[LRUG] Paths to open source contributions

[Vahagn Hayrapetyan]

George: Thanx for the example, seems to fit in the 1st category (trying to
solve one's own pain).

Cheers,
Vahagn

On Thu, May 7, 2009 at 9:10 PM, George Palmer <george.palmer at gmail.com>wrote:

> I wrote a CouchDB adapter for Rails that mimicks the ActiveRecord API.
>  I ended up doing this because I started using the existing libraries
> and became really frustrated with them (being used to the depth of the
> AR API).  So in the end I decided to roll my own.  It's not for
> everybody as it's quite opinionated in how it uses CouchDB as a
> database, but then you could say the same about Rails in general.
>
> Hope that helps!
>
> George
>
> --
>
> Hello,-
>
> I've been browsing the often impressive open source contributions of some
> of
> the Rails / Ruby luminaries when it struck me that I don't really
> understand
> how most open source projects originate. Essentially what I'd like to know
> is whether such contributions are most typically the bi-product of some
> main
> development effort or are they conceptualized and implemented for their own
> sake, from the very start.
>
> So if you have open source contributions, I hope you'll shed some light as
> to why you have them:
>
>   1. You were solving a problem for yourself (a pet project perhaps), and
>   ended up with extra code that you released as open source;
>   2. You were working on someone else's problem (such as a client's), and
>   ended up with extra code that you released as open source;
>   3. You were bored and decided to make a contribution for the fun of it;
>   4. You were being strategic. You realized that for the Kool Kids to work
>   with you and the Beautiful People to go to bed with you, you NEED to have
>   open source contributions before we arrive at web 3.12. (This is the path
>   I'm feeling irresistibly pulled towards, by the force of destiny).
>
> As I realize that human behaviour is often influenced by several factors,
> compound answers (such as 1&4; or 3&4) are of particular interest.
>
> Thanks!
>
> / Vahagn
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