The Changelog: Software Development, Open Source

Open source, not open contribution (Interview)

Mar 26, 2021

Ben Johnson, a Freelance Go developer renowned for his work on BoltDB and Litestream, shares insights on mental health and sustainable practices in open-source development. He reveals why his project Litestream is open-source but closed to contributions, highlighting the importance of protecting one’s mental health. The conversation touches on managing community feedback, navigating licensing decisions, and the distinct challenges of open-source projects vs. corporate work. Johnson also discusses the innovative capabilities of Litestream and its impact on SQLite's reliability.

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ANECDOTE

Open Source, But Closed Contributions

Ben Johnson open-sourced Litestream, a database tool, but closed it to contributions.
This decision sparked discussion, as it deviated from typical open-source practices.

INSIGHT

Prioritizing Project Scope

Ben Johnson values community feedback, bug reports, and documentation contributions.
He prioritizes a tight project scope over accepting external code contributions.

ADVICE

Hidden Costs of Contributions

Consider the hidden costs of contributions, such as Windows support and S3 compatibility.
Account for testing, documentation, and developer experience, not just code changes.

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This week we’re talking with Ben Johnson. Ben is known for his work on BoltDB, his work in open source, and as a freelance Go developer. Late January when Ben open sourced his newest project Litestream in the readme he shared how the project was open source, but not open for contribution. His reason was to protect his mental health and the long term viability of the project. On this episode we talk with Ben about what that means, his thoughts on mental health and burnout in open source, choosing a license, and the details behind Litestream - a standalone streaming replication tool for SQLite.

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Featuring:

Ben Johnson – Website, GitHub, X
Adam Stacoviak – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
Jerod Santo – GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X

Show Notes:

Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!