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Thomas Depierre

@thomas-depierre · 11 positions · 0 changes of mind

Software engineer and open source maintainer, writing at softwaremaxims.com. His 2022 essay "I am not a supplier" is one of the most widely cited maintainer responses to the software-supply-chain security agenda, and he argues that most proposals for fixing open source are written by people who do not understand who actually maintains it.

Thomas Depierre did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

  1. Our reading

    Open source won because it let companies bypass procurement, legal review and contracts, not because it was free of charge.

    Their wordsFOSS solve that problem far more than it solves “we don’t want to pay”. Most corporations would be surprised by how cheap it would cost them to pay for the FOSS software they use.

    ↗How FOSS Won and Why It Matterssoftwaremaxims.com 1st of 4 in this piece

    open source

    Interesting

  3. Our reading

    Any fix for open source that recreates the friction of a commercial supply chain is dead on arrival, because that friction is what open source escaped.

    Their wordsYou cannot go back. If the solution you offer recreate any of the Supply Chain framework problem, then your solution is Dead On Arrival.

    ↗How FOSS Won and Why It Matterssoftwaremaxims.com 2nd of 4 in this piece

    open source

    Interesting

  5. Our reading

    Charging large companies for a licence sends them back through procurement, so they drift to a worse free alternative rather than pay.

    Their wordsMaking licenses suddenly commercial for big entities? You are forcing people to go back through the Procurement process. They will shift over time back to a FOSS solution, even if it is less good.

    ↗How FOSS Won and Why It Matterssoftwaremaxims.com 3rd of 4 in this piece

    Interesting

  7. Our reading

    The same absence of contracts and lawyers that let companies adopt open source freely is what let experts publish it, and raising the bar would break both.

    Their wordsIt significantly lowered the bar to production. It is how we got the whole society to run on software. If you make it harder for hobbyists maintainers, you are going to crash society.

    ↗How FOSS Won and Why It Matterssoftwaremaxims.com 4th of 4 in this piece

    open source

    Interesting
  8. 20 months earlier

  9. Our reading

    Most of the code the world runs on is maintained by hobbyists with an hour or two a month, so any proposal that needs more than that will simply be ignored.

    Their wordsIt means that anything you offer must fit in 1h per month. That is it. And if it does not, if it needs more involvement than that, we, as maintainers, will not do it. At all.

    ↗You Are All On The Hobbyists Maintainers’ Turf Nowsoftwaremaxims.com 1st of 3 in this piece

    Interesting

  11. Our reading

    Any plan for open source sustainability or security that is not built around hobbyist maintainers will achieve nothing.

    Their wordsIf your plans for open-source sustainability or security do not align first and foremost with this population it is not going to achieve anything.

    ↗You Are All On The Hobbyists Maintainers’ Turf Nowsoftwaremaxims.com 2nd of 3 in this piece

    open source

    Interesting

  13. Our reading

    Veterans of the 1990s free software movement do not understand the world today’s maintainers work in, and should listen before proposing fixes for it.

    Their wordsThis is not the same world that you were part of. The complexity is off the chart; we are hidden layers and layers under the scaffolding. And we are used everywhere.

    ↗You Are All On The Hobbyists Maintainers’ Turf Nowsoftwaremaxims.com 3rd of 3 in this piece

    Interesting
  14. 15 months earlier

  15. Our reading

    An open source maintainer is not a supplier: there is no relationship with the companies using the code, so they cannot impose requirements on the person who wrote it.

    Their wordsWe are not suppliers. All the people writing and maintaining these projects, we are not suppliers. We do not have a business relationship with all these organisations.

    ↗I am not a suppliersoftwaremaxims.com 1st of 4 in this piece

    open source

    Interesting

  17. Our reading

    Maintainers of widely used open source software are not adequately funded, and that is a real and unsolved problem.

    Their wordsHell even worse, a lot of the libraries that underpin the fabric of what we all call the digital economy have trouble getting enough money to pay for food.

    ↗I am not a suppliersoftwaremaxims.com 2nd of 4 in this piece

    open source

    Interesting

  19. Our reading

    The warranty disclaimer in a free licence is the real deal being struck: the entire risk of using the code falls on whoever uses it.

    Their wordsIf you use this, I owe you nothing. At all. We have no relationship. I put this up online on the condition that if you use it, all the risks are on you.

    ↗I am not a suppliersoftwaremaxims.com 3rd of 4 in this piece

    Interesting

  21. Our reading

    If a company wants a maintainer to work to its standards, it has to start paying them under a different licence first.

    Their wordsBut to do that, I am going to have to become a supplier. Which means you are going to have to start to pay me. A fair price, that we can negotiate. Under a different license.

    ↗I am not a suppliersoftwaremaxims.com 4th of 4 in this piece

    Interesting