0  |  
    |  three20                  |            7429  |    1521  |        1680  |        200  |                          0  |  
    |  platform                |              146  |        31  |          310  |            2  |                          0  |  
    |  bunny1                    |                43  |        15  |            10  |            0  |                          0  |  
    |  phpembed                |              132  |        26  |            31  |            1  |                          0  |  
    |  codemod                  |              309  |        49  |            13  |            9  |                          3  |  
    |  animation              |                  0  |          0  |              0  |            1  |                          0  |  
    |  scribe                    |            2572  |      469  |          117  |          59  |                        11  |  
    |  firefox-­‐toolbar  |                93  |        50  |          532  |          10  |                          0  |  
    |  cassandra              |              205  |        27  |          189  |            0  |                          0  |  
    +-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐+-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐+-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐+-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐+-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐+-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐+
    

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23. Every repo
    Every commit
    Every pull request
    Every issue
    Every minute
    

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24. #3

    Invest in instrumentation
    

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26. • commits made per day
    • commits made per day by repo
    • issue average age
    • issue average age by repo
    • issue total age
    • issue total age by repo
    • issues closed per day
    • issues closed per day by repo
    • issues open
    • issues open by repo
    • issues opened per day
    • issues opened per day by repo
    • pull request average age
    • pull request average age by repo
    • pull request total age
    • pull request total age by repo
    • pull requests closed per day
    • pull requests closed per day by repo
    • pull requests open
    • pull requests open by repo
    • pull requests opened per day
    • pull requests opened per day by repo
    • total commits
    • total commits by owner
    • total commits by repo
    • total forks
    • total forks by owner
    • total forks by repo
    • total repos
    • total repos by owner
    • total repos by tag
    • total watchers
    • total watchers by owner
    • total watchers by repo
    

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27. Average followers per repo

    Average forks per repo
    Average pull-request age

    Average issue age
    External commits
    

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28. #4

    Invest in tools
    

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33. #5

    Establish ownership
    

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36. #6

    Gamification of good behavior
    

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38. 1. How core to Facebook's business is this technology?
    2. Who will use it? Who is this technology useful to? How valuable is it?
    3. What else already exists that is similar to this technology?
    4. Is there anything novel in this project?
    5. Does it include any third-party code, including any third-party open source?
    6. Who will maintain the project, accept contributions, and liaise with the community?
    7. Where & how should this project be distributed?
    8. What is your expected public release date?
    

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39. 1. How core to Facebook's business is this technology?
    2. Who will use it? Who is this technology useful to? How valuable is it?
    3. What else already exists that is similar to this technology?
    4. Is there anything novel in this project?
    5. Does it include any third-party code, including any third-party open source?
    6. Who will maintain the project, accept contributions, and liaise with the community?
    7. Where & how should this project be distributed?
    8. What is your expected public release date?
    

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43. #7

    Launch is step zero
    

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48. “ If Facebook keep this level of quality open source
    release up much longer then soon I'll need to forgive
    them for Three20 ”
    - iOS Dev Weekly
    

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50. • IRC channel
    • Facebook Page/Group
    • Mailing lists
    • Regular blog posts
    • Meetups
    • Hackathons
    

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52. #8

    Leave breadcrumbs
    

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53. Snapshot Upstream Fly the nest Deprecate Reboot
    OPEN
    SOURCE
    PROJECTS
    

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54. #9

    Understand projects’ lifecycles
    

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56. Metrics
    • Total repos
    • Followers
    • Forks
    • Pull-requests
    • Issues
    • Commits
    June 2013
    129
    50.1k
    11.8k
    1,400 (502 days)
    404 (323 days)
    30.7k
    July 2014
    202
    97.6k
    20.7k
    1,973 (208 days)
    427 (186 days)
    42.4k
    

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58. #10

    Be open and connected
    

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59. JAMES PEARCE

    @jamespearce
    

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