DTA urges agencies to release code by default


By Dylan Bushell-Embling
Tuesday, 21 February, 2017

DTA urges agencies to release code by default

Australian government agencies should be making source code available on an open-source basis unless there is a compelling reason not to, according to the Digital Transformation Agency.

In a blog post aimed at public sector developers, DTA Technical Architect Alastair Parker encouraged agencies to choose a collaborative open source or open source model for software projects.

Collaborative open source involves actively working with the community to improve code. It requires clear and readable documentation, automated tests to ensure integrated code works as intended as well as well-structured, clear and simple code.

Open source involves making the code available to others, but not going the extra mile in helping them use or improve it.

Parker said sharing code should be considered an imperative. “Everyone in the public service benefits from being able to re-use code that others have developed,” he wrote. “We all work for the taxpayer and they should be able to see and use what they’ve paid for.”

The DTA has developed a guide about sharing code to give teams more information about the process involved. The agency is recommending that government source code be hosted on GitHub.

Once agency teams have a better understanding of what open source is or isn’t, they typically find they have no reason not to be open, Parker said. But it is common for agencies to have security concerns that may leave them reticent to share code.

“Security is a very valid reason, but you shouldn’t use it as an excuse to close everything,” he said.

“Making your code open source is not giving away user data... Industry best practice tells us to separate our code from the secrets it uses. If you haven’t done this, it’s unlikely you’ll meet criterion 5 of the Digital Service Standard: Make it secure.”

Image courtesy of Martin Dufort under CC

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