Reasons Why You Don't Contribute To Open-Source Software

[highlandsun]

to Coats: learn about VPATH. I do plenty of builds of autoconf-based projects with multiple binary trees based on a single source tree. This is something that's been supported pretty much from day one...

re: registering for various bug trackers - yes, this puts me off too. I must have accounts on a couple dozen bug trackers/projects now, and I'm extremely reluctant to register for any more. More projects need to start using federated authentication (e.g. OpenID) or this is going to get completely out of hand. The OpenLDAP bug tracker just asks for your email address, you don't need to register for an account before using it. I don't really understand why all these other projects require you to register before you can submit a bug, tracker accounts should only be needed for administering the bugs.

[MostAwesomeDude]

Interesting... so really it sounds in part like a power struggle for those who might have excellent user interaction design skills, or interesting new ideas for the product with the core developers?

You might have valid concerns, or perhaps a completely different perspective than the contributing non-developer. A more useful response is a summary of why you (or the group of developers) have come to this conclusion so that an intelligent dialog could ensue, if necessarily. Is open source, at least to some level, not a collaborative community?

I wouldn't say it's a power struggle. I work on generally mature software, and design decisions get lots and lots of discussion. As a concrete example, "patches welcome" is my standard reply to anybody asking after XvMC support in any driver. It's not a useful target, it's already obsoleted, etc. And most importantly, patches implementing it *would not be turned down*. It's just that I'm not likely to spend any time on it, and nobody else will, either.

[december]

I both set up and secure systems as well as write code all day. I don't feel like coming home and doing more of the same. However, some of what we do at work is open-source and gets contributed back to upstream communities.

I also feel it's hard to be interested and hang around just one project for a long enough time to be a valuable and trusted contributor. Furthermore, while I know a lot about Linux and BSD systems and can program in several programming languages, I feel I'm probably not enough of an expert in just one discipline to deliver high quality code to serious projects right away.

Large projects such as Mozilla, OpenOffice, KDE or even the Linux kernel itself need a long time for new contributors to get familiar with the large, complex codebase as well as the project's rules and culture. I guess that's one reason why people like to start their own pet projects: nobody likes to start at the bottom of the food chain, having to learn all the code and tools and be forced to comply with all the rules and guidelines. Take the Debian guidelines for instance... I'd rather go through the phone book.

I've more than once thought about contributing something to some projects but after having taken a long look at all the rules and guides for developers, code indentation, packaging guidelines, political statements and ethics, code licensing and other legal requirements I just don't have much enthusiasm left.

I've been providing small patches and bug reports to many projects for many years, but I don't see myself joining a project as a serious contributor any day soon.

[yesterday]

Launchpad doesn't have bounties and the ubuntu software center doesn't have a 'donate' button.

I don't mind contributing, I just refuse to have to figure anything out in order to do it.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=ubuntu+donate

[yesterday]

The same Mono hating flamers often don't have a problem with Wine (other than it might not work right--a statement which also implies that they don't have a problem trying it out), Samba, NTFS support, Exchange integration, win32codec packages, etc.

I don't want to thread jack, but way to completely misunderstand the Mono problem.

[V!NCENT]

I am not contributing to FLOSS just yet. I do realy want to (eventually, on the long run) get into Mesa/ATI/Gallium3D (and when I am good at that I want to make a state tracker, but that's future dreaming I guess :P).

What is hindering me is:
-Working 6 days a week to earn college money
-High school exams comming up (/. and quantum physics where more interesting than Newton :') and I am now 21 xD But I'm getting there)

But in the mean time when I actually am free from working/learning I am either learning the documentation and agd5f's blog or going out in the weekends partying my ass of so I remain a sane person. Otherwise I couldn't keep up with all the repetetive unschooled work...

In May I will have my exams. In Junne my boring work contract will end. Then summer holiday and continuing as a poor student ^^, And getting rid of my ;parents ofcourse

[Delgarde]

Sometimes i really don't understand why Java isn't used more in opensource ecosystem. It is opensource, it is more popular, and in my opinion just better.

Speaking as someone who codes Java for a living, I have to disagree strongly with your opinion that it's better. No question, Java has far superior tools in the form of IDEs like Eclipse - they do make a lot of things easier for Java coding.

But the language is a real pain to work with compared to Python, something that annoys me every day. No passing functions around as objects, no list comprehensions. I don't say Python is perfect - it has it's frustrations too - but working in Java, almost everything is more difficult.

[KAMiKAZOW]

What is hindering me is:
-Working 6 days a week to earn college money
-High school exams comming up

What's with the misconception that FOSS contributions require full-time involvement?
In many FOSS projects the majority of contributions come from countless people, each doing only little things that add up.

[V!NCENT]

What's with the misconception that FOSS contributions require full-time involvement?
In many FOSS projects the majority of contributions come from countless people, each doing only little things that add up.

repetetive, mind-killing work from 06:10 to 12:00, then learning math/physics/biology/science(atoms, reactions, ph values stuff) till 17:30, then eating, watching the evening news with coffee till 20:30 or gaming on the psp Vs another our of mesa driver development. I have to go to bed on 20:30 otherwise not 8hour sleep.

I have to relax from 18:30 till 20:30 otherwise I can't handle the whole thing. Coding, while enjoyement, I do considder learning and work, while of course satisfying.

I realy can't handle that on top of it while it lasts for about a month till my exams

[PsynoKhi0]

I think everyone who's come in contact with a FOSS project contributes in some way, so the title is a bit vague

Even as a user: the project's exposure increases by simply using it, and word-of-mouth helps get relatives and friends hooked. In fact, having 10k coders on a project no one uses sounds like a big waste of resources

Personally I try to contribute to different projects on different levels, based on knowledge, time and motivation.