The 30 Highest Velocity Open Source Projects ![rw-book-cover](https://www.cncf.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/cncf_social_share.jpg) ## Metadata - Author: [[Dan Kohn]] - Full Title: The 30 Highest Velocity Open Source Projects - Category: #articles - Document Note: ## Summarize: The article explores the concept of increasing returns to scale in open-source projects and its relevance in understanding promising areas to get involved in the community. The author collaborated with developer Łukasz Gryglicki to visualize the 30 highest velocity open-source projects using a bubble chart. The chart represents three axes of data: number of authors, total pull requests & issues, and number of commits. Some key takeaways from the data analysis include the high velocity of application frameworks like .NET, Node.js, and Ruby on Rails, the presence of React, Angular, and Vue.js in front-end software, and the inclusion of Ansible, Terraform, and Chef for automation. The article also highlights the significant challenges faced by Kubernetes, which deals with 2 to 3 times more issues and pull requests than other high-velocity projects like React and Homebrew. ## Bullet Points: - Open-source projects exhibit increasing returns to scale, with larger projects attracting more developers and achieving faster bug fixes and feature additions. - A bubble chart was used to visualize the 30 highest velocity open-source projects, with data points representing the number of authors, total pull requests & issues, and number of commits. - Key takeaways include the high velocity of application frameworks like .NET, Node.js, and Ruby on Rails, and the presence of React, Angular, and Vue.js in front-end software. - Automation projects like Ansible, Terraform, and Chef are also included in the high-velocity category. - Kubernetes stands out with 2 to 3 times more issues and pull requests than other high-velocity projects, which poses significant challenges for the project's scalability. - Chromium and Linux are among the higher velocity projects, with their own specific bug tracking systems. ## Paraphrase: 1. Open-source projects experience natural increasing returns to scale due to developers' interest in contributing to larger projects. Larger projects tend to have more developers, leading to quicker bug fixes, new feature additions, and better compatibility across platforms. Identifying projects with high developer velocity can reveal promising areas for engagement and potential successful platforms in the future. 2. The article introduces a collaborative effort between the author and developer Łukasz Gryglicki to visualize the 30 highest velocity open-source projects. They chose to represent the data using a bubble chart, showcasing three key metrics: the number of authors, the total count of pull requests and issues, and the number of commits. The chart's log-log scale helps observe trends across a wide range of scales. ## Conclusion: The article emphasizes the phenomenon of increasing returns to scale in open-source projects, where larger projects attract more developers and achieve higher velocity. By visually representing data through a bubble chart, the author and Łukasz Gryglicki have identified several high-velocity projects across different categories like application frameworks, front-end software, and automation tools. Notably, Kubernetes stands out with its high volume of issues and pull requests, reflecting the challenges of managing a project of such magnitude. The article also encourages engagement and discussion within the open-source community, inviting readers to join the conversation on Hacker News. ## Questions: - How do increasing returns to scale affect smaller open-source projects and their growth prospects? - What factors contribute to the high velocity of certain application frameworks and front-end software? - How can open-source communities effectively handle the challenges posed by projects with a significant number of issues and pull requests? - What are the implications of using different metrics, such as commits, authors, or pull requests, in measuring developer velocity in open-source projects? ## Auto-tagging: Open Source, Increasing Returns to Scale, Developer Velocity, Bubble Chart, Application Frameworks, Front-end Software, Automation Tools, Kubernetes, Issues and Pull Requests, GitHub, Open-Source Community. ## Index Creation: - Open Source projects - Increasing Returns to Scale - Developer Velocity - Bubble Chart - Application Frameworks - Front-end Software - Automation Tools - Kubernetes - Issues and Pull Requests - GitHub - Open-Source Community ## Table of Contents: 1. Introduction 2. Understanding Increasing Returns to Scale in Open Source Projects 3. Visualizing Developer Velocity: The Bubble Chart 4. Key Takeaways from the Data Analysis - High Velocity Application Frameworks - Front-end Software Presence - Automation Tools in the Mix - Kubernetes: Dealing with Challenges - Other Higher Velocity Projects 5. Engaging the Open-Source Community 6. Conclusion 7. Join the Discussion on Hacker News ## References: - The article on developer Łukasz Gryglicki's website (if applicable). - GitHub repository: https://github.com/cncf/velocity ## Future Research: - Investigate the impact of increasing returns to scale on the sustainability and longevity of open-source projects. - Examine the relationship between developer velocity and project size in various domains, such as web development, data science, and artificial intelligence. - Explore strategies to improve the scalability and management of high-velocity projects like Kubernetes. - Analyze the effectiveness of different metrics in measuring developer activity and project success in open-source communities. ## Hypotheses: 1. Open-source projects with a larger number of authors will demonstrate higher velocity and faster growth rates. 2. Front-end software projects will have a higher number of pull requests and issues compared to back-end projects due to their user-facing nature. 3. The use of automation tools will positively correlate with project velocity and efficiency. 4. Projects hosted by CNCF may face unique challenges in managing high volumes of issues and pull requests compared to projects with their own bug tracking systems. ## Methodology: 1. Gather data from various open-source repositories, including information on commits, authors, pull requests, and issues. 2. Utilize the bubble chart visualization method to plot data points based on the number of authors, total pull requests & issues, and number of commits. 3. Conduct statistical analysis to identify trends and correlations between project size, developer velocity, and project success. 4. Employ qualitative research methods, such as interviews and surveys, to gather insights from developers and contributors on their experiences with high-velocity projects. 5. Utilize natural language processing techniques to analyze project discussions and understand the challenges faced by high-velocity projects in managing issues and pull requests. ## Implications: The future research in this area has the potential to advance our understanding of open-source project dynamics and their scalability. By exploring increasing returns to scale, developers can identify promising areas for contribution and support sustainable funding solutions. Understanding the challenges faced by high-velocity projects like Kubernetes can lead to improved strategies for managing large-scale open-source projects. This research may also inform policies and practices within the open-source community, fostering collaboration and enhancing the overall productivity and impact of open-source software development. ## Logical validity: The main argument in the article centers around the concept of increasing returns to scale in open-source projects. The author provides rationale and evidence for why larger projects tend to attract more developers and achieve higher velocity. This argument is supported by the visualization of the 30 highest velocity projects using a bubble chart, presenting data on authors, pull requests & issues, and commits. Logical coherence is evident in how the author presents the data analysis and key takeaways. The choice to use a log-log scale in the bubble chart allows for a comprehensive representation of the data across various scales. The analysis of high-velocity - Document Tags: [[metrics]] [[open source]] - Summary: Open Source projects exhibit natural increasing returns to scale. That’s because most developers are interested in using and participating in the largest projects, and the projects with the most… - URL: https://www.cncf.io/blog/2017/06/05/30-highest-velocity-open-source-projects/ Open Source projects exhibit natural increasing returns to scale. That’s because most developers are interested in using and participating in the largest projects, and the projects with the most developers are more likely to quickly fix bugs, add features and work reliably across the largest number of platforms. So, tracking the projects with the highest developer velocity can help illuminate promising areas in which to get involved, and what are likely to be the successful platforms over the next several years. (If the embedded version below isn’t clear enough, you can view the [chart](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1a2VdKfAI1g9ZyWL09TnJ-snOpi4BC9kaEVmB7IufY7g/edit#gid=134798507) directly on Google Sheets.) As a follow-on to my previous look at [Measuring the Popularity of Kubernetes Using BigQuery](https://www.cncf.io/blog/2017/02/27/measuring-popularity-kubernetes-using-bigquery/), I’ve been working with developer [Łukasz Gryglicki](https://github.com/lukaszgryglicki) to visualize the 30 highest velocity open source projects. Rather than debate whether to measure them via commits, authors, or comments and pull requests, we use a bubble chart to show all 3 axes of data, and plot on a log-log chart to show the data across large scales. In the graph, the bubbles’ area is proportional to the number of authors, the y-axis (height) is the total number of pull requests & issues, and the x-axis is the number of commits. There are many stories in the data but these are a few of my takeaways: * The highest velocity application frameworks are .NET, Node.js and Ruby on Rails. * For front-end software, React, Angular and Vue.js all have a presence. * For automation, Ansible, Terraform and Chef are included. * Kubernetes is dealing with 2 to 3 times the issues and pull requests of other high velocity projects like React and Homebrew. The project (which is hosted by [CNCF](https://www.cncf.io/)) has been using and investing in tools like mungegithub and prow to scale better on GitHub, but it’s not surprising that keeping up is challenging. Of the two higher velocity projects, Chromium uses its own [bug tracker](https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/list) and Linux uses the [Linux Kernel Mailing List](http://vger.kernel.org/lkml/). All of the scripts used to generate this data are at <https://github.com/cncf/velocity> (under an Apache 2.0 [license](https://www.cncf.io/blog/2017/02/01/cncf-recommends-aslv2/)). If you see any errors, please open an issue there. What’s your biggest takeaway? Please join the [discussion](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14489132) on Hacker News and let us know. [![No-Cost Istio training: from fundamentals to ambient to production readiness](https://www.cncf.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Single-Template-4-79.png)](https://www.cncf.io/blog/2022/12/05/no-cost-istio-training-from-fundamentals-to-ambient-to-production-readiness/), The 30 Highest Velocity Open Source Projects, Dan Kohn, 01h6sf00bmw8bammkvrmkc6d8q.