2021 China Open-Source Development Blue Book is released -- China's open-source is close to the world's advanced level

"Ten years ago, Chinese people were just users of international open-source resources, and since then, Chinese people have become contributors to international open-source resources."

-- Jim Zemlin, Executive director, Linux Foundation

Launched by China Open Source Software Promotion Alliance on May 10, 2021, Jointly with dozens of research institutes and technology enterprises, including China Electronic Information Industry Development Institute, China Developer Network CSDN, China Academy of Cyberspace Research, China Electronics Technology Standardization Institute, Open-Source, Open-Source China, Peking University, National University of Defense Technology, East China Normal University, etc. To jointly release the blue Book on Open Source Development in China 2021 (referred to as the Blue Book), China aims to comprehensively sort out and present the accurate picture of open source development in China.

Linux Foundation executive director Jim Zemlin on "blue book" the opening message in the assessment of open-source made at the beginning of China, he also comments about the present situation of China's open-source "open-source development quickly in China, is now close to or reached the advanced world level, some enterprises begin to enter the world leader, also emerge outstanding leader of the open-source", "We expect China to make further progress in open-source education, standardization, legislation, intellectual property protection, and the construction of open-source communities, foundations, and venture capital."

The report will be divided into nine chapters, respectively, the development of Chinese open-source development present situation, the current situation of the development of open-source project overview, developers and open-source, the current situation of the development of the open-source community, open-source foundation organization development present situation, the open-source education development present situation, business model, open-source of opportunities and challenges, and open-source contributions, expounded in present situation and development of China's open-source proposal, The present situation of open-source, opportunities and challenges, and China's contribution are described and interpreted in many dimensions.

Here are some key takeaways :

• In 2020, The development of open-source in China had become the fastest globally, and China's open-source has reached an advanced level globally.
• Open-source in China faces enormous challenges. There are risks of security loopholes, information leakage, and intellectual property rights. Open-source operational governance and standardization efforts are not yet systematic.
• Well-known tech companies have become major open-source contributors in China.
• Cloud services are the most popular open-source business model.

China has entered the open-source acceleration phase

From 2019 to now, Open-source in China has entered a new era -- accelerating stage. The contribution of Developers from China is already the highest in the world. China's open-source development has entered the deep water zone. The open-source ecosystem's integrity, the open-source community's maturity, and the diversity and complexity of the open-source business model are all undergoing significant changes.

Nowadays, Compared with other countries globally, China's open-source technology and industry are approaching the first-class level, but there is still a gap, and they are still in a state of catch-up. A few Chinese enterprises have entered the top global open-source ranks, and a few outstanding open-source leaders have emerged. The international cooperation of Open-source in China has become increasingly close. In recent years, open-source development in China has been accelerating, and China's contribution to open-source is gradually recognized around the world.

But at the same time, we should also be aware that there are still many weak links in China's open-source community, open-source hosting platform, open-source project, open-source education system, open-source foundation operation, open-source enterprise governance, and open-source risk prevention system, which need to be improved and solved.

China is on the verge of becoming the number one developer market

China is moving from a demographic dividend to an era of developer dividends and will soon become the world's largest developer market. GitHub added 16 million new developer users in 2020 from the previous year and is expected to have 100 million by 2025. Among them, GitHub has seen the fastest growth in the number of Chinese developers on GitHub and their contribution to open-source globally, and GitHub predicts that Chinese developers will become the largest open source community in the world by 2030.

At the beginning of 2021, CSDN had 32 million users and maintained a rapid growth trend. Developers under 30 years old account for 81%, and students account for 13%, providing a contributor base for the open-source ecosystem. On the CSDN platform, the number of open-source project articles has increased year by year and has been rising sharply for two consecutive years since 2017. Open source is attracting more and more attention among Chinese developers.

Three out of ten developers have worked on open-source projects, moving from user to contributor and maturing in their understanding of open-source software.

The opportunities and challenges of open source

In China, open-source has become the mainstream of software development in the Internet, information technology, and mobile terminal (mobile phone). On the Internet, open-source network servers account for 70%, in-depth information technology based on open-source accounts for 90%, and open-source mobile terminals (smartphones) account for 84%. It can be seen from these data that, almost synchronously with the international, open-source has become the basis for China to promote the development of in-depth information technology innovation.

Global well-known open-source community and increase of China's open-source ecosystem gradually open-source foundation overall cooperation, more and more actively assist Chinese companies and the open-source development, accelerate the Chinese developer with global technical exchanges, forming comprehensive cooperation, symbiotic win-win close Allies, China open-source industry with their support and help, Is rapidly integrating into the global open-source ecosystem and playing an irreplaceable central role in some areas.

But at the same time, Open-source in China also faces three challenges: technical, legal, and supply chain risk. Technical risks are mainly reflected in the security vulnerabilities of many open-source projects and open-source components. The number of vulnerabilities has been increasing year by year in recent years. System information leakage, password management, and malicious code implantation are the main technical risks of open-source. The legal risks of open-source mainly involve technical/commercial disclosure risk, contract default risk, open-source license risk (undefined license or license conflict risk), and intellectual property risk (copyright, patent, and trademark). The open-source supply chain security risks include the "bottleneck" risks in the distribution, use, and redevelopment of open-source technologies, including heavy dependence, low maintenance, and export control.

The compilation and release of the Blue Book at the right time will provide a reference for relevant departments to formulate open-source policies and open-source layout strategies and provide more theoretical reference and data support for research institutes, technology enterprises, and open-source practitioners.