Backup Manager is Free Software. I started working on it back in 2004 and my goal was never to make money with it.

But a couple of users asked me recently if it was possible to donate to the project, and this led to make me think about that idea.

I’d like to start by saying that my goal, when I do Free Software, is to contribute, to build upon new experiences and to take some fun.

This being said, I don’t have as much free time as I had when I started to work on Backup Manager, and I must say that it doesn’t get touched very often. Some users even asked me if the project was dead.

Well, first of all let me say it clearly and loudly: Backup Manager is not dead. It is still used by many users, thanks to Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora and other popular Linux distros, it’s a widely spreaded software. This is a major satisfaction for me, to see so many people happy with Backup Manager.

But still, I don’t have much time for it, and there are some bugs around I’d like to fix. Backup Manager has reached as stable state since the 0.7.x versions, and as there are no major issues with it, I admit it’s not my priority when I do Free Software.

But if you like to change that, if you want to push me up to my desk and say “Hey, I really, really want you to fix that bug”, then you now have an option: you can donate.

Here is what I have in mind: anyone can donate as much as he like (even one euro means something), and when I have time for Backup Manager, I’ll look at the donation to priorize my work (of course a big donation can make me find some time more easily).

I find that interesting, it gives credit to the donator, he can say to himself “I’m buying backup-manager a fix!”.

Feel free to use the comments below to tell me what you think about that idea.

Update : After reading that entry, I realized it might be misleading, so let’s be precise: of course you can still contribute in many ways other than donating: you can submit bug reports, or fork the project and apply a patch, or even help the users community…

The donation thing is just one more way among the old ones, not a replacement

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