Resources to Address Common Questions

The Yahoo Open Source Program Office (OSPO) provides services to help engineers at Yahoo prepare code for external publication, promote projects, and build open source communities. If you are interested in open source collaboration, we are here to help. To get an overview of our program, visit the OSPO Welcome Page intranet page, chat with us on our internal Slack channel (#opensource), or send an email to ospo@.

This page in an index of common questions and topics related to the OSPO’s services.

Step Zero: Planning for Success

Be inquisitive. We welcome your questions and are here to help. One way we help is by publishing this guide, so please review it, as you might find the answers here. If you think the answer is not going to work for you, ask us. Maybe you are dealing with an exceptional case, maybe something changed.

Can I Use Open Source Code?

If someone has already solved a problem, better to leverage that than to create a new instance of the solution that we have to manage on our own. However, just because code is open does not mean it’s good. You are responsible for the code in your app. We’ll help address questions you have about the open source license, give you suggestions about how to find a healthy and well managed project to use, and connect you with internal teams who are using similar code (so you can leverage their work too). Start here to learn more about using open source code in your code projects.

Can I Publish a New Open Source Project?

With our help, if you follow the steps and get approval, you can publish a new open source project. Please don’t publish source code without working with us first. If you are unsure if the code you are publishing is work-related please speak with the OSPO first.

Can I Contribute to Open Source Projects?

We encourage you to update projects with fixes by contributing to open source projects we use rather than forking those projects. Sometimes you’ll need to involve the OSPO first. Some projects ask you to sign a CLA, and we’ll need to get that reviewed and approved first. There are very rare cases where an open source project might pose some sort of conflict issue too, so if you suspect that’s the case, please ask first.

Any Open Source Concerns when Launching Apps?

When launching an app that clients use, you’ll need to know about all the open source code in that app binary. Start with the page about Launching Mobile Apps and reach out to the OSPO for details.

What Happens After I Publish an Open Source Project?

Publication is the first step in a process, not the last. The OSPO will help some teams promote their open source projects but the primary burden rests upon the team that publishes the code project.

But I Have Other Questions!

Good! The Open Source Program Office is here to help. See the topics below and let us know what questions you have that we did not address.