60% of Open-Source Maintainers Are Unpaid: It's Concerning & What We Can Do About it

Many raise their eyebrows towards the security-side of open-source, and say that numerous projects are not as actively maintained as the popular ones.

You might have heard people saying that, or maybe you have come across a report which says only 11% of open-source projects are actively maintained. You can explore more about it here:

Sonatype's 9th Annual Stat of Software Supply Chain Report

This is alarming. But, it's not an open-source issue 😟

So, who do we have to blame here? The open-source maintainers? Or, is there something else wrong here?

Well, of course, open-source maintainers are not the problem because, as per a new report (linked at the bottom of this page):

60% of open-source maintainers say that they are working as unpaid hobbyists with no consistent funding.

The Problem With Open-Source Funding

If the maintainers are not getting paid for the most part, how can we expect most of the open-source projects to be actively maintained?

I can only work without getting paid for a while, but the enthusiasm is going to die down if I am not financially rewarded from it. I would rather focus on things that support me in terms of money. And, open-source maintainers should not be expected to be different.

To be honest, the open-source maintainers who still work on their projects with little to no funding are already making a massive impact on the software industry, even if they are not hyperactive.

Thanks to their tireless work, we get to experience some of the most amazing software as users, and for organizations to utilize for software development help.

So, instead of scrutinizing the open-source maintainers, we should think about the funding issue, which solves the problem just as the report says:

Who should fund them? How often? And, what will that fix?

I believe, first, as users, we should help the open-source projects as much as possible through:

Donations
Promoting the software
Being a part of its community to help other users and help the developers with detailed bug reports

And, the open-source community already does that very well, which shows up in projects like Linux Mint in terms of regular donations from supporters. Sure, it can improve, but it's not the inherent problem for funding.

I think organizations utilizing open-source projects for their benefit are slacking off in rewarding the maintainers handsomely.

Big tech companies like Google/Amazon do their part with scholarship or sponsorship programs. As far as the news goes, they seem to be doing okay, if not the best.

However, when we think of all kinds of organizations collectively, they simply do not contribute back to open-source.

Some companies' management may not even realize the concept of open-source, and the rest of them could just be ignorant.

A question for some professionals reading this: does your company contribute back to open-source? If not, have you suggested your management to do it? 🤔

If the organizations do it right, open-source maintainers can receive a consistent funding, which will help them work on their projects actively.

Funding Fixes Everything

Regular funds improve the morale, and provide motivation for maintainers, just like every other individual on this planet.

It is no rocket science, that more money (and a regular flow of income) ensures quality work, whether it is open-source or for an employee working at a walled garden company.

The companies need to be more aggressive on promoting how they contribute to open-source. And, if they do, encourage their peers to do it the right way.

Maybe take up some kind of initiatives, add programs for open-source developers to benefit from their organization, and things like that.

That would be my takeaway from this report, and it is a necessary reflection for us to realize that things need to change for the better. We need to take action on it if we want to see a better open-source software landscape.

What do you think? Don't we need to promote the idea of fixing the funding issue for open-source more than ever? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

Source: Tidelift