I really love Rob Mensching's framing in Open Source Maintenance Fee[1]. "The _software_ is free. The _project_ (issue tracker, forums, release management, pack

I really love Rob Mensching's framing in Open Source Maintenance Fee[1]. "The _software_ is free. The _project_ (issue tracker, forums, release management, package repository, etc.) is not." It doesn't solve the supplier problem, but it is a very clever way to square the "free software, but I'd like to cover my expenses" circle. [1]: https://opensourcemaintenancefee.org/ https://opensourcemaintenancefee.org/