Carlton Gibson - Django, Spain, Parenting, and Open Source
Oct 25, 2023
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Carlton Gibson, former Django Fellow and maintainer of Django-related projects, talks about his experience as a Django Fellow, maintaining open-source projects, building SaaS companies, parenting, living in Spain, and the impact of Brexit. He also discusses the importance of being kind to other maintainers, Django 5 form template improvements, and great tourist spots in Spain.
Maintaining open source projects can be challenging, so it's important for users to offer assistance and be understanding of the maintainers' circumstances.
When faced with inactive maintainers, users should be patient, communicate openly, and consider forking the project if necessary to ensure its development and availability.
Deep dives
Maintaining Open Source Projects
Maintaining open source projects can be challenging, especially when the maintainers are unable to dedicate time to them. It's important for users to be understanding of the maintainers' circumstances and offer help if possible. One approach is to open an issue, expressing willingness to contribute and asking if the maintainer needs assistance. Additionally, users can create their own fork of the project and install it locally with pip. By keeping the maintainer informed of any updates and offering to merge changes, users can help keep the project alive until the maintainer can resume active development.
Dealing With Inactive Maintainers
When faced with inactive maintainers, it's important to be patient and considerate. Users can check if the maintainer needs assistance or time to address personal issues. Communication is key, and users can open issues and offer their help to maintainers. If a maintainer remains unresponsive, users can consider forking the project and installing their own version. This allows them to make necessary changes, while also keeping the door open for collaboration with the original maintainer in the future.
Finding Alternatives or Forking Projects
In situations where a project is no longer actively maintained, users may need to look for alternatives or consider forking the project themselves. Before forking, users can try reaching out to the maintainer to offer help or ask about the project's future. If no resolution is reached, and the project is critical for the user's needs, forking can be a viable solution. By forking a project, users can continue its development, address any bugs or issues, and provide updates to the community.
Benefits of Maintaining Open Source Projects
Maintaining open source projects can be a fulfilling task, as it allows individuals to contribute to the community and support software that others rely on. While it can be challenging and time-consuming, maintaining projects ensures their longevity and helps keep them useful for other users. Maintainers play a crucial role in fixing issues, implementing new features, and providing support to users. By dedicating their time and expertise, maintainers help foster a vibrant and collaborative open source ecosystem.
Carlton recently stepped down as a Django Fellow, maintains many Django related projects, is starting two SaaS companies, and is a podcast host on "Django Chat".
Some of what we talk about:
Being a Django fellow for 5 years
Maintaining several Django related open source projects
Client work
Time with family
Building a couple Software as a Service projects
Kids and travel
Kids and food
Living in Spain as a British citizen
How Brexit has affected his options
Being an open source maintainer and that it's ok to pause it when life takes precedence.
Being kind to other maintainers and acknowledging them as human
Django 5 form template imporovements
Good places to be a tourist in Spain
Spains wonderful train system
The Complete pytest Course
Level up your testing skills and save time during coding and maintenance.