Contributors’ impact on a FOSS project’s quality

Abstract

Engaging contributors in a Free Open Source Software (FOSS) project can be challenging. Finding an appropriate task to start with is a common entrance barrier for newcomers. Poor code quality contributes to difficulties in the onboarding process and limits contributor satisfaction in general. In turn, dissatisfied developers tend to exacerbate problems with system integrity. Poorly designed systems are difficult to maintain and extend. Users can often directly experience these issues as instabilities in system behavior. Thus code quality is a key issue for users and contributors in FOSS. We present a case study on the interactions between code quality and contributor experience in the real-world FOSS project Catrobat. We describe the implications of a refactoring process in terms of code metrics and benefits for developers and users.