Software Microgrants

• $3000: port the Geary email client to gtk4
  • tracking issue and some prior art here
• $200: fix xdg-dbus-proxy to support nested instances
• $50: add an option to the buffyboard on-screen keyboard to configure sticky v.s. non-sticky shift behavior
• $500: implement DTMF tone pad in Gnome Calls
  • see ticket & check with devrtz to make sure it's not in progress
• $800: build a FUSE FTP client
  • in progress here
• $300: port the oils scripting language nix package package to build from git (not vendor tarballs)
  • proof-of-concept here

Repeatable

do these once, twice, or 20 times. these are scoped to be doable in an evening once you've learned to do them once.

• $80: fix any 2 nix packages to cross compile to aarch64
  • i.e. fix nix-build -A pkgsCross.aarch64-multiplatform.$pkg for some $pkg
  • prior work
• $80: fix any 2 nix packages to build for musl
  • i.e. fix nix-build -A pkgsMusl.$pkg for some $pkg
  • prior work
• $80: review any 4-5 nixpkgs PRs for new packages
  • i.e. fetch the branch, build the package, poke at the application for 2 minutes to check it's not obviously broken, spot-check the .nix file for typos or mismatched license/description/etc
• $60: contribute a module (i.e. systemd service) for any package already in nixpkgs
• $100: enable strictDeps = true for any nix package on this list
  • you'll want a powerful computer: changes here may cause nix to rebuild gcc
  • make sure stdenv still builds for at least a few platforms, e.g. nix-build -A stdenv -A pkgsCross.aarch64-multiplatform.stdenv -A pkgsMusl.stdenv

Open-ended

grants for work which advances any of the following areas. suggest a specific task you'd like to do or we can brainstorm together to find a good fit. it's best if you have some experience navigating open source projects for these, because you're likely to be working more closely with the project's maintainer(s) than with me.

• better tooling/automation for nixpkgs maintainers
• NixOS apparmor integration
  • expose apparmor profiles for more packages within nixpkgs
  • iputils has a nixpkgs-specific profile: maybe this pattern can be replicated for more packages
  • roddhjav maintains profiles for hundreds of applications: maybe these can be integrated into NixOS en masse
• Linux on mobile
  • push any device-specific patches or vendored drivers upstream
  • e.g. upstream Megi's battery/charger drivers (used by the PinePhone Pro) into mainline Linux

Process/Etc

if you'd like to work on any of these please message me. once we agree on the work, the funds are yours & you can proceed at whatever pace you prefer: just keep me in the loop. if it helps you, i can provide background knowledge or basic mentoring for any of these grants.

payment is by physical cash, cryptocurrency, or Zelle. larger grants (like the Geary work) will be funded incrementally, i.e. by regular payments over the duration of the project.

if anything here looks interesting to you, but you're unsure about some detail, message me. the best scenario is that there's something here you want to do, but can't justify sinking the time into it, and the grant fixes that. to that end take the "open-ended" section seriously: i'm unlikely to sponsor a large project that i'll never use, but to the contrary if it improves any sliver of the tech i do use then it's worth something to me, especially so if it also benefits the commons.