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In the same way I didn't understand why people feel the need to have lots of "side projects" in this profession, I really don't understand why people feel the n

In the same way I didn't understand why people feel the need to have lots of "side projects" in this profession, I really don't understand why people feel the need for their software projects to "infinitely grow". This is not capitalism. Even the word "maintainer" seems to put you into this mindset. Software does have a point where it can be considered finished. At some point the best course of action might very well be to just frigging stop. I actually value software that is mostly static. Then again this website is extremely biased towards people who develop network services, which for some reason tends to require constant maintenance.

sumtechguy 6y ago
Most of my 'side projects' are at home and not public. If you were to see my github page it is empty. I personally find with most of my 'side projects' are one off and sometimes I might pluck out a function or two out of something else but that is it. They are like you said mostly static and never really revisited. I wonder if a 'rules of the road' sort of document in repos would help? A sort of 'here is what you can expect from the maintainer of this repo'. I think some people end up taking on too much and then you find out some key bit of infrastructure is done by 1 guy in his spare time, and managing their own job. Then others come along and expect you to fix it for them when you pretty much have abandoned the project. For example many of my projects would be in a 'AS-IS' category, if I made them public. I am not going to really revisit a project from 6 years ago that did something specific I needed. Not even if you show up with a nice pull request unless I am feeling particularly charitable that day.
- AshamedCaptain 6y ago
  So why do you feel the need to document the _obvious_ fact that this a project you did in your spare time and therefore no one should expect _you_ to fix whatever issue they're having ? (irregardless of whether you are currently working on it or not) I also have a number of opensource projects published. Some of them get picked up by the popular distros, and I know (most of them) are in the same situation so I may be inclined to help them out. However, I have to ponder what goes in the minds of the people who bombard me with "Please add support for my odd usecase no one other than me could possibly want" emails. PS If someone sents you a patch to a 6 year abandoned project which you don't even care any longer, just apply it without even trying to check if it builds. Most likely it does.
  - sumtechguy 6y ago
    It is 'obvious' but for some people it does not seem to be? Not that it would help. It would mean they read the docs/code. Usually that is 99% of what they need to do. Some people are 'help vampires' and know they need something but want you to kind of do it for them. I do not even think they mean to do it. I think it is just text and this form of communication creates this weird air of authority that is not really there. For my personal case my private repos are mine and have no license/rules of the road because they are private.
hyperpallium2 6y ago
Software doesn't rot. The world rots, and software must be maintained to match it, to keep working.
- AshamedCaptain 6y ago
  That couldn't be further from the truth. It is my common in my area (engineering/industrial) to see software that is 30-40 years old where the only maintenance required is to keep up with the ever-changing operating systems (i.e. it is software who changes more than the rest of "the world"). Because at some point DOS ain't going to run on Windows 11 anymore.
  - hyperpallium2 6y ago
    That's what I meant i.e. your software doesn't rot, other software rots (i.e. the rest of the world). My wording didn't express what I meant.
imtringued 6y ago
If you like programming and think your job is boring then what are you going to do? Do another boring thing as your hobby?

sumtechguy 6y ago

Most of my 'side projects' are at home and not public. If you were to see my github page it is empty. I personally find with most of my 'side projects' are one off and sometimes I might pluck out a function or two out of something else but that is it. They are like you said mostly static and never really revisited. I wonder if a 'rules of the road' sort of document in repos would help? A sort of 'here is what you can expect from the maintainer of this repo'. I think some people end up taking on too much and then you find out some key bit of infrastructure is done by 1 guy in his spare time, and managing their own job. Then others come along and expect you to fix it for them when you pretty much have abandoned the project. For example many of my projects would be in a 'AS-IS' category, if I made them public. I am not going to really revisit a project from 6 years ago that did something specific I needed. Not even if you show up with a nice pull request unless I am feeling particularly charitable that day.

AshamedCaptain 6y ago
So why do you feel the need to document the _obvious_ fact that this a project you did in your spare time and therefore no one should expect _you_ to fix whatever issue they're having ? (irregardless of whether you are currently working on it or not) I also have a number of opensource projects published. Some of them get picked up by the popular distros, and I know (most of them) are in the same situation so I may be inclined to help them out. However, I have to ponder what goes in the minds of the people who bombard me with "Please add support for my odd usecase no one other than me could possibly want" emails. PS If someone sents you a patch to a 6 year abandoned project which you don't even care any longer, just apply it without even trying to check if it builds. Most likely it does.
- sumtechguy 6y ago
  It is 'obvious' but for some people it does not seem to be? Not that it would help. It would mean they read the docs/code. Usually that is 99% of what they need to do. Some people are 'help vampires' and know they need something but want you to kind of do it for them. I do not even think they mean to do it. I think it is just text and this form of communication creates this weird air of authority that is not really there. For my personal case my private repos are mine and have no license/rules of the road because they are private.

hyperpallium2 6y ago

Software doesn't rot. The world rots, and software must be maintained to match it, to keep working.

AshamedCaptain 6y ago
That couldn't be further from the truth. It is my common in my area (engineering/industrial) to see software that is 30-40 years old where the only maintenance required is to keep up with the ever-changing operating systems (i.e. it is software who changes more than the rest of "the world"). Because at some point DOS ain't going to run on Windows 11 anymore.
- hyperpallium2 6y ago
  That's what I meant i.e. your software doesn't rot, other software rots (i.e. the rest of the world). My wording didn't express what I meant.

imtringued 6y ago

If you like programming and think your job is boring then what are you going to do? Do another boring thing as your hobby?