Open source projects & the tools that make them go

I’ve been actively involved in open source projects since around 1997, and as part of Mozilla since 2005. During that time I’ve noticed that successful projects usually make do with a short list of relatively simple tools. These are:

1. A version control & source code management system
2. A bug tracker
3. A mailing list (for asynchronous discussion)
4. An IRC channel (for synchronous discussion)
5. A wiki (for documentation, designs, meeting notes, and so on)
6. An etherpad install (for collaborative note taking & a host of other things)

That’s really it. There are more elaborate tools, and there are more elaborate processes that can be built around them, but I have seen it proven time and again that if you have these tools and a good group of smart and dedicated people, you can literally change the world.

(Photo by OZinOH.)