- Created:
- 27th November, 2008
$500 KWin bounty
For those who have not read the KWin mailing list recently an extremely nice KDE user has placed a cash bounty on the implementation of a particular KWin feature. He explains it well so I’ll just quote his E-mail in full:
Space is precious
I would like to sponsor the development of a Fluxbox style window tabbing option into the KDE 4.x interface.
Fluxbox roughly defines this feature as:
“Tabbing is a nice feature that allows you to tab windows together. Tabs can either be embedded into the window’s titlebar or they can appear as little tabs at the outside of a window. The position and size of the outside-tabs are customizable.”
The feature is easy to use, simply middle mouse button drag on one window title bar to the next. The end result is a merged window with two tabs/split titlebar to access the corresponding content.
Here a brief demo can be seen on YouTube of this feature in action:
I am not the only person who would find this useful and this has been requested over a long period of time. Which can be seen in the “PWM-Like tabbing support for windows” bug report on KDE bug tracker.
This is a serious offer. I am willing to put 500 hundred Canadian dollars towards this. I understand in the grand scheme of things this is not much but I am just a guy that works like everyone else trying to spark something. I figure a PayPal donation page could be setup as I know there are more people interested in this than myself.
Requirements to for money to be received:
- It must be done in a way that meets the standards/requirements of KDE development so it can be integrated into KWin.
- It should not interfere with normal window management. I.e. Alt+tab, mouse focus, shading, etc.
- Only embedded titlebar tabbing is required.
If whoever is involved wishes to add other things I leave that to their discretion. Outside tabs and all the customization options that go with it are NOT required.
If there are multiple parties involved I leave it to them to discuss it amongst themselves on what they want to do and then tell me.
Really this is just a loose outline of what I am thinking. There will have to be leeway and understanding between all parties involved. The reason is that there are always problems in areas that are least expected. I would like to think I am a reasonable guy, and if there are problems we can figure them out together as we go.
Little about myself: I am 3D artist who has been using using KDE in a professional environment for a little over five years and counting. I have worked on kids cartoons, commercials and now mostly visual fx for movies. From that I enjoy using Linux at home. I have grown a passion for Linux and I see KDE 4.x the best fruits to have grown out of the global effort. I can’t wait for it to stabilize so I can start using it at work and working with window tabbing would be even better!
Sincerely, Wren
Me again
Some things I would like to add:
- All money matters are entirely between Wren and the bounty hunter(s), the KWin develop team and KDE e.V. are taking no part in that area.
- The hunter must have enough programming experience in C++ (And to a lesser extent Qt) to be able to work independently. The KWin development team is just far too busy working on other stuff to hold the hand of a newbie, we will help with KWin-specific questions though. Experience with mailing lists and IRC are also required.
- All code must absolutely, positively meet the coding standards outlined in the KWin HACKING file. KWin is a critical KDE application and if it breaks the entire desktop becomes completely unusable (I must apologise for those using trunk that had to go without virtual desktops for 12 hours last week, that was me -_-; ).
- After the feature has been merged with the KWin trunk the hunter should help maintain it, either directly or indirectly by helping other developers fix the bugs.
- If the feature is to be implemented into the Oxygen/Ozone window decoration communication with the Oxygen team will be required as they want pixel-perfect control. Working with them at the same time as writing the code will actually make things easier as you will know exactly what the decoration coders need to have.
- KWin 4.3 will gain ARGB decoration support, I don’t know if this means anything for this feature but it might be useful information.
If you are interested in applying for this bounty please send an E-mail to the KWin mailing list (kwin ? kde ? org) or leave a post in this forum thread.
Comments
27th November, 2008extropy
A Paypal account is a must have. I will add my $20 at once. On second tought I’m a bit concerned about maintainability of the produced code, if the coder does it only for the money. I’d like to see somebody with repuatation of maintaining his code to do this.
27th November, 2008patpi
Hi, Interesting case. :) KDE people agreed that this option would by nice to have, someone want to sponsor it. Win-win situation :) I hope it will succeed :)
27th November, 2008Janne
I will be following this with great interest. I could see these bounties becoming an important tool in helping KDE progress. I could see myself donating money to a bounty as well. Maybe KDE should figure out a way to handle bounties in a collective way? For example, so several people could pool their money and "buy" a feature?
27th November, 2008Raul
This is interesting, I will definitely be willing to give money to KDE to acelerate development, and I think maybe other people is willing too. This may be help KDE to get the resourses it needs
27th November, 2008Stefan
There are websites, which make funding more easy, like http://cofundos.org/
27th November, 2008Jonas Lihnell
Maybe it would be useful to set up a paypal account that can keep track of what money comes from where, and allow people to donate money directly from the bug tracking software. I could easily spend a dollar here and there every month on whatever I find important in the bug tracker. As long as the total sum of all contributions for a certain bug is displayed on the bug tracker the people that solve the bugs could stockpile for a vacation or something :) On the other hand, there is a lot to be careful with, money is dangerous in many ways, so maybe its just best to let it be..
27th November, 2008André
I hope this will succeed. I have promissed a bounty in the past before, for the most hated bug of all time in KDE: the complete freezing of KMail when checking and filtering email. There was a complete system in which you could commit to a bounty for a specific task in KDE PIM devepment. I remember there were a fair amount of bounties promissed. In the end, I had to revoke the promisse, as nothing happened about the problem. With a bit of luck of that is all history with Akonadi soon though :-) I hope this one will work. I still think that it might work in the end. If bounties could support developers to do what they like and are good at: developing great software for all of us instead of taking a drudging day job, then that would be great! Everybody would win.
27th November, 2008Andreas
Don’t implement features for money guys. Either you implement them because they make sense, and you like the feature, or don’t. Money in the open source world is equal to bribery when other arguments fail.
27th November, 2008Janne
I don’t think you need to worry. Features would not be implemented solely because someone paid for them. Even if it were done solely for the money, if the idea sucks, it would not be part of the default desktop, since other developers would object to the feature. Is the tabbing windowmanager a bad idea? I don’t think so. I think it’s pretty nifty. And it wouldn’t harm the desktop. These "bounties" are not really that different from sponsoring a developer. The difference between the two is that you pay to some specific developer(s) to implement certain features, whereas with bounties the recipient of the money is left open, anyone who implements the feature would get paid. Or, in other words: are salaries "bribery" as well? I have some ideas I would like to see implemented. And occasionally I have received comments from developers which are basically "good idea, how about a patch?". Well, I don’t know how to code. But I could see myself paying some developer to implement the feature for me. Are you now saying that doing that would be wrong because it’s "bribery"? Bounties would be a tangible way users could directly help in the development of the software. The users would get features/bugfixes they really want, and developers would get bread on the table. Looks like a win-win scenario to me.
28th November, 2008wrender
Goal oriented sponsorship is positive in that it focuses development to fit needs of users that are important. Instead of addressing a long list of things to improve the over all experience. Further more it gives the person donating the feeling of accomplishment. It is the metaphorical difference between giving a hobo some change or giving him something to eat.(Sorry for the poor image but it works). It also provides the means for developers to invest more of their time due the reward of taking a bounty down instead of worrying about rent. Obviously this is a double edged sword but so is the whole freedom software movement. I think it is up to the individuals involved to think of what it means to them and how it fits in the bigger picture. ps. It is no different than google showing up and deciding they are going to help wine development. The key is sponsorship of open development.
28th November, 2008Michael "Tabbing" Howell
> Don’t implement features for money guys. In this case, I don’t think it’s just for money. Tabbing is actually a useful feature, not strictly as a means to make money.
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