Open Source bug hunters make progress

It's a story that probably got spun many ways, but the bottom line is good news for open source.

Code-checking maestro Coverity, working on behalf of the US government, has been checking open source code for security issues - we've covered it here. It's found some, and the open source projects concerned have, at different speeds, been fixing the holes.

This is a good thing and, in common with most things open source, beefits from being done in the open. How many bugs are found in proprietary code? We simply don't know.

So what's the news point? For some, fed by unrealistic expectations around open source, the newx is a Shock!Horror! headline - Security bugs found in open source". Which implies that bugs aren't found in priprietary code?

To be fair, that particular article was an accurate one, from our friend Mathew Broersma, and headline writing is a task more often dedicated to getting readers than spreading truth.

But once again, the "open" bit of open source is a mixed blessing.