Where Do Open Source Requirements Come From ( And What Should We Do About It ) ?

The collection and specification of software requirements is one of the most intense areas of software engineering research. This makes it a natural area to explore when considering open-source software. In this paper, I argue that the sources of open-source software requirements differ in some important respects from the sources of commercial software project requirements. This has some interesting implications for both open-source and commercial development. The collection and specification of software requirements is one of the most intense areas of software engineering research. This makes it a natural area to explore when considering open-source software. In this paper, I argue that the sources of open-source software requirements differ in some important respects from the sources of commercial software project requirements. This has some interesting implications for both open-source and commercial development.