The problem with “patches welcome” culture

I’m going to tell you a secret.

Most computer users cannot write computer code. (Shock!) This is not anything new, and I would dare say this is not even necessarily a problem that needs to be corrected. In a similar vein, a great deal of first-world citizens use cars daily, but I doubt many drivers would be able to fully rebuild an engine, or even describe the difference between EFI and carburetors.

This is the fundamental flaw behind the “patches welcome” culture, and why some libre open source projects have less-than-ideal user experiences, and some even have communities that most would describe as “elitist”.

While drafting this article, a few people told me that they agreed with the substance but did not like that I was using “patches welcome” to describe the culture. While it is correct that most libre software projects should be welcoming of patches, that is not what this article is about. When these people say “patches welcome”, it is a deflection; they don’t want to put forth the effort to properly maintain their software.

Let’s consider an example of this. In a welcoming environment that fosters participation and communication, a request for a feature from a user typically goes somewhat like this:

User: I would really like to be able to select an entire sentence using a key combination so that I can make the sentence bold or underline without dragging.
Developer: Okay. We’ll add that to the list of features that have been requested. Thank you for telling us!

Sometimes these features take time to add; maybe some will never see the light of day. Nevertheless, the user still informed the developer of the software what they needed, which allows the developers to make better choices about how they approach building the software, and what features to prioritise.

Now, in a project with “patches welcome” culture, the users are ignored or even chastised. I’ve actually seen discussions very similar to the following take place:

User: I would really like to be able to select an entire sentence using a key combination so that I can make the sentence bold or underline without dragging.
Developer: patches welcome
User: I don’t know how to write code.
Developer: Then you shouldn’t ask us for help.

This behaviour undermines what libre software is supposed to stand for. It gives the user reason to go back to using proprietary software, where they can call up Microsoft or Apple and tell them what they want or ask for help when they need it. Even if the proprietary software corporations never add their suggestion, they still feel more connected and respected than they do by this example libre project. This behaviour gives the user no reason to use the software that respects them and their freedoms. Free Software is meaningless if it has no users to use it.

Some may argue that people should be empowered to learn to program, and there definitely is a case to be made for that. However, you really need to consider all the reasons people *would not* want to learn to program:

• They would rather spend that time with family, friends, or their hobbies.
• They have learning or mental disabilities that make algorithmic reasoning, logic, or concentration required to program difficult.
• They have physical disabilities that make programming difficult.
• They simply aren’t interested.

That last item is especially important. Do you want someone who has no interest in programming – no interest in security, or correctness, or doing things the Right Way (or even the way you want them done) – to commit code to your repository? Are patches really welcome, or are you just deflecting the requests of your users so you don’t have to maintain the software you’ve written?

All people deserve Free Software. Nobody deserves to be denigrated, shamed, or ignored because of their inability or lack of desire to program a computer. My personal suggestion to those who do not want to accept feature requests unless patches are attached is to not publicly release your software. If you do, add a notice stating that you do not wish to be contacted about your software by users, so that they may make an informed decision about the software that they use.