[Python-Dev] Coverity Open Source Defect Scan of Python

[Michael Chermside]

Dennis Allison writes:
> I'd also encourage Coventry to explain their business model a bit more
> clearly.

Ben Chelf writes:
> Of course it's no surprise that I see open
> source projects everywhere -- as part of infrastructure or part of code
> bases that people are developing. So from a Coverity perspective,
> clearly we want to provide source code analysis for the projects that
> our customers care about
       [...]
> I really just want every developer to use source code analysis
> while they write code
       [...]
> We got a lot of the
> good publicity in the research lab because there existed this big open
> source OS that we could test our theories on.
       [...]
> I think it makes sense for Coverity to have a strong relationship with
> the open source community since that community has been helping us
> pretty much since day 1


I work for a business... and we pay full price for the tools that we
use in our work. I am aware of and follow the work that I and my
colleagues do -- when someone has a good idea, I tend to learn from
that and introduce the same idea in future projects. I also am aware
of and follow the work of quite a few open source projects (to
different degrees depending on the project). In fact, I see far more
open source projects than I do other projects. I learn a lot of good
ideas from these projects also, and I use them in my paid work. For
example, it was my experience with open source projects that convinced
me that extensive unit tests that are expected to always pass was a
feasable and useful idea. Many of the ways that open source projects
are managed are also beginning to work their way into my professional
life also. It's just that I see far more open source projects than
others, and frankly the open source projects are almost always better
run, with higher standards.

I doubt I'm the only one... I think open source will be leading the
way in software development standards for some time now. So I think
offering a software development tool FREE to open source projects in
hopes of selling it for money to comercial projects is a WONDERFUL
business model. Good luck!

-- Michael Chermside

(PS: too bad I can't buy stock in Coverity. How come all the GOOD
companies are private? I had to wait around 6 years before I could
buy stock in Google.)