Ask HN: How long does open-source project approval take at your company?

6 points·riyakhanna1983··8 comments

How long does it take for your company to approve the use of an open-source software (e.g., maven artifact, GitHub project) and why?

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An eternity because of the stigma that comes with confusing the old "free speech" not "free beer" argument and people attempting to defend their IP fruitlessly.

Meanwhile, I visited China on business. CEO of a very profitable startup explained to me that the lack of IP laws and copyright has actually caused a boom in open source culture. They know that if they release something, their product will be shared and adapted anyhow, so why not just ship a product that's essentially unlocked to begin with.

Instant. I suspect that the form submission backend detects certain licenses/usage criteria and automatically approves it.

Does it also check the quality of the OSS being imported (e.g., how many issues are open, how many active users, etc.)?

No. That's a decision for the team/user. I assumed the question was about legal approval.

12-ish person dev team: CTO has a filter on copyleft licenses for projects intended for distribution. And I don't blame him.

I've been warning the other new people since I've been asked. I'm also new-ish.

Couple of weeks, usually legal and technical reviews.

Depends. One extremely popular tool with an open source license took 1.5 years.

Approximately zero seconds.

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