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It feels like we moved from a world where open source software was develop by a community, to one where most of us are just consumers of the code. I don't know
by mrweasel 5y ago
It feels like we moved from a world where open source software was develop by a community, to one where most of us are just consumers of the code. I don't know if where actually more contributors 20 years ago, relatively speaking, but much of the code was also less complex.
Open source is still remarkably successful and the only reason why the whole Log4J RCE is such a big deal, is because the library is hugely successful. The failing isn't in the work of the author(s), but those of us who been consuming the code. We don't need to fund the main developers, what we need is for the project, and projects like it, to be true communities. That mean that all the companies who have been relying on open source need to allocate time to community work.
We pay for open source software by helping build it and that goes beyond creating an issue on Github or complaining about missing features and poor documentation. We all part of the open source community, but we seem to have forgotten how it works. Now we believe that we can throw money at the problem, but that still leaves a single developer with the responsibility for a massive code base. OpenBSD was right: "Show us the code or shut up".
- newaccount74 5y agoI think you are absolutely correct. The best way to contribute to Open Source software is to literally contribute to it. We don't need to turn OS maintainers into service providers that sell support contracts to enterprises. Enterprises could just contribute to projects in kind, eg. by auditing a library, by fixing a bug, or by writing some docs.
- einpoklum 5y ago> It feels like we moved from a world where open source software was develop by a community, to one where most of us are just consumers of the code. Are you sure that's even a contradiction? I mean, if you start with a developer community, and add a lot of people who simply had not been exposed to / using the software, you get to the situation of "most of us being just consumers of the code". Now, you could argue that communities have been fraying/weakening over the past few decades, but that would be almost an orthogonal argument. > That mean that all the companies who have been relying on open source need to allocate time to community work. We need to funnel some social resources into building and maintaining such communities. If companies were to do that, then great, or rather, not great but sort-of-ok. The thing is, they aren't doing it, as they are fundamentally motivated not to: It hurts their profitability (except perhaps for vague extra-long-term concerns). So, it's not useful to say that "companies should do it".
- mrweasel 5y ago> So, it's not useful to say that "companies should do it". Valid point, but so far NO useful solutions have appeared. I don't need log4j, my employer does. So why should I pay the developers? Because that's the only other solution I've seen presented.
- trixie_ 5y agoI can tell you it was exactly the same 20 years ago.