Subversion Repositories tendra.SVN

Donations
=========

(I am laying out these notes as we have been offered a donation out of
the blue, and were quite unprepared to receive it - kate)

Accepting donations is tricky. TenDRA is currently a tiny development
team, and the code-base is in flux. We're not currently in need of more
hardware or hosting.

Donations would not be anywhere near enough to employ a developer
full-time.

One thing I certainly want to avoid, is the promise of money swaying
the project's goals. We are not here to implement something for the
good of any particular commercial entity (if it helps them, great,
but that's a side-effect). We're here to produce a good compiler.


So, the question is what can we do with small donations?

 * Petty Cash for Conferences - We don't go to any conferences, so
   that's out.

 * Food - We have food. (Those of us on the continent more-so!)

 * Books - We have books, to the best of my knowledge.

 * Bounties per feature added - This interests me, as it's the only
   proposal that I think fits.

   These seem to work well for other projects. The going rate is a few
   hundred or thousand dollars per feature, depending on complexity.

   Features may be suggested by users, but ultimately decided upon by
   developers.

   One reason bounties appeal to me is that I believe they can justify
   the time spent by a prospective developer who is interested, but
   can't afford to spend time on helping. Money can help justify that
   time spent.


Now, we absolutely cannot justify bounties on features until our code
base has settled down. Currently it's an utter mess. So, this will have
to wait - probably several months at the minimum.

Therfore, I'm proposing that we do accept donations, and keep hold of
them to be put towards bounties in the future, when we're able to (and
when we've decided on which additions would be suitable! I'm guessing
things like adding support for new architectures would be appropriate).

As an aside, Eirik has pointed out that adding a PayPal button to the
website looks like begging; I don't believe we're actively requesting
money. In fact, this is the first time I've ever given thought to it!
which is precisely why I'm writing this to collect my thoughts on the
subject.