Quote:
Originally Posted by Eugene Fang
It's important that to note that "open source" does not mean anyone can make edits without review, potentially allowing the system to be "sabotaged." Changes must still be reviewed and then accepted by the owner.
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This. It's surprising how some people on this thread don't seem to understand how typical open source development works. It's not like we're suggesting FIRST make the repo public, accept all pull requests, and then just build and use whatever's there come competition season.
FIRST is likely very limited in the number of software engineers they can hire. Based on some of the technology stack being used, it's likely that FMS continues to utilize legacy code that's been around for a while. As Cheesy Arena demonstrates, a fresh approach using modern technologies can have great results.
Open sourcing FMS and creating a community advisory board could allow recognized developers to contribute to FMS and improve quality more than FIRST's in house developers could do on their own.
The biggest potential obstacle in making FMS an open source project might be the risk of potential game leaks. One possible approach could be to keep source closed closed during initial development and release the source once kickoff occurs. Then, feedback and community improvements could be put towards the next release. Android works in a similar way; each new version is developed internally by Google, then released to AOSP when it is announced publicly. OEM partners and community members can submit fixes which are then rolled into point updates or put towards the next version of Android.