[LRUG] Paths to open source contributions

[Vahagn Hayrapetyan]

@Matthew: I guess you just proved me wrong: one CAN be a contributor
regardless of whether one is aware of anyone using one's code. Because such
a user can emerge any day (unless of course, one's stuff is COMPLETELY
useless, broken, etc).

/ Vahagn

On Fri, May 8, 2009 at 4:20 PM, Matthew House <matt at theshadowaspect.com>wrote:

> On Fri, May 8, 2009 at 2:49 PM, Vahagn Hayrapetyan <vahagnh at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> @Andy: I am familiar with the "only build stuff you'd use yourself
>> approach". To my mind, a very sustainable and quality-oriented one. Rails,
>> after all, was extracted in this way. Basecamp became a success this way. So
>> yeah, definitely an approach that has proved itself.
>>
>> @Matthew:
>>
>>> So my question is are you a contributor just because you happen to
>>> release things, no matter how small and potentially useless.
>>
>>
>> My answer to that would be: NO. You're a contributor if people know and
>> use your stuff. Otherwise why not just keep it to yourself.
>>
>> / Vahagn
>>
>
> I share a slightly different view to you I think. My thoughts are that if
> there are no consequences to opening code that you have written then why
> *not* release it.
> I like sharing code even though I'm pretty sure that no-one apart from me
> uses it and very few know it. In my view it seems a shame to write something
> that *might* be useful to someone some day and then keep it closed[1].
>
> so if you look at it in your view, ie no-one that I'm aware of uses my
> stuff, then I certainly don't qualify as a contributer, even though I have
> code available. :P
>
> Just trying to play devils advocate here and my main point is that the
> definition of an open source contributor is pretty loose.
>
> [1] that and github is a really handy place to keep stuff if you frequently
> work from multiple machines in multiple locations :)
>
> cheers
> Matt
>
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