How much time per month should an unpaid volunteer maintainer dedicate to an Open Source project?
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How much time per month should an unpaid volunteer maintainer dedicate to an Open Source project?
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@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.
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@evan However much as they feel like and healthily can. Unpaid volunteers owe nothing to noone.
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@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.
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@preinheimer @joergi so, there's no minimum amount of time where you'd worry that the project is unmaintained or under-maintained?
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@evan A: What *they* want to.
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@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?
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@evan (x) however much they feel like it
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@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?
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@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?
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@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.
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@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?
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@troglobit @joergi would you continue to use software that has unpatched security alerts?
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@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.
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@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".
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@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!
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@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?
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@mitchellh cool. So, can I have admin access to all your repos? I can't commit to any amount of time, but I still want to be a maintainer. I'm evanp on GitHub.
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@evan okay so you are asking about when one should deem a project "unmaintained".
Depends entirely on the project.
Also while you are centering project volunteers, the judgment is one that necessarily must be made by downstream users, not by the alleged maintainers.
(Though it's fine and helpful to say "hey this project is now unmaintained, just FYI".)
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@tess if you don't think the question has an answer, feel free to skip it.
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@tess right, and at some point you are not maintaining the software.
It's not about whether people have a right to demand that you do the job. The question is about how much time the job takes.
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@evan I'd say so. Depends on the size of the goal and the importance to the contributor. Definitely not one-size-fits-all there (:
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And this is where I differ:
"the question is a practical one for Open Source volunteers"
No, it is a practical one for established OSS projects, or those looking to take on volunteer maintainers.
The community sets the standard, not the individual.
The individual can choose to abide by the standards of the community or not, and there may or may not be consequences within the community.
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So that's a completely different question.
If you're *applying* to be a volunteer maintainer *on an existing project you do not own*, then obviously, there will be expectations set by the existing community, which will be different for every single project.
For reference: I write primarily OSS software, but I do it professionally. So, naturally, my employer sets the expectations for my contribution.
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@tess the question is a practical one for Open Source volunteers. How much time should you have in your schedule before you take a role as a maintainer for a project (or launch a new project)?
Do you do any Open Source software maintenance? What about other volunteer roles? Do you at least estimate how much work it's going to take, or do you just say yes (or no) automatically?
