5. 1. 1  Free software production

The production of free software, like the production of any software, responds to the need to solve a specific technology problem.

For example, to add functionality to an application or to troubleshoot malfunctions.

Although the technological process of refining and developing a free software application may share many similarities with an application based on proprietary software, the difference marked by the openness of the model gives it a special type of operation. In other words, the open and cooperative nature of its production affects the structure of quantitative and qualitative evolution down the versions.

Many authors have written about the specifics of producing free software. Since it is not the aim of this module to detail or describe these features at length, given that they are comprehensively dealt with in other subjects, we will focus here on pointing out some of the more interesting ones in our case.

To do so, we will consider some of the concepts in Eric S. Raymond's paper The Cathedral and the Bazaar, which analyses the special features of free software, particularly GNU/Linux.

Recommended website

E. Raymond (1997). The cathedral and the bazaar (http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/).

Early stages of production

The bulk of the foundations of free software are based on the publication of specific adaptations or developments made by workers in the performance of their daily work.