Possible way to increase non-essential functoins, funding setup

graphy00

Over the last couple years I've posted 4 or 5 ideas to the community about features. I've gotten some flack for being so bold as to speak plainly and simply (which is to try to communicate the idea in text in as few words as possible, where I can't use a simple ironic smile). The claims I'm being entitled aren't true, I'm just offering up ideas to the community with no expectations, and only ideas that I think the community isn't currently weighing.

But I have gotten the suggestion 'Why don't you contribute and help fix the issue?'

I'd like to do that, and I bet a lot of GrapheneOS users would, who are not at the coding level to be able to do it themselves. What if GrapehenOS had a platform, maybe similar to Upwork, where it had apps and other features in a list, and regular users could donate to whichever features on the list, and that would pay a dev somewhere in the world (obviously get an economical one as this is not a corporate project) to work on that. They would have to do it in the GrapehenOS way, of course, maintaining integrity and avoiding bugs or vulnerabilities, but that could be outlined more easily for all of them at once than for every individual.

That way if a regular user who really valued GrapheneOS wanted to push for a feature and wanted to spend $1000 or $500 or something, he could do that.

matchboxbananasynergy

That would be an indirect way to add a "bounty" for a feature, which we don't do.

If people want to donate to the project, they are free to do so, but the priority of what features will or will not be implemented is ultimately up to the team, and that will not change, and will not be influenced by donations.

The problem with "throwing money" at a specific feature you want to see implemented is that even if it was implemented, and even if it was done in the "GrapheneOS way", and even if our team had the bandwidth to review that change to ensure that it has to be merged, every single change that's added that deviates from AOSP has to be constantly ported over to new versions with every monthly, quarterly, and yearly release, with the 2 latter being the more significant burden.

In other words, every feature we add, is another we do not. We are aware that there are things that need to be implemented, and a lot of what the community might want, the teams wants as well, but that can only be done when the time is right, and no amount of "bounties" towards that feature will ultimately push it up the list, as feature development is prioritized based on what is needed at the time, and those priorities also constantly change based on various factors.

While I appreciate the brainstorming and willingness to help push things forward, and perhaps even your financial contribution towards those features if what you're proposing were to happen, there is no such system for a reason, and it wouldn't work for us.