Hi, krys...@ibse.cz wrote on 31/01/2023 at 10:51:10+0100:
> Hello everyone, > I ran into argument with my father about who pays Debian > developement. He says everyone want to eat something and since only > donation won't cut it, corporations and companies which use Debian > need to fund the developement. I understand that some task like kernel > maintanace are full-time job and someone needs to pay those people, > but I always thaught that since Debian is community software project, > most of the work comes from volunteers and enthusiasts. So my qustion > is - how does it actually work? Thank you for your answers. > > Best regards, Debian is a volunteer-run project and therefore, the standard situation is that people who build and maintain the Debian Ecosystem are doing it for free. True, some people are allowed by their employeer to do it on their work time, which could be seen as a sponsorship of the project, and there's even some who are paid specifically by their employeer to package some stuff in Debian, but this is not the majority of the Contributors. So, on the specific aspect of the development, I guess we can agree that it's, indeed, *NOT* funded by any corporation. That being said, many companies are making donations to the project (or, to be specific, to its Trusted Organizations - SPI/Debian France/Debian.ch), as a sponsorship, and to help the project covering its hosting costs (we need servers, hosting places, etc, to provide our websites and our packages/installers/...). There are also individuals making such donations. That being said, these donations can't be used to pay a Developer for its work in the project. At best it can be used to reimburse some specific expenses the Developer would make to contribute to the project (a flight ticket to go to a BSP, some specific hardware, ...). I hope this makes things clearer. -- PEB Treasurer of Debian France and Debian Developer on his free time.
