About OfflineIMAP development

[John Goerzen <jgoerzen@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi all,

It's been a bit since I posted about this, and I've seen some comments on the 
mailing list about it, so I'd like to just send a friendly reminder here.

I initially wrote OfflineIMAP to solve a need I have.  I released it to the 
public under the GPL, because I thought others might find it useful.  I'm 
glad that so many have.  Over the years, I have added a number of features 
that people in the public have requested, and fixed a number of bugs they've 
found.

I don't get paid to work on OfflineIMAP.  Every hour I spend on OfflineIMAP 
is an hour I'm not spending with my family, not working on things that help 
me earn a living, etc.

If you request a feature that I don't need, I am probably not going to write 
it myself, simply because I don't have time to volunteer to write all sorts 
of software for other people's needs.  I'm not willing to sacrifice an hour 
playing with my 11-month-old because you want some feature I don't care 
about.

If you want, you are welcome to write a patch to OfflineIMAP and send it my 
way.  My darcs tree is public and instructions are posted on the website.  
Most patches I receive, especially if they are well-written, do get 
integrated into my tree.  I am willing to volunteer my time to do review & 
integration.

If you don't feel competant to hack on OfflineIMAP, you are welcome to pay me 
to add your feature -- or to pay anyone else that you may wish to do the 
same and send me a patch.

That's how Free Software works.  If you want a feature, "put your money where 
your mouth is" so to speak.  Write it, or convince/pay/whatever someone else 
to write it.  But please don't gripe that I haven't written it yet; after 
all, you haven't paid me for it, and I don't owe you the service of 
implementing anything.  OfflineIMAP scratched my itch, and many others'.  
But if it doesn't scratch your itch, you always have the option of not using 
this piece of free software, or of improving it, or of using something else.

The reason I'm posting this is I've gotten some comments, both publically and 
privately lately, griping about not having this-or-that feature, or not 
working with this-or-that ancient version of the mail server from hell or 
whatever, and expecting me to do something about it.  I welcome anyone that 
wants to to participate in the OfflineIMAP development -- and to all those 
that have sent patches already, you have my thanks.

I have actually been looking for a new maintainer for OfflineIMAP for some 
time now.  If you're interested in taking over maintenance, please by all 
means let me know.

-- John