Open Source Survival Guide

Abstract From navigating different incentive structures to fostering healthy collaboration, this practical session delivers hard-earned wisdom from 25+ years of open source experience. Whether you’re a newcomer curious about contributing or a seasoned maintainer, “Open Source Survival Guide” offers concrete rules that help technical professionals, community leaders, and companies work effectively in open source environments. Learn how to build trust, share knowledge, handle contributions, and avoid the pitfalls that can damage projects and careers. ...

March 26, 2025 · Chris Short

GPL vs. LGPL vs. APGL

A comparison of GPL, LGPL, and AGPL licenses

January 10, 2025 · Chris Short
I prompted Stable Diffusion (Generative AI model) to draw itself. It drew something that's a cross between a robot and an electronic toy you'd give a five-year-old.

Data Deception: OSI's Open Source AI Fallacy

If the current Open Source Initiative’s (OSI) Open Source AI Definition (OSAID) is implemented as is, it could potentially lead to a catastrophe for the open source software community and the OSI itself. The fact that the data doesn’t necessarily have to be reproducible in the draft OSAID is a major concern, paving the way for increased openwashing. Even the NY Times has a page dedicated to openwashing, a clear indication of the significant harm this could inflict. ...

July 23, 2024 · Chris Short
Happy 10th Birthday, Kubernetes | Photo from Kubernetes Contributor Summit San Diego 2019

Kubernetes Likely Saved My Life

Kubernetes and I share something: We were born on June 6th (I didn’t pick the date; I probably would’ve though to take more attention away from me). I’ve contributed to Kubernetes for 70% of its life. Today, Kubernetes turns 10. There are many things I could write about to commemorate this day. It has improved my life (like every other open source project I have worked on) by giving me desirable skills in an emerging space. It also allowed me to lead again (I’m a co-lead of the Kubernetes Contributor Comms subproject). Today, however, I’m writing about a personal story that would not be befitting of Kubernetes’ websites (K8s.io and K8s.dev). As it’s personal and my life is eventful, there’s been a lot of twists and turns ...

June 6, 2024 · Chris Short
Shipping containers piled high

Container Conundrum: DevOpsDays Chicago 2022 Open Space Notes

I found a topic that I’m going to suggest for an Open Space at every DevOpsDays I go to from this point forward: “Container Conundrum: Pain points around containers” These notes are presented here without opinion. Distilling these notes into a concise narrative will be the topic for an introduction to an upcoming DevOps’ish newsletter. Please subscribe today! I think the best way to look at these notes is to assume that each bullet point is a pain point. ...

October 8, 2022 · Chris Short