Upstream first or, how to avoid maintenance hell (froscon2022)

Using open source is easy! The great thing about open source is that you can adapt it, apply patches, include your own code snippets, … That is, until you realize that you now have more and more projects to maintain on your own. You need to re-patch new versions, import security patches into your local branch of the software or manually apply updates. In short, you are in maintenance hell. Using open source is easy! The great thing about open source is that you can adapt it, apply patches, include your own code snippets, … That is, until you realize that you now have more and more projects to maintain on your own. You need to re-patch new versions, import security patches into your local branch of the software or manually apply updates. In short, you are in maintenance hell. In this session, we will go through a few arguments for avoiding this maintenance nightmare. What can you do to minimize the constant time you have to spend on adopted software projects, how can you compromise if you need patches after all and (always important) how can you convince your managers that sometimes spending a bit more time right now is what you should do. Topics - Problems you see when maintaining custom patches - Upstream first: Getting your patches upstream and apply them with the next regular update - Arguments for management: Why it's better and cheaper - But what if I need to patch anyway? Techniques for slowly reducing local patches anyway about this event: https://programm.froscon.org/2022/events/2783.html