[GNC] Negative attitudes [was: Re: Negative numbers]

Jim DeLaHunt list+gnucash at jdlh.com
Sat Sep 12 20:45:48 EDT 2020


On 2020-09-12 14:40, ToddAndMargo via gnucash-user wrote:

> On 2020-09-12 10:27, John Ralls wrote:
>>
>> On Sep 11, 2020, at 11:33 PM, ToddAndMargo via gnucash-user 
>> <gnucash-user at gnucash.org> wrote:
>>> On 2020-09-10 21:42, ToddAndMargo via gnucash-user wrote:
>>>>> […snip…]
>>>> On 2020-09-09 13:18, Stephen M. Butler wrote:
>>>>> You may also enter an enhancement request in bugzilla.
>>>>>
>>>> Will do!
>>>> RFE: add ledger style negative number input
>>>> https://bugs.gnucash.org/show_bug.cgi?id=797939
>>>> RFE: please give the ability to add notes to simple ledger view
>>>> https://bugs.gnucash.org/show_bug.cgi?id=797940
>>>
>>> Both were duplicates of four year or more old bugs.
>>> Shades of Libre Office and Wine.  User input
>>> is ignored unless you can pony up.  This is sad.
>>> But it is the open source model.  Give the code away
>>> for free and charge for maintenance
>>>
>>
>> There is no "pony up".
>>
>> GnuCash is a *gift* of tens of thousands of hours work by a few dozen 
>> *unpaid* individuals over 20 years. All of the people on this list 
>> who have helped you are also unpaid volunteers. All of the 
>> infrastructure is provided and supported by volunteers who also 
>> donate the power and connectivity to keep the servers running and 
>> usable. While donations to the "tip jar" are surely welcome--and paid 
>> for a new server last year--the only solicitation is a link on the 
>> web page.
>>
>> Regards,
>> John Ralls
>
> You ever get a letter from Red hat or Wine or Libre
> Office explaining that you need to "hire" them to
> get your bugs fixed?  This is the open source model.
> Open source is not a free lunch.
>
> Individuals can never afford to put their developers
> on the payroll.  They want a whole lot more that a
> tip jar too.  And they do seriously deserve to be
> paid for what they do.  They ARE providing a service.
>
> Lets hope Gnu Cash's developers are a little more
> responsive to requests from underfunded users in
> the future.  Or at least tag requests over a year
> old as "won't fix" so folks will quit asking for it.

ToddAndMargo, I don't know what to conclude from what you are saying. 
One sentence seems to show you understand that GnuCash only reaches you 
by lots of people doing lots of things. The next sentence seems to show 
you having a tremendous sense of entitlement to getting something for 
nothing, and blaming the generous people who give you 10 gifts when you 
don't get the 11th gift you want.

The open source model is <https://github.com/Gnucash/>. The source code 
is open, right there. Copy it, use it. No "pony up" necessary.

What you find there is, as John Ralls says, a gift to you — and to me 
and to many others — from many people who made voluntary contributions 
over many years. You don't have to express appreciation for a gift, but 
my grandma taught me it was churlish not to.

If you want improvements, then contribute them. See instructions at 
<https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Contributing_to_GnuCash>. We would love 
to have your positive efforts. Don't have the skills or the time to 
contribute the improvement you seek?  Then ask nicely for someone to do 
what you want. The people you are asking are, as John observes, 
volunteers. They probably get a kick out of being able to help. But they 
also have their own improvements which they want to contribute, for 
their own reasons. Your desires may or may not overlap with their 
priorities.

If you don't like the narrowness of the overlap between your desires and 
their priorities, well, that's where paid support could potentially come 
in. Maybe you can find someone who is in the business of satisfying your 
desires in exchange for money. As far as I know, none of the major 
contributors to GnuCash are in that business, and I haven't heard about 
someone offering paid support for GnuCash. But maybe you can find 
someone. I hope they give you want you seek. And, I hope you and they 
will contribute back the improvements. And if so, you are now a 
contributor to GnuCash.  Thank you.

No-one is forcing you to use GnuCash, and you are not entitled to 
require others gift you the changes you want. To gripe about the GnuCash 
developers from whom you receive this gift not being "responsive" enough 
is, for me, unpleasant to listen to and unfair to them. It is a 
detraction rather than a contribution.

     —Jim "in appreciation for GnuCash 3.10 build (2020-04-11)" 
DeLaHunt, Vancouver, Canada




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