4 ms·

I got an email a few days ago saying that a couple of my Python projects were 'critical', and I'm not sure what to make of it all. On the one hand I like workin

by tlocke 4y ago

I got an email a few days ago saying that a couple of my Python projects were 'critical', and I'm not sure what to make of it all. On the one hand I like working on the software and listening to users and improving it and it's good that a lot of people find it useful. On the other hand I find myself feeling a bit exposed, and feeling a bit of pressure, and that makes it feel like 'work but without getting paid'. The thing I liked about doing open source in my spare time is that there was absolutely no pressure and I could take as long as I wanted to ponder the technical details and there was a kind of purity to it. Now it feels like there's a sense of expectation that I need to fulfil.

Derbasti 4y ago
It took me a long time to realize that Open Source does not imply any responsibility unless you want it to. If the community decides that your software is 'critical', it is the community's responsibility to maintain it. We, as maintainers, of course should try to help. But if I'm on vacation, or just simply don't feel like programming, that has to be acceptable. If somebody needs professional support and guaranteed availability, they should pay people to do so. I think this is the central tenet of spare-time OSS maintainership. Perhaps we'd need a sponsorship model: A button on Github where a customer can negotiate a price with a maintainer for a particular feature or bugfix.
- yencabulator 4y ago
  BountySource tried to be a marketplace for that sort of stuff, but hasn't been going very strong lately.. https://bountysource.com/ https://bountysource.com/
- bigiain 4y ago
  > If the community decides that your software is 'critical', it is the community's responsibility to maintain it. Yep. I think the PyPI team needs to get a lot of responses along the lines of “Let me know if you’d like to fork this ‘critical’ code, or if the obligations imply you’re prepared to pay reasonable professional consulting rates? I’m happy to remove my code from your index if required.”

by tlocke 4y ago

Derbasti 4y ago

It took me a long time to realize that Open Source does not imply any responsibility unless you want it to. If the community decides that your software is 'critical', it is the community's responsibility to maintain it. We, as maintainers, of course should try to help. But if I'm on vacation, or just simply don't feel like programming, that has to be acceptable. If somebody needs professional support and guaranteed availability, they should pay people to do so. I think this is the central tenet of spare-time OSS maintainership. Perhaps we'd need a sponsorship model: A button on Github where a customer can negotiate a price with a maintainer for a particular feature or bugfix.

yencabulator 4y ago
BountySource tried to be a marketplace for that sort of stuff, but hasn't been going very strong lately.. https://bountysource.com/ https://bountysource.com/
bigiain 4y ago
> If the community decides that your software is 'critical', it is the community's responsibility to maintain it. Yep. I think the PyPI team needs to get a lot of responses along the lines of “Let me know if you’d like to fork this ‘critical’ code, or if the obligations imply you’re prepared to pay reasonable professional consulting rates? I’m happy to remove my code from your index if required.”