ECOS: Ecological studies of open source software ecosystems

Software ecosystems, collections of projects developed by the same community, are among the most complex artefacts constructed by humans. Collaborative development of open source software (OSS) has witnessed an exponential increase in two decades. Our hypothesis is that software ecosystems bear many similarities with natural ecosystems. While natural ecosystems have been the subject of study for many decades, research on software ecosystems is more recent. For this reason, the ECOS research project aims to determine whether and how selected ecological models and theories from natural ecosystems can be adapted and adopted to understand and better explain how OSS projects (akin to biological species) evolve, and to determine what are the main factors that drive the success or popularity of these projects. Expressed in biological terms, we wish to use knowledge on the evolution of natural ecosystems to provide support aiming to optimize the fitness of OSS projects, and to increase the resistance and resilience of OSS ecosystems.