Open source developers spend less than 3% of their time on security According to a new survey from the Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) and the Laboratory for Innovation Science

The latest survey conducted by the Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) and the Harvard Laboratory for Innovation Science of FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) users shows that respondents spend an average of only 2.27% of their time total safety and hardly express the wish to increase this time.

The survey of nearly 1,200 people working on open source programs shows that the majority of respondents (74.87%) are already employed full time and that more than half (51.65%) are specifically develop open source software.

The motivations for contributing open source software revolve around adding a necessary feature or fix, the pleasure of learning, and meeting a need for creative or enjoyable work. The percentage of respondents who are paid by their employer to contribute open source software suggests strong support for the stability and sustainability of open source projects, but questions what might happen if companies’ interest in a project declines or cease.

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Among those surveyed, 45.45% say they are free to contribute to FOSS without asking for permission, compared to only 35.84% ten years ago. However, 17.48% of respondents say that their company does not have a clear policy on the possibility of contributing and 5.59% do not know what their employer’s policy is, if any.

“Understanding the behaviors of contributors to open source software, especially when it comes to security, can shed light on how we apply resources and attention to the world’s most used software.”, said David Wheeler, director of open source software supply chain security at the Linux Foundation. “It is clear from the 2020 findings that we have work to do to ensure that we employ staff across the community for security and to enable individuals to confidently contribute to open source software.”

Source : The Linux Foundation blog

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