"Open source" as a verb

Solution 1:

Looking through Google Books, it appears that a few authors do use open-source as a verb. Some of them use it within quotes, while others use a hyphen-less one word variant. It has also made its way into Wiktionary, but, just to make things difficult, is accompanied by an alternative form. I think it might be OK to use open-source as a verb and depending on the audience and frequency of usage, wrap it within quotes.

That said, there are a few standard ways of expressing the 'open-sourcing' of a product which will not raise any bushy grammarian eyebrows. Here are a few:

We released our product under an open source licence.

We released the source code under an open licence.

We shared the project with the community using an open licence.

We made the source code available to the community using a [GPL] licence.

... and so on.

Solution 2:

I think the use of open-source as a verb, withour further clarification, invites trouble. The term includes a verb form, source, which generally means to obtain goods or services from a particular provider or source (used as a noun).

Logically, We open-sourced the software could then mean,

We obtained the code from someone who allows others to freely use her/his materials, standards etc.

or it could mean

We issued the code to allows others to freely use our materials, standards etc.