FOSS Tools

This page provides a list of the full range of tools that are often used on open source projects. The intention is to identify all the tools that faculty and students need to or might want to learn about as part of becoming effective participants in open source communities

Tools are organized into several broad categories. Some tools could be placed in more than one category, but the goal here is to just give a first cut understanding of tool role. We can argue the details another time!

Within categories, the tools are divided into "Core" and "Other". Again, one might argue for changes in this division, but the intent is to give learners some suggestions on where to start.

The "Development" category has the most potential entries, but is also most specialized in that what's relevant here (fi anything) depends on the type of FOSS work and the particular FOSS project.

Tools show one or more examples in parentheses. The notion here is just to provide an example, not even an attempt at a comprehensive list.

Communication

Core

• Listserv (
• IRC
  • Meetbots (Zodbot)

Other

• Blogs
  • Planets
• Wiki (MediaWiki, Dokuwiki)
• Collaborative editors (etherpad)
• Documentation generators (Javadoc, phpDocumentor, JSDoc)

Control and Coordination

Core

• Revision control (SVN, Git)
• Trackers for bugs, features, etc. (Bugzilla, trackers in PM software like Trac, ChiliProject)

Other

• Continuous integration servers (Hudson)
• Package managers (Yum, RPM)
• Project managers (Trac, ChiliProject)
• Provisioning or deployment managers (Kickstart, Spacewalk)

Development

Core

• Build automation (make, automake, autoconf, Ant, Maven)
• Testing frameworks (jUnit)

Other

• Text editors (Notepad++, Vim)
• IDE's (Eclipse, Net Beans)
• Modelling (ArgoUML, Dia)
• Mobile (PhoneGap)
• Web Dev (Catalyst, NVU, Zend)