This paper argues that the architecture of a codebase is a critical factor that lies at the heart of the open source … development process. We define two observable properties of an architecture: (1) modularity and (2) option value. Developers can …

differences in structure between Linux and the first version of Mozilla, suggesting that Linux had a more modular architecture …. Yet we also find that the redesign of Mozilla resulted in an architecture that was significantly more modular than that of … possesses an "architecture for participation." …