Mapping openness of Maemo 5.0 PR1.1 and Maemo 4.1.2 - we're moving in the right direction!

One of the tasks I've been doing in the last couple of months has been to try and refresh the openness data for Fremantle. This has actually been quite a challenge as I've had to retrieve a lot of different sources to make a proper description of what is actually open and what is not.

The openness reports

For Fremantle PR1.1, you can find the openness report here - this is for a PR1.1 image actually installed on a device.

As per request and for comparison, I've also generated one for Maemo 4.1.2 (Diablo)

It has been difficult finding categorisation for Diablo so a lot of it is in 'Other' as I used the package categorisation from Fremantle in this.

This is supposed to be raw data for further discussion and as such there'll be subsequent analysis on top of this, explaining some of the areas and why things are as they are. Please read through this blog post for further explanation of what the data represents and how it is represented.


This openness report has the purpose of:

• Giving exact information of what is open, what is not, if it's openly developed
• Help prioritise what should be opened and in which order
• Help giving arguments towards why things should be opened
• Help new developers find out where components are developed
• Help making Maemo more open
  
• To aid open sourcing discussion where we go to the technical heart of a problem, not the ideological one and save all of us precious time that could be used to open source things.
• Get information about what components may not be so interesting as to open source and what is kept closed source in those component areas and help to give an understanding of why it is so.
  

The purpose is not:

• To be a fight over numbers and percentages of openness
• To be a discussion over open sourcing policies (what Nokia chooses to open source and what not)

Classification of packages

So, to start describing what these openness reports contain. I have chosen to classify source packages into seven levels - this will also explain the headers of the table.

L1: Developed openly, no closed source dependancies

This means that the source package is developed either in garage.maemo.org, maemo.gitorious.org or some other place. This means that you can follow development and contribute patches to it, without having to wait for new releases

L2: Source published in SDK, no closed source dependancies

This means the source package is published in SDK releases. This means that you usually have to wait for a new SDK release to get updates to this package and there's no clear way to submit patches beyond bugtracker

L3: Developed openly, closed source dependancies

This means that the source package is developed either in garage.maemo.org, maemo.gitorious.org or some other place. This means that you can follow development and contribute patches to it, without having to wait for new releases

However, this is usually important for system integrators and porters of Maemo, this package depends on a closed source package to build or run. Which means it is difficult to take the package and use it outside Maemo.

L4: Source published in SDK, closed source dependancies

This means the source package is published in SDK releases. This means that you usually have to wait for a new SDK release to get updates to this package and there's no clear way to submit patches beyond bugtracker

However, this is usually important for system integrators and porters of Maemo, this package depends on a closed source package to build or run. Which means it is difficult to take the package and use it outside Maemo.

Total L1-L4:

This is the percentage that is open source in this particular component. It is red if it's below 80%

L5: Binary-only package published in SDK. Source may exist but may be non-free

This means the package is published in SDK, but may be non-free and hence not possible to use outside Maemo.

L6: Package published under EULA in nokia-binaries

This means the package is published as binary-only in nokia-binaries, which you can get under EULA at http://tablets-dev.nokia.com/eula

L7: Not published except on device and SSU repositories

This package is only published in SSU repositories and as such you cannot get to it without a device.

In each component area, for each level, there is a percentage and a number. This is percentage of components in this area that is in this level and how many source packages. If you click it, you will see the packages from that component area in that level.

If you click this, you will see information about the package, it's level, where it is openly developed if so, where you can retrieve it, etc.

Key numbers

Along with the openness report, there's a few key numbers, which are completely unweighed regarding lines of code, importance, etc.

Total L1+L3 compared to L1-L4:

This is how many % of the open source packages of Maemo that is actually developed openly on maemo.gitorious.org, garage, etc.

Total L1-L4:

This is how many % source packages of the image which is open source

Total L5-L7

This is how many % source packages of the image which is closed source

Total L1-L4 compared to L1-L6

This is how many % of the published source packages that are open source.

The future of openness reports

The idea is to publish these openness reports quite often, as to keep a understanding on the direction we're going in. I plan to do one every PR release for Fremantle and when Harmattan SDKs starts appearing, doing the same. I plan to shine up the CSS a bit as well as it's not the prettiest currently.

I will very soon start maintaining a open sourcing queue and the hope is to release as many L3-L4 packages as possible to become L1 and L2 packages. And L4 and L2 packages turning into L1 and L3 packages.


Please comment any changes or ideas for future improvements, or questions. If there's components that are openly developed that are not represented, let me know as well. I'm 'Stskeeps' on #maemo and feel free to come and discuss with me there.