Donation

[Derek Lamb]

On Jun 28, 2013, at 2:33 PM, Sam Kuper wrote:

> On 28/06/2013, Ryan Schmidt <ryandesign at macports.org> wrote:
>> 
>> On Jun 28, 2013, at 05:03, Max-Heinrich Laves wrote:
>> 
>>> I've been using MacPorts for a couple of years. It's great software and I
>>> wish to donate some money to the project but didn't find any link (PayPal
>>> etc.) on the web page.
>>> Is there a possibility to donate to MacPorts?
>> 
>> Thank you, and we're happy you like MacPorts. We don't have any way set up
>> to accept financial contributions; as a project, we don't really have any
>> financial needs: the infrastructure is donated by Mac OS Forge (a.k.a.
>> Apple) and individual contributors donate their code.
>> 
>> We gladly accept donations of time however. Great ways to spend time on
>> MacPorts: be involved in the discussions on the mailing lists; file
>> excellent bug reports in the issue tracker; contribute new ports or updates
>> to existing ones; fix bugs in or add new features to MacPorts base.
> 
> This made me consider what the best way would be, for people who are
> richer in money than time, to donate to MacPorts. My conclusion: pick
> a bug and pay someone (competent) to fix it :)
> 
> N.B. I am rich in neither, unfortunately!

The LyX project has done something similar: somebody files a bug or feature request, a developer says "it will cost 1000 euros to implement this", people donate in small or large amounts, and once the money is there the developer gets to work.  That has lead to a couple projects being completed.  See http://www.lyx.org/Donate .  So it's not so much a donation, but more like fee-for-service or consulting.

Derek