Rules of Open Source Programming - Fortunes

Rule of Open-Source Programming #1:

Don’t whine unless you are going to implement it yourself.

Rule of Open-Source Programming #4:

If you don’t work on your project, chances are that no one will.

Rule of Open-Source Programming #5:

A project is never finished.

Rule of Open-Source Programming #6: The user is always right unless proven otherwise by the developer.

Rule of Open-Source Programming #7:

Release early, release often. Clean compilation is optional.

Rule of Open-Source Programming #8:

Open-Source is not a panacea.

Rule of Open-Source Programming #9:

Give me refactoring or give me death!

Rule of Open-Source Programming #11:

When a developer says he will work on something, he or she means “maybe”.

Rule of Open-Source Programming #13:

Your first release can always be improved upon.

Rule of Open-Source Programming #15:

If you like it, let the author know. If you hate it, let the author know why.

Rule of Open-Source Programming #20:

Open Code != Good Code

Rules of Open-Source Programming:

22. Backward compatibility is your worst enemy.

23. Backward compatibility is your users’ best friend.

Rule of Open-Source Programming #33:

Don’t waste time on writing test cases and test scripts - your users are your best testers.

Rule of Open-Source Programming #34:

Every successful project will eventually spawn a sub-project

Rule of Open-Source Programming #37:

Duplicate effort is inevitable. Live with it.

Rule of Open-Source Programming #48:

The number of items on a project’s to-do list always grows or remains constant.