NetBSD (with a lot less money in the bank and similarly bad bug trackers) has hired people using a few models in the past -- hourly, CoD, fixed-rate, etc but it

NetBSD (with a lot less money in the bank and similarly bad bug trackers) has hired people using a few models in the past -- hourly, CoD, fixed-rate, etc but it's really the hiring itself that is so much trouble, just like in the real world! Not to mention doing "management" is also a total pain in the butt that someone now has to do for free. The irony is that the people being hired are mostly already there doing work for free. There is no way debian (or NetBSD) could pay market rate to compete for the time of anyone working on the project for very long so it's usually a motivational push or justification for sabbatical or "I have three months between contracts". It's much much easier to buy hardware and things for developers who ask for it. I suppose these projects are seeking developers with passion, personal wealth, and free time.