Free and Open Source Software

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Intel Survey Finds Maintainer Burnout & Documentation Top Open-Source Challenges (www.phoronix.com)

submitted 9 months ago by morrowind@lemmy.ml to c/foss@beehaw.org

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[–] andrew@lemmy.stuart.fun 21 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

I mean, that's exactly the same set of problems faced by closed source software. I guess one potential difference is that you can hire new devs to take over if it's successful enough. But both crappy documentation and team burnout have killed lots and lots of internal projects at places I've worked.

[–] SorteKanin@feddit.dk 10 points 9 months ago

I'd say the documentation problem is even worse in closed source internal stuff at companies. You often only have internal users (ie your colleagues) so instead of properly documenting, often people just tell stuff mouth-to-mouth (tribal knowledge basically).

Also, you rarely gain any points for writing good documentation at jobs because you have to spend time doing it making the coding itself slower. And some people deliberately don't write docs cause they think it'll provide better job security.

[–] bedrooms@kbin.social 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

There's the horror of scientific software written by researchers I'll share here. ~~They are fired~~ The contract expires every 2 years and users keep using the code if it's successful. Some projects are closed source, even...