On Reliability Analysis of Open Source Software - FEDORA

Abstract

Reliability analyses of software systems often focus only on the number of faults reported against the software. Using a broader set of metrics, such as problem resolution times and field software usage levels, can provide a more comprehensive view of the product. Some of these metrics are more readily available for open source products. We analyzed a suite of FEDORA releases and obtained some interesting findings. For example, we show that traditional reliability models may be used to predict problem rates across releases. We also show that security related reports tend to have a different profile than non-security related problem reporting and repair.