QSOS is an open method to qualify, score and compare open source software across maturity, technical and functional dimensions.

Why not just count GitHub stars?

Stars do not measure governance, continuity, fork risk, or roadmap influence. QSOS scores those FLOSS-specific axes explicitly.

The method and artefacts are released under GFDL, the tooling under GPL, and the project is anchored in the Eclipse Foundation.

Open method · Eclipse Foundation

Qualify open source software with method, not gut feeling.

QSOS is the open, traceable way to score, weight and compare FLOSS candidates — producing artefacts that survive committee review, RSSI scrutiny and procurement audits.

Join & contribute See the method

GFDL artefacts
GPL tooling
Eclipse-governed

OSS selection is a qualification problem.

Discovery is solved — hundreds of components do the same thing. The risk is choosing one you cannot defend.

No neutral rubric

4–6 candidates, incompatible marketing claims, no shared scoring grid. Every team reinvents the comparison from scratch.

“GitHub stars” is not a method

Stars hide governance, fork odds, roadmap influence and continuity — the things that actually determine long-term cost.

Undocumented choices = liability

DINUM catalogues, SecNumCloud, sovereignty mandates: an unjustified OSS adoption now blocks procurement validation.

The method

Four iterative steps. One defensible result.

01
Define

Build the criteria tree and OSS-specific risk axes.
→ criteria tree
02
Evaluate

Score each candidate 0–2 on coverage, user and provider risks.
→ raw scores
03
Qualify

Weight criteria against your specific organizational context.
→ weighted grid
04
Select

Run the filter, produce comparison grids and identity cards.
→ identity cards

Two modes, one rigor.

QSOS Full

Complete evaluation

Maturity dimension
Technical dimension
Functional coverage
User & provider risk axes

For committee-grade, audit-ready decisions.

QSOS Lite

Quick maturity scan

Legacy & activity
Governance signals
Industrialization snapshot
Hours, not weeks

For shortlists, watch lists, fast triage.

OSS-specific depth

Four maturity axes generic procurement ignores.

Legacy

Project historyCore team strengthCode heritage

Activity

Community engagementBug fixingRelease cadence

Governance

Decision-makingCopyright structureFork odds

Industrialization

RoadmapRelease planningSupport offers

What you get out of it.

Defensibility

Scored artefacts that survive audit.

Reusability

GFDL — evaluations travel between teams.

FLOSS depth

Maturity axes generic tools ignore.

Mutualization

Share the watch across projects.

Context-weighted

Same software, different contexts, different scores.

Why open

A method that evaluates open source must itself be open.

OSS governance cannot be credibly outsourced to proprietary analysts. The community that produces open source should also own the tools that assess it — distributed under a free license to guarantee reuse, objectivity and peer-reviewed improvement.

Where QSOS is going.

Legacy
Scattered tools, XML grids, fragmented usage.
Reboot
Single modern web app (TypeScript / Nuxt).
Eclipse
Anchored in the Eclipse Foundation for governance.
QSOS Agent
GenAI & MCP augmentation for assisted evaluation.

Join and contribute to Eclipse-QSOS.

Help build the open standard for qualifying open source software.

Join the project Contribute on GitHub