Does open source mean you don't have to take any responsibility?

Does open source mean you don't have to take any responsibility? Posted 19 hours ago | Times Read | SOURCE csdn| 0 Reviews | Author ran open source Abstract: Open source is usually representative of free and free, but often with irresponsible means, because the author has put the software there with your use, there are problems they will not be responsible. But should they be responsible for their own open source projects?

Transloadit.com co-founder Felix Geisendörfer recently found this comment when checking open source project code on GitHub:

"If you really care about your code base and its community, then you have to do it right away." "It's not necessarily the original comment, but that's probably what it means--hopefully the project author Felix will solve his problem for free because he's responsible for the community." And he's not the only one, and a lot of people are saying or implying that open source authors should be responsible for their projects.

Tom Dale made the suggestion that you should not post what you cannot maintain, and if you are mature enough, you will realize that open source is actually a responsibility.

But Felix does not agree with this view:

You have to admit, open source is not perfect, I have encountered in the use of open source projects I have not solved the problem, and did not receive any support, this is very bad! But whose fault is this?

Think objectively that when you use someone else's software, you usually need sequential laws and regulations, generally referred to as copyright. So we often need to agree to such user agreement before installing the application: "Under no circumstances shall the author or copyright holder be liable for any claim, damage or other liability." ”

This is the ugly side of open source! Most people are unwilling to be responsible for their own projects!

So before you use open source products, you need to think about these issues:

How many others are using the project? What do they do with it? Suppose there was a problem when I used it, what was the worst-case scenario? Do I have the ability to debug and fix problems like this? What did the license say? How is the code quality? What is the quality and quantity of the document? Is there an automated test? Independent author maintenance or community maintenance? Can I find the author when consulting or asking for help? How did the author deal with bug reports? Does the author want to donate the code to others? Which company does he live in? What does he do for a living? What is the motivation for him to open the project? If there is something wrong with his software, can I find someone to help fix it? Do I have the money to ask someone to help solve the problem? Can I easily use a customized version of this product? If the author doesn't cooperate, can I fork his product? What characteristics do I really need? How much would it cost to fully realize my ideas?

Therefore, even if the software itself is free, you must be worth it.

Of course, if you ask the open source author directly, this will certainly not work. Imagine if you and Felix received the same comments, would be very happy to solve the problem for him? To be responsible for the open source project author, you first need to be a responsible "consumer"! It is necessary to give back to open source projects appropriately, whether in the form of donations or code.

The famous blogger & Hacker, Stack Overflow co-founder Jeff Atwood the analogy: open source programs are like a starving baby, the original developer of the project is just like the birth of a parent. As parents, of course, have the obligation to take care of the children, if you do not have self-confidence to raise him, please turn it into the orphanage (open source community)!

Taking Markdown as an example, although John Gruber invented him in accordance with a very good idea, but it is not perfect, many users, including stack Overflow, GitHub, in the use of a long time after they have put forward some suggestions for improvement, But he was not accepted.

Although you can't kill an open source project, bad parents are enough to cause them to grow sluggish or even maladjusted.

You csdn Netizen, regarding open source project author should assume the corresponding responsibility, what is your opinion?

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