DocFaqOpenSource - Maproom/qmapshack GitHub Wiki

Prev (Elevation (DEM) data) | Home | Manual | Index | (Troubleshooting QMapShack) Next

Table of contents

OpenSource, Donation, etc

OpenSource, Donation, etc

How does the QMapShack project understand the idea of OpenSource

OpenSource is "open source". The project is maintained and distributed as source code. By that everyone has the full control over the software. It can be compiled to any system. You can investigate the code to learn. You can search, find and fix bugs. You can enhance the software to fit your needs.

If you changed the code it would be nice to publish your changes. Or even better: Get the change into the main repository by starting a pull request. But it's also ok to keep you change private to you. However if you start to distribute binaries with your changes without publishing the code, the project will take legal actions.

But you provide binaries next to the source code, not just code

Right. These binaries are not part of the project. They are provided by volunteers spending their free time to contribute to the project. The QMapShack project is acknowledging this effort by providing the binaries next to the source code on the release page.

But face it: If a volunteer decides to quit and no one else picks up the work there won't be binaries for upcoming versions of QMapShack. However as QMapShack is open source you are able to compile your own binaries.

But I do not know how to compile binaries

Volunteers have spent quite some time to document the process of compiling QMapShack. Give it a try!

Some of these descriptions are up-to-date. Some aren't. It depends on the community. Not the QMapShack project itself.

The Linux community is much more accustomed to the ideas of OpenSpource and compiling applications on their own. Therefore the pages are quite up-to-date.

For Windows a single person holds up the quality of the documentation.

For MacOS the community fails miserably. The documentation is outdated and there is no reliable source for binaries.

I really want that feature, please add it

Why? Why should anyone spend their free time on something you need? This is also a question you have to answer in the feature request template. Most users simply rephrase their whish and add: Because everyone wants to...

No, not everyone wants to. You - only you - wants to have that feature in the first place. There might be good reasons, e.g. what you want really simplifies stuff for everyone. But in general it is just your personal use case and no one else other than you really needs it. So why should anyone else bother?

And here we reach the point most users do not understand with OpenSource. The code is free in the meaning of speech and beer. But that does not imply that the project really has to spend any energy on your personal needs.

Therefore if you really want something consider the following advice:

Try to do as much of the work yourself. Check if you can't already archive what you want by what is already there. If it's not there, define properly what you want and how it fits into the existing. application. Try to gather as much information about the feature as possible. Think about it as you would need to implement it on your own.

If you have done all of this you really might consider writing the code on your own. If not you have everything to write a feature request that has a better chance to convince someone else to spend time on it.

If I donate money can I buy a feature?

No. You can't.

Well of course you can pay anyone to add a feature for you. But you can not donate money to the project to get a feature. There are a couple of reasons.

If you pay money for a feature we have a contract. The subject of the contract is the feature, it's flawless function and it's usability over an agreed period of time. In other words the contractor has to implement it to your needs, she/he has to fix bugs and maintain the code over the time on updates. Quite a responsibility. The QMapShack project will not accept that responsibility.

If you pay money to the project the money must be distributed to real persons. How? What would be a fair key of distribution? There are too many persons that contributed a significant amount of code over the years making QMapShack what it is today. They all did this because they understood the idea of OpenSource. The moment some would gain financial profit and others won't will destroy that.

A software engineer in the western world costs about 600-800€/day minimum. A feature usually consumes a couple of days. Are you really willing to donate that much? If you are, find a freelancer. They will do the job for you.

Can't I just donate money?

No, you can't.

I want to donate! How?

You can donate to QMapShack by:

Enhancing the Wiki
Advocating for it on social media (only if you really like it ;) )
Providing better icons
Providing better translations by fixing the spelling, rephrasing strings to be more meaningful, adding more/better tooltips
Providing code. Please create a ticket first to discuss what you plan to do
Providing binaries

There are probably many other ways. The only thing that does not work: Donate money.