Issues in development and maintenance of open architecture software systems

This article identifies and describes six emerging issues that affect the engineering of open architecture software systems that integrate proprietary and open source software components. These interdependent issues identify problems for software engineering research and practice associated with: (a) unknown or unclear open architecture software representations; (b) systems subject to heterogeneous software licenses; (c) cybersecurity of open architecture software systems; (d) build, release, and deployment processes and process automation; (e) evolution practices for open architecture software; and (f) new business models affecting the acquisition costs of open architecture software components. © 2016 Carnegie Mellon University.