The Challenge of Maintaining Curl
15 hours ago
- #software-maintenance
- #curl
- #open-source
- Curl started in 1996 with 100 lines of code and has grown to 180,000 lines contributed by 1,400 authors.
- Only one full-time employee, Daniel Stenberg, maintains curl, despite its use in over one billion devices.
- 47 car brands use curl, but none contribute to its development, highlighting a reliance without support.
- Companies often assume others fund open-source projects, leading to underfunding and over-reliance on volunteers.
- Maintaining open-source software involves security, documentation, and feature development, often by a single person in their spare time.
- Companies sometimes demand support or compliance information without offering compensation, leading to unsustainable pressures.
- Curl faces challenges like abusive emails, AI-generated false problem reports, and DDoS attacks from AI scrapers.
- Despite challenges, positive feedback, like from an 11-year-old user, provides encouragement to maintainers.