An Empirical Study of User Support Tools in Open Source Software

TL;DR

This study analyzes how different user support tools in open source software influence user support, highlighting the importance of project trackers, mailing lists, and updates, while questioning the role of documentation and troubleshooting guidelines.

Contribution

It empirically examines the relationship between OSS user support and various support tools across 100 projects, identifying key tools that impact user support.

Findings

Project trackers significantly enhance user support

User mailing lists are crucial for user engagement

Updated versions contribute to better user support

Abstract

End users positive response is essential for the success of any software. This is true for both commercial and Open Source Software (OSS). OSS is popular not only because of its availability, which is usually free but due to the user support it provides, generally through public platforms. The study model of this research establishes a relationship between OSS user support and available support tools. To conduct this research, we used a dataset of 100 OSS projects in different categories and examined five user support tools provided by different OSS projects. The results show that project trackers, user mailing lists, and updated versions have a significant role in gaining user support. However, we were unable to find a significant association between user support and documentation, as well as between user support and the troubleshooting guidelines provided by OSS projects.