Open Source Must Be Fun (Or It Will Die)
7 hours ago
- Homebrew maintainers are motivated by fun, not money, which prevents burnout.
- The scarcest resource in open source is maintainer motivation, not funding.
- Social events like conferences re-energize maintainers and build friendships across projects.
- Homebrew prioritizes automation and community to keep maintenance fun and efficient.
- AI can handle boring tasks, but low-effort AI contributions should be rejected to avoid frustration.
- Maintainers should stop or quit tasks that aren't fun, as they don't owe users anything.
- Users should be grateful and respectful, avoiding entitlement and negativity.
- Companies should allow employees time to contribute to open source and sponsor projects.