Open Source developers only: how much time per month do you budget to maintain a one-developer project?
@evan I am trying to understand the poll. Is it asking how much time do I think an one-developer project should take up of my time as an open/free source developer? Or how much time I spend a month on an one-developer project? I answered the later as I really only contribute to one project (a non-one developer project) and that in itself takes most of my time spent working. Now I do contribute directly and indirectly to many other projects including one-developer projects but usually in terms of bug reports when I see issues with the code which shows up in newer versions of GCC.
@pinskia yeah, interesting question! I definitely meant it as, you are a single developer and you are maintaining a project solo. How much time would that take?
I think you would use this kind of estimate when you were deciding to launch a new project, say. "Can I afford to spend X hours per month on a new project?"
Or if you were applying for a grant or stipend to cover your work on the project. "I spend X hours per month on this, so at my billing rate of $Y per hour I'd need $X*Y."
@pinskia or if a friend had been offered a chance to take over as maintainer of a project. "I think it's a good opportunity, but I don't know how much of a commitment it is. How much time do *you* spend maintaining <insert name of project>?"
@pinskia in general, I'd expect a project with 4 maintainers to take about 4X hours per month from all the maintainers combined, but it usually doesn't slice evenly that way.
@pinskia oh, also: I think there is a difference in kind between being a *contributor* (especially a one-time contributor, like doing a bug report) and a *maintainer* on a project.
Edited 8d ago
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@evan Also when reading the question I was thinking this question has to be about a done-ish project to be anything comparable? Not someone still working excitedly on getting something working and solving the core problem?
I think many (most?) people would use all their available time to get something going and useful, and then settle into maintenance mode – maintaining compatibility with dependencies, handling incoming issues and PRs, etc – unless something specific kicks them into feature mode again for some time.
@pinskia