As I mentioned in my OpenBSD 7.8 highlights post, development of
relayd(8)andhttpd(8)had stalled. Many diffs appeared on thetech@mailing list from different contributors, but few were committed into the repository. The main reason was simple: Established OpenBSD developers weren’t interested in these daemons anymore. Call it momentum, or timing.Around the same time, kirill@ and I started working on these daemons more actively. We both use them regularly and have real-world use cases. I support customers with OpenBSD setups that often involve complex
↫ Rafael Sadowskihttpd(8)andrelayd(8)configurations. This practical need motivated me on many levels.
They’ve managed to do a ton of work on these two daemons, fixing many long-standing issues and reviewing tons of stalled patch submissions, while also modernising the code and adding new features. It’s great to see people contribute significant time and energy to fixing up the tools they use for everyone else’s benefit.
The whole of modern existence exists freely on the work ethic of unheralded heroes managing daemons that serve the internets basic functions, httpd, nntp, etc., etc.. The same freeloaders who bitch and moan about nobody subscribing, demand recognition, remuneration, kofi, patreons, cry foul if rules or regulations change that may impact their viral spread.
All the while the real heroes, those who work freely on the foundations from which the influencer’s cancerous universe is built, get nada, squat, nothing at all other than satisfaction of a job well done!
cpcf,
Yeah, most who consume FOSS aren’t paying for it’s development. Even commercial users often take it’s existence for granted. Some FOSS developers are lucky enough to have a company funding their work, but otherwise being independent can be thankless. What starts out as a fun passion project can easily turn into a long term unpaid job. Hard economic conditions has lead some projects like redis and mongodb to reconsider their FOSS licensing, with new licenses.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/its-mongodbs-turn-to-change-its-open-source-license/
These changes are not very popular and have faced backlash. The free software foundation has frowns on licenses with commercial restriction clauses. For better or worse though FOSS makes it difficult to be paid and it’s hard to argue that devs shouldn’t be compensating by companies using their work. I’ve keep pondering this for most of my career and I don’t know what the answer is. Even if I had an answer, the structural foundations of the industry are hard to change since incumbents are motivated to keep things the way they are.
and if no one would take over the torch it would get ripped out. there is very little reason for the devs to take everyone’s needs in consideration. if you have spare cash, perhaps donate. if you have spare time, perhaps code. if you have an opinion, write a blog.
things get done when someone with skill has a need and time, or when someone pays to find such a person. i’m in group 3 with a monthly donation to let them do as they do.
thankfully some corps and govs still donate, iirc ripe or so funds openbgp as to not have a bgp4 monocultere. rpki-client still had to put up a funding notice however.