Abstract
The Life cycle for the development of traditional commercial software is well established
and discussed in various texts and research papers in detail. But in case of Open Source
Software (OSS) life cycle for the development is not being discussed in much detail as there is
no standardized life cycle approach exists for Open Source Software (OSS) development.
Different researchers and developers have proposed various life cycles for the development
of OSS with respect to their own development experience, need, or application. The main
focus of this paper is on reviewing and then comparing the existing Open Source Software
Life Cycle (OSSLC) presented and proposed by the various researchers and practitioners. It
will give a precise view that in actual what are the various development approaches are used
in case of OSS and how development of open source software starts and proceeds.