Are One-Time Contributors Different? A Comparison to Core and Periphery Developers in FLOSS Repositories

Context: Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) communities consist of different types of contributors. Core contributors and peripheral contributors work together to create a successful project, each playing a different role. One-Time Contributors (OTCs), who are on the very fringe of the peripheral developers, are largely unstudied despite offering unique insights into the development process. In a prior survey, we identified OTCs and discovered their motivations and barriers. Aims: The objective of this study is to corroborate the survey results and provide a better understand of OTCs. We compare OTCs to other peripheral and core contributors to determine whether they are distinct. Method: We mined data from the same code-review repository used to identify survey respondents in our previous study. After identifying each contributor as core, periphery, or OTC, we compared them in terms of patch size, time interval from submission to decision, the nature of their conversations, and patch acceptance rates. Results: We identified a continuum between core developers and OTCs. OTCs create smaller patches, face longer time intervals between patch submission and rejection, have longer review conversations, and face lower patch acceptance rates. Conversely, core contributors create larger patches, face shorter time intervals for feedback, have shorter review conversations, and have patches accepted at the highest rate. The peripheral developers fall in between the OTCs and the core contributors. Conclusion: OTCs do, in fact, face the barriers identified in our prior survey. They represent a distinct group of contributors compared to core and peripheral developers.