Do you use open source that seems to be no longer alive?

Question

G'day,

Just listened to Jeff and Joel talk about open source version numbers in SO podcast #59 and it made me think about a problem I currently have where I need to look at various possibilities for implementing a centralised, logging mechanism for a large scale web site. And I mean really large. Really, really large.

One possibility is using mod_log_spread, for Apache 1.3, or mod_log_spread2, for Apache 2.x, in conjunction with the Spread toolkit.

Trouble is, all of these seem to be quite dead in terms of active involvement with the projects.

How do people evaluate this sort of thing when deciding whether or not to use a particular open source resources?

Any hints would be gratefully appreciated.

cheers

BTW Current ambience: Carla Bley "The Lord is Listening to Ya, Hallelujah!" (-:

Answer 1

Really the most critical thing is whether or not the open source solution solves your problem that you have right now, in the form that it is. If it does, then you can only benefit by using it; if it does not, then you need to consider the direction the project is going and whether or not the OSS project will dovetail with your needs.

In general, I ONLY use OSS that fits the current needs; future enhancements and improvements (and bugfixes) are nice, but if it doesn't do what I need right now, there's no point. Basically what I'm saying is take "aliveness" and potential future developments out of the choice; if it's right for you right now, use it, otherwise, I'd find another way to go. There are no guarantees whatsoever that any given project won't suddenly go from "alive" to "nonliving".

Answer 2

If the code is reliable, I don't feel that it matters whether or not it is actively being maintained. Sometimes projects are not maintained because they are stable.

The important thing is to be able to determine whether or not the code is reliable, either through testing or testimony of someone else who is using or has used it.

Answer 3

What is the cost of implementing the open source solution and how much would you have to invest in converting to an alternate solution at a later date if the "abandoned" Open Source solution turns out to have a critical bug? If there is a low investment in converting at a later date then there are no worries and it seems pretty obvious.

One other thing you might look at is perhaps the software hasn't been abandoned. Some open source projects have a fairly quiet development cycle and when there aren't any issues with the product. Have you tried emailing the developers to see if they are still working on it?