<![CDATA[Open Source hot take: A software project is allowed to be *done*.]]>Open Source hot take: A software project is allowed to be *done*. Not everything needs to add features or rewrite things. You can just be happy with functionality and focus on just maintainance. "Maintenance mode" is not always bad but can just show a mature product.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/topic/5ba08769-e08c-4798-8d59-1ba42b071c9c/open-source-hot-take-a-software-project-is-allowed-to-be-done-.RSS for NodeMon, 28 Sep 2026 16:10:17 GMTTue, 22 Sep 2026 08:20:02 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Open Source hot take: A software project is allowed to be *done*. on Thu, 24 Sep 2026 19:55:31 GMT]]>@tante

Somehow even ls(1) has gotten progressively more annoying over the years I've been using Linux.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.social/users/araquan/statuses/117327772465851668https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.social/users/araquan/statuses/117327772465851668Thu, 24 Sep 2026 19:55:31 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Open Source hot take: A software project is allowed to be *done*. on Thu, 24 Sep 2026 12:13:49 GMT]]>@entailment @tante it can still be hot if we keep feeding the fire with fresh fuel

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://circumstances.run/users/hipsterelectron/statuses/117325957014894548https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://circumstances.run/users/hipsterelectron/statuses/117325957014894548Thu, 24 Sep 2026 12:13:49 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Open Source hot take: A software project is allowed to be *done*. on Thu, 24 Sep 2026 12:13:01 GMT]]>@tante i feel i've seen this take enough times by now that it's pretty cold, actually

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://woof.tech/users/entailment/statuses/117325953886256802https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://woof.tech/users/entailment/statuses/117325953886256802Thu, 24 Sep 2026 12:13:01 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Open Source hot take: A software project is allowed to be *done*. on Thu, 24 Sep 2026 07:32:08 GMT]]>@mirabilos
That's another thing of course, in this case there will hardly be any other option.
@tante @leonid

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hespere.de/users/hllizi/statuses/117324849364775274https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hespere.de/users/hllizi/statuses/117324849364775274Thu, 24 Sep 2026 07:32:08 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Open Source hot take: A software project is allowed to be *done*. on Thu, 24 Sep 2026 06:40:24 GMT]]>@hllizi @tante @leonid at that point it becomes a consideration, of course; but sometimes, there is no newer version

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://toot.mirbsd.org/users/mirabilos/statuses/01M3929N8TR8GKJJB2Y16M8CCAhttps://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://toot.mirbsd.org/users/mirabilos/statuses/01M3929N8TR8GKJJB2Y16M8CCAThu, 24 Sep 2026 06:40:24 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Open Source hot take: A software project is allowed to be *done*. on Thu, 24 Sep 2026 06:35:36 GMT]]>@mirabilos

If it's the only possibility to keep the software running at all, of course, but just in order to keep the software running with an older version of the dependency so that you won't have to adjust the software itself?

@tante @leonid

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hespere.de/users/hllizi/statuses/117324627061634257https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hespere.de/users/hllizi/statuses/117324627061634257Thu, 24 Sep 2026 06:35:36 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Open Source hot take: A software project is allowed to be *done*. on Thu, 24 Sep 2026 06:23:57 GMT]]>@hllizi @tante @leonid if your software has a dependency, this is on the horizon implicitly

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://toot.mirbsd.org/users/mirabilos/statuses/01M391BHVJED249857CT7Q47FYhttps://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://toot.mirbsd.org/users/mirabilos/statuses/01M391BHVJED249857CT7Q47FYThu, 24 Sep 2026 06:23:57 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Open Source hot take: A software project is allowed to be *done*. on Thu, 24 Sep 2026 04:45:42 GMT]]>@mirabilos
That's admirable but maybe not a model that works for everyone. πŸ˜ƒ
@tante @leonid

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hespere.de/users/hllizi/statuses/117324194966096071https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hespere.de/users/hllizi/statuses/117324194966096071Thu, 24 Sep 2026 04:45:42 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Open Source hot take: A software project is allowed to be *done*. on Thu, 24 Sep 2026 01:34:47 GMT]]>@hbons @tante

So "EMACS is just an editor" would have seen it finished by about 1978... πŸ€” πŸ€ͺ

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.ca/users/TallSimon/statuses/117323444210092625https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.ca/users/TallSimon/statuses/117323444210092625Thu, 24 Sep 2026 01:34:47 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Open Source hot take: A software project is allowed to be *done*. on Wed, 23 Sep 2026 19:29:24 GMT]]>@hllizi @tante @leonid do you know how often I became maintainer of something because I was the last remaining user? *shrug*

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://toot.mirbsd.org/users/mirabilos/statuses/01M37VX0KN4PSSDDAS95Q7H6CXhttps://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://toot.mirbsd.org/users/mirabilos/statuses/01M37VX0KN4PSSDDAS95Q7H6CXWed, 23 Sep 2026 19:29:24 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Open Source hot take: A software project is allowed to be *done*. on Wed, 23 Sep 2026 18:00:34 GMT]]>@tante i agree, but it has to move at least as fast as its dependencies

newer library versions need to be incorporated, deprecated programming language features need to be replaced

so there is an inherent speed up when you go down the dependency tree

now matter the volume of changes, one could however still call this "done" as long as no new features are added

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://corteximplant.com/ap/users/116500749333309758/statuses/117321658174329839https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://corteximplant.com/ap/users/116500749333309758/statuses/117321658174329839Wed, 23 Sep 2026 18:00:34 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Open Source hot take: A software project is allowed to be *done*. on Wed, 23 Sep 2026 16:39:39 GMT]]>@tante There needs to be a differentiator though to not mistake "done" with "abandoned" or plain dormant.

I found this podcast episode to be helpful to sort this field:
Abandoned open source with Josh Marpet

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://nerdica.net/objects/a85d7459-156a-b400-cb87-a2c356681221https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://nerdica.net/objects/a85d7459-156a-b400-cb87-a2c356681221Wed, 23 Sep 2026 16:39:39 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Open Source hot take: A software project is allowed to be *done*. on Wed, 23 Sep 2026 13:29:20 GMT]]>@tante hotter take: finished projects should have their reasoning specified, including goals and implementation details

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://soc.masfloss.net/users/xerz/statuses/01M3779PVQHKG53NVDR3GFCAW7https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://soc.masfloss.net/users/xerz/statuses/01M3779PVQHKG53NVDR3GFCAW7Wed, 23 Sep 2026 13:29:20 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Open Source hot take: A software project is allowed to be *done*. on Wed, 23 Sep 2026 13:17:41 GMT]]>@mirabilos @tante A project without a release every six months is considered dead now?

In a way I have seen it myself as well, where I posted something like 'until further notice'. But the readers believed the message to be invalid as the notice was from last year.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hsnl.social/users/jwrm22/statuses/117320545802362313https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hsnl.social/users/jwrm22/statuses/117320545802362313Wed, 23 Sep 2026 13:17:41 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Open Source hot take: A software project is allowed to be *done*. on Wed, 23 Sep 2026 12:42:17 GMT]]>@tante This. I have thought this so often. "Oh this project is dead, if only does bug fixes." My brother in christ, its an image viewer! Wtf do you think it will become?!

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://tech.lgbt/users/catraxx/statuses/117320406634470268https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://tech.lgbt/users/catraxx/statuses/117320406634470268Wed, 23 Sep 2026 12:42:17 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Open Source hot take: A software project is allowed to be *done*. on Wed, 23 Sep 2026 11:34:11 GMT]]>@StryderNotavi @dashdsrdash @MisuseCase @ArneBab @tante That's okay, it's baked in to the definition of intuition. Not everyone has the "same" intuition, right?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://spacey.space/users/isaackuo/statuses/117320138869068909https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://spacey.space/users/isaackuo/statuses/117320138869068909Wed, 23 Sep 2026 11:34:11 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Open Source hot take: A software project is allowed to be *done*. on Wed, 23 Sep 2026 06:51:11 GMT]]>@mirabilos
Of course, but it's not in the hands of the maintainer of any given piece of software anymore if they don't want to provide patches for old dependencies themselves so they won't have to change the code of the software itself.
@tante @leonid

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hespere.de/users/hllizi/statuses/117319026075412601https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hespere.de/users/hllizi/statuses/117319026075412601Wed, 23 Sep 2026 06:51:11 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Open Source hot take: A software project is allowed to be *done*. on Wed, 23 Sep 2026 06:38:01 GMT]]>@tante I point out that this is clearly also true of physical creations, arts and crafts and movies and whatever: if the creator lingers on the scene, forever changing and tweaking and updating, the results are almost always unhappy. Nobody is happy that the origin Star Wars films got turned into some kind of ongoing project of Lucas's. But turning everything into a construction site keeps the most money flowing.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://cyberpunk.lol/ap/users/117024347319605995/statuses/117318974249504530https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://cyberpunk.lol/ap/users/117024347319605995/statuses/117318974249504530Wed, 23 Sep 2026 06:38:01 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Open Source hot take: A software project is allowed to be *done*. on Wed, 23 Sep 2026 06:37:52 GMT]]>@tante @hllizi @leonid where there is a will, there is a way

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://toot.mirbsd.org/users/mirabilos/statuses/01M36FR9QGZA08DY0NNE4DAYEGhttps://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://toot.mirbsd.org/users/mirabilos/statuses/01M36FR9QGZA08DY0NNE4DAYEGWed, 23 Sep 2026 06:37:52 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Open Source hot take: A software project is allowed to be *done*. on Wed, 23 Sep 2026 06:25:29 GMT]]>@mirabilos
My assumption here was that the last compatible version has fallen out of maintenance everywhere, so any version that patches a bug cannot work anymore by assumption. Or am I missing something again?
@leonid @tante

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hespere.de/users/hllizi/statuses/117318924977376179https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hespere.de/users/hllizi/statuses/117318924977376179Wed, 23 Sep 2026 06:25:29 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Open Source hot take: A software project is allowed to be *done*. on Wed, 23 Sep 2026 06:21:51 GMT]]>@leonid @tante @hllizi the dependency

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://toot.mirbsd.org/users/mirabilos/statuses/01M36ETZ5X8X6KPBGMB3535GBMhttps://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://toot.mirbsd.org/users/mirabilos/statuses/01M36ETZ5X8X6KPBGMB3535GBMWed, 23 Sep 2026 06:21:51 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Open Source hot take: A software project is allowed to be *done*. on Wed, 23 Sep 2026 06:21:06 GMT]]>@mirabilos
Providing patches, you mean?
@leonid @tante

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hespere.de/users/hllizi/statuses/117318907761560479https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hespere.de/users/hllizi/statuses/117318907761560479Wed, 23 Sep 2026 06:21:06 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Open Source hot take: A software project is allowed to be *done*. on Wed, 23 Sep 2026 06:19:34 GMT]]>@leonid @hllizi @tante sure, but if that also works…?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://toot.mirbsd.org/users/mirabilos/statuses/01M36EPT1NBP61FFXJ87Q2DWA8https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://toot.mirbsd.org/users/mirabilos/statuses/01M36EPT1NBP61FFXJ87Q2DWA8Wed, 23 Sep 2026 06:19:34 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Open Source hot take: A software project is allowed to be *done*. on Wed, 23 Sep 2026 06:18:35 GMT]]>@mirabilos
Yeah, right, I take this part back, I got confused (because of course you can also compile again against the patched dependency...). But the second part still stands, it only works as long as the distro provides patches for a compatible version.
@leonid @tante

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hespere.de/users/hllizi/statuses/117318897862920695https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hespere.de/users/hllizi/statuses/117318897862920695Wed, 23 Sep 2026 06:18:35 GMT