How much time per month should an unpaid volunteer maintainer dedicate to an Open Source project?
Uncategorized
48
Posts
15
Posters
44
Views
-
How much time per month should an unpaid volunteer maintainer dedicate to an Open Source project?
-
@evan I miss the option: as much as he/she wants.
and only as much as it's healthy for him/her and their relationships! -
@evan 'As long as they feel happy with' which could be any of the above.
-
@evan However much as they feel like and healthily can. Unpaid volunteers owe nothing to noone.
-
@evan I miss the option: as much as he/she wants.
and only as much as it's healthy for him/her and their relationships! -
@evan @joergi @preinheimer huge +1 on that. Maintainers of open source softwares don't owe anything to anyone.
-
@preinheimer @joergi so, there's no minimum amount of time where you'd worry that the project is unmaintained or under-maintained?
-
@evan A: What *they* want to.
-
@evan 'As long as they feel happy with' which could be any of the above.
@tony So, you're happy using unmaintained or under-maintained software?
There's no minimum amount of time you expect maintainers to put in -- even on security issues, dependency or platform EOL, all that stuff?
You're going to use it regardless?
-
@evan (x) however much they feel like it
-
@evan A: What *they* want to.
@malwareminigun so, you'll keep using the software, no matter if there are outstanding security alerts, dependency EOL, untriaged issues? Just as long as the maintainers are happy?
-
@evan I miss the option: as much as he/she wants.
and only as much as it's healthy for him/her and their relationships! -
@evan (x) however much they feel like it
@larsmb and you'll keep using their unmaintained software, full of known security bugs, regardless?
-
@tony So, you're happy using unmaintained or under-maintained software?
There's no minimum amount of time you expect maintainers to put in -- even on security issues, dependency or platform EOL, all that stuff?
You're going to use it regardless?
@evan They're unpaid volunteers, not employees.
Whether I'll continue to use unmaintained software depends on whether it still works for me (or whether I can fork it and fix issues, but that's not an option for many). Mostly I'll find an alternative, of which there are usually many.
-
@preinheimer @joergi so, there's no minimum amount of time where you'd worry that the project is unmaintained or under-maintained?
@evan @preinheimer @joergi depends quite a lot no the project. There are no fixed rules why do you want to impose them?
-
@troglobit @joergi would you continue to use software that has unpatched security alerts?
-
@malwareminigun so, you'll keep using the software, no matter if there are outstanding security alerts, dependency EOL, untriaged issues? Just as long as the maintainers are happy?
@evan You didn't say "what are your conditions to use software", you said "how many unpaid volunteer hours should there be". There is software with those problems with thousands of hours of investment, there is also software without those issues with very little.
I don't "owe" the project usage, and the maintainers don't "owe" the project maintenance hours.
-
@larsmb and you'll keep using their unmaintained software, full of known security bugs, regardless?
@evan That's ... a different question? They've got no obligations to me.
I could maintain it or contribute to it myself, pick something else, pay someone ...
But there's no "should".
-
@evan @preinheimer @joergi depends quite a lot no the project. There are no fixed rules why do you want to impose them?
@troglobit @preinheimer @joergi because I like thinking about hard topics. You don't have to, though!
-
@evan They're unpaid volunteers, not employees.
Whether I'll continue to use unmaintained software depends on whether it still works for me (or whether I can fork it and fix issues, but that's not an option for many). Mostly I'll find an alternative, of which there are usually many.
@tony so, how much time do you think it takes for maintainers to keep software in a state where it still works for you?
Feed RSS
Gli ultimi otto messaggi ricevuti dalla Federazione
-
@tess If they put in zero hours, the software is unmaintained. They are no longer maintainers in that case. The question is about maintainers.
If someone is *a maintainer*, *maintaining software*, how much time should they expect to put in?
-
@evan zero
They may spend as much as they like, of course, but they are under zero moral or ethical obligation.
-
@malte for a single project?
-
@TerryHancock @preinheimer @joergi so, does unmaintained software have maintainers?
And how about you switch the roles around? If you are deciding whether or not to become the maintainer of a piece of software, how much time should you plan to put into it?
-
-
@evan if they don't the project won't be as good, and that's okay, it's a hobby.
It's not the only reason people do things, by far, but it is the only way you can rely on someone to do something. Else, it's up to them.
Generally speaking I'd say if you want to have a great OSS project, you need to put time into it, but that may not be their goal. It may be to publish an idea, to learn a library or programming language, etc.
Maintenance is hard work.
-
@txtx you could go all the way to 744, or even a few more if you're willing to do some travel across timezones at the beginning and end of the month.
-
@evan I chose to interpret this question in an idealistic way, ie. as I'd like society to be. And as part of my premise would be some kind of guaranteed basic income, so everyone wouldn't have to sell their labor-power on a market and could choose their commitments in dialogue with a wider community. Given that, I picked 32 hours or more.
