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The Magic Cauldron (essay) 1/1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magic_Cauldron_(essay) reference science, encyclopedia 2026-05-05T08:36:33.231250+00:00 kb-cron

"The Magic Cauldron" is an essay by Eric S. Raymond on the open-source economic model. It can be read freely online and was published in his 1999 book, The Cathedral and the Bazaar.

== Contents == The essay analyzes the economic models that Raymond believes can sustain an open-source project in four steps:

It first analyzes what the author sees as classical myths about the cost refund in software development and tries to present a game-theory based model of the supposed stability of open-source cooperation. Secondly, it presents nine theoretical models that would work for sustainable open-source development: two non-profit, seven for-profit. Thirdly it states a theory to decide when it is economically interesting for software to remain closed. Finally, it examines some mechanisms that, according to Raymond, the market invented to fund for-profit open-source development (like patronage system and task markets).

== Publication == Raymond, Eric S. (2001). "The Magic Cauldron". The Cathedral and the Bazaar (Paperback ed.). O'Reilly. ISBN 978-0-596-00108-7. Raymond, Eric S. (6 November 1999). "The Magic Cauldron". Retrieved 21 March 2016.

== See also == Revenge of the Hackers

== References ==

== External links == Raymond, Eric S. "The Magic Cauldron". The Cathedral and the Bazaar. catb.org. Retrieved 2009-10-14.