With the call for companies to give back to open source authors, Github has launched a new " Sponsor Repository": this repository is only accessible by sponsors, and developers can set sponsorship levels (up to ten) based on the amount of sponsorship, with each level of sponsorship enjoying different features (similar to the game vip1-vip10?). Once a sponsor provides a developer-defined amount of sponsorship, access to various features is automatically granted by the GitHub platform, and access is automatically withdrawn once the sponsor stops funding.
Developers can provide different features for different levels of sponsorship, and the welcome message for different levels of sponsorship can be customized, such as “Thank you” for a $10 sponsorship and “Love you” for a $10,000 sponsorship.
This type of warehouse also has the ability to set up full sponsorship/monthly payments, as well as customize the minimum sponsorship amount.
In addition, if a repository is a “sponsored repository”, the Issue interface will suggest that the user sponsor the project.
According to Jessica Lord, GitHub’s Head of Sponsored Products, this type of repository is designed to improve developer and sponsor interaction, and can be divided into three broad uses.
- Sponsorware: Giving sponsors access to the project repository only, so they can reap the rewards of open source projects.
- Discussions: Communicate with sponsors in this repository for exchanges such as troubleshooting, new feature discussions, etc.
- Sneak Peek: Give sponsors a sneak peek/experience of the project before it is open sourced.
Also note that according to the IRS, any sponsorship received from GitHub must be taxed.
On a developer level, this is a good thing, at least the time and effort that can be put in will see a return and there is an incentive to stick with it. But as to whether this type of repository still belongs to the open source category? And whether this open source approach is widely accepted by the public? These questions believe that everyone has a different view, only let time to give an answer.