Reliability models and open source software: An empirical study

Open source communities have successfully developed a great deal of software. Due to its free availability and highly secure operating system environment it is promoted by most of the countries all over the world. India also started contributing in this field. Government of India is also promoting usage of Open Source softwares due to its economical feasibility and security. Due to its huge demand in software field a major concern is of its reliability, which is defined as the probability of failure-free software operation for a specified period of time in a given environment. In this paper on the basis of literature survey of open source and reliability, facts regarding Open Source softwares as well as different reliability concepts are elaborated. Important Models to estimate reliability are studied and then main factors are explained here. This paper will be helpful for research scholars doing their research in software reliability.