Do as i Do, Not as i Say: Do Contribution Guidelines Match the GitHub Contribution Process?

Omar Elazhary; Margaret-Anne Storey; Neil Ernst; Andy Zaidman

doi:10.1109/ICSME.2019.00043

Do as i Do, Not as i Say: Do Contribution Guidelines Match the GitHub Contribution Process?

Omar Elazhary, Margaret-Anne Storey, Neil Ernst, Andy Zaidman

Software Engineering

Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceedings/Edited volume › Conference contribution › Scientific › peer-review

20 Citations (Scopus)

36 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Developer contribution guidelines are used in social coding sites like GitHub to explain and shape the process a project expects contributors to follow. They set standards for all participants and 'save time and hassle caused by improperly created pull requests or issues that have to be rejected and re-submitted' (GitHub). Yet, we lack a systematic understanding of the content of a typical contribution guideline, as well as the extent to which these guidelines are followed in practice. Additionally, understanding how guidelines may impact projects that use Continuous Integration as part of the contribution process is of particular interest. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a mixed-methods study of 53 GitHub projects with explicit contribution guidelines and coded the guidelines to extract key themes. We then created a process model using GitHub activity data (e.g., commit, new issue, new pull request) to compare the actual activity with the prescribed contribution guidelines. We show that approximately 68% of these projects diverge significantly from the expected process.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings - 2019 IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution, ICSME 2019
Publisher	IEEE
Pages	286-290
Number of pages	5
ISBN (Electronic)	9781728130941
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSME.2019.00043
Publication status	Published - 2019
Event	2019 IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution, ICSME 2019 - Cleveland, United States Duration: 30 Sept 2019 → 4 Oct 2019 https://icsme2019.github.io

Publication series

Name	Proceedings - 2019 IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution, ICSME 2019

Conference

Conference	2019 IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution, ICSME 2019
Abbreviated title	ICSME 2019
Country/Territory	United States
City	Cleveland
Period	30/09/19 → 4/10/19
Internet address	https://icsme2019.github.io

Bibliographical note

Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care
Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.

Keywords

automation
code contributions
software engineering

Access to Document

10.1109/ICSME.2019.00043

Do_as_I_Do_Not_as_I_Say_Do_Contribution_Guidelines_Match_the_GitHub_Contribution_ProcessFinal published version, 166 KB

Cite this

Elazhary, O., Storey, M.-A., Ernst, N., & Zaidman, A. (2019). Do as i Do, Not as i Say: Do Contribution Guidelines Match the GitHub Contribution Process? In Proceedings - 2019 IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution, ICSME 2019 (pp. 286-290). Article 8919187 (Proceedings - 2019 IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution, ICSME 2019). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSME.2019.00043

Elazhary, Omar ; Storey, Margaret-Anne ; Ernst, Neil et al. / Do as i Do, Not as i Say : Do Contribution Guidelines Match the GitHub Contribution Process?. Proceedings - 2019 IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution, ICSME 2019. IEEE, 2019. pp. 286-290 (Proceedings - 2019 IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution, ICSME 2019).

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title = "Do as i Do, Not as i Say: Do Contribution Guidelines Match the GitHub Contribution Process?",

abstract = "Developer contribution guidelines are used in social coding sites like GitHub to explain and shape the process a project expects contributors to follow. They set standards for all participants and 'save time and hassle caused by improperly created pull requests or issues that have to be rejected and re-submitted' (GitHub). Yet, we lack a systematic understanding of the content of a typical contribution guideline, as well as the extent to which these guidelines are followed in practice. Additionally, understanding how guidelines may impact projects that use Continuous Integration as part of the contribution process is of particular interest. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a mixed-methods study of 53 GitHub projects with explicit contribution guidelines and coded the guidelines to extract key themes. We then created a process model using GitHub activity data (e.g., commit, new issue, new pull request) to compare the actual activity with the prescribed contribution guidelines. We show that approximately 68% of these projects diverge significantly from the expected process.",

keywords = "automation, code contributions, software engineering",

author = "Omar Elazhary and Margaret-Anne Storey and Neil Ernst and Andy Zaidman",

note = "Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository {\textquoteleft}You share, we take care!{\textquoteright} – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public. ; 2019 IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution, ICSME 2019, ICSME 2019 ; Conference date: 30-09-2019 Through 04-10-2019",

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doi = "10.1109/ICSME.2019.00043",

language = "English",

series = "Proceedings - 2019 IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution, ICSME 2019",

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Elazhary, O, Storey, M-A, Ernst, N & Zaidman, A 2019, Do as i Do, Not as i Say: Do Contribution Guidelines Match the GitHub Contribution Process? in Proceedings - 2019 IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution, ICSME 2019., 8919187, Proceedings - 2019 IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution, ICSME 2019, IEEE, pp. 286-290, 2019 IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution, ICSME 2019, Cleveland, United States, 30/09/19. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSME.2019.00043

Do as i Do, Not as i Say: Do Contribution Guidelines Match the GitHub Contribution Process? / Elazhary, Omar; Storey, Margaret-Anne; Ernst, Neil et al.
Proceedings - 2019 IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution, ICSME 2019. IEEE, 2019. p. 286-290 8919187 (Proceedings - 2019 IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution, ICSME 2019).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceedings/Edited volume › Conference contribution › Scientific › peer-review

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AU - Storey, Margaret-Anne

AU - Ernst, Neil

AU - Zaidman, Andy

N1 - Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - Developer contribution guidelines are used in social coding sites like GitHub to explain and shape the process a project expects contributors to follow. They set standards for all participants and 'save time and hassle caused by improperly created pull requests or issues that have to be rejected and re-submitted' (GitHub). Yet, we lack a systematic understanding of the content of a typical contribution guideline, as well as the extent to which these guidelines are followed in practice. Additionally, understanding how guidelines may impact projects that use Continuous Integration as part of the contribution process is of particular interest. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a mixed-methods study of 53 GitHub projects with explicit contribution guidelines and coded the guidelines to extract key themes. We then created a process model using GitHub activity data (e.g., commit, new issue, new pull request) to compare the actual activity with the prescribed contribution guidelines. We show that approximately 68% of these projects diverge significantly from the expected process.

AB - Developer contribution guidelines are used in social coding sites like GitHub to explain and shape the process a project expects contributors to follow. They set standards for all participants and 'save time and hassle caused by improperly created pull requests or issues that have to be rejected and re-submitted' (GitHub). Yet, we lack a systematic understanding of the content of a typical contribution guideline, as well as the extent to which these guidelines are followed in practice. Additionally, understanding how guidelines may impact projects that use Continuous Integration as part of the contribution process is of particular interest. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a mixed-methods study of 53 GitHub projects with explicit contribution guidelines and coded the guidelines to extract key themes. We then created a process model using GitHub activity data (e.g., commit, new issue, new pull request) to compare the actual activity with the prescribed contribution guidelines. We show that approximately 68% of these projects diverge significantly from the expected process.

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Elazhary O, Storey MA, Ernst N, Zaidman A. Do as i Do, Not as i Say: Do Contribution Guidelines Match the GitHub Contribution Process? In Proceedings - 2019 IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution, ICSME 2019. IEEE. 2019. p. 286-290. 8919187. (Proceedings - 2019 IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution, ICSME 2019). doi: 10.1109/ICSME.2019.00043

Do as i Do, Not as i Say: Do Contribution Guidelines Match the GitHub Contribution Process?

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

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Cite this