
Ask HN: How do you find and evaluate open source modules for production use? - mxschumacher
Some modules are well known and trusted (e.g. requests in Python, React in JS) and many components (Postgres, Redis, Sqlite) enjoy a good reputation, they are &quot;battled tested&quot; - but how about less well-known open source projects?<p>Short of studying the source code oneself, a lot of developers rely on Github stars, but that heuristic seems flawed.<p>How do you approach discovery and evaluation of open source modules and components for production use?
======
gr__or
1\. Google for different keywords describing your use case. If you've
exhausted Google, search your Lang's package repository directly (Google tends
to only show a couple results per page)

2\. Is it solving your problem?

2\. Check low resolution metrics like stars, open issues, size or recency of
commits. Weigh that against your use case. For example if it's a niche, stars
matter less. If the requirements are well defined and in a slow moving space,
recency matters less. Etc. If it's doing something big and fundamental for
you, make sure that it has enough contributors who are likely to not suddenly
stop contributing (preferably businesses whose success is tied to it).

3\. Read the docs, examples/demos, tests etc. Find posts by people applying it
for similar use cases. Does it solve your particular problem well (incidental
vs inherent complexity)? Read through some of its GitHub issues to get a feel
for the maturity, usability and support of the project.

4\. Loop through those steps until you find something that holds up. If
everything speaks for it except for longevity concerns start reading the code
and consider whether you'd be able to contribute to it.

