Java Projects - Second Edition

Maturity

Maturity is similar to the previous criterion. A project may very well be alive when just starting up, but if it is in its infancy, we better not use the library for a large project. When a project is in its early phase, a lot of bugs can be in the code, the API may change radically, and presumably, there may only be a small number of companies that rely on the code. This also means that the community support is lower.

Of course, if all the projects select only mature, open source code, then no open source project would ever get to the mature state. We should assess the importance of the project. Is the project business-critical? Will the project become business-critical?

If the project is not business-critical, the company can afford ...