@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 I hope that clears it up.

@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.

@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

@notclacke @pinskia the question is "maintain"!