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  • Feature REQ: Turn flashlight on/off by holding power button

dirksche We as consumers should understand that GrapheneOS is a non-profit organisation with a tiny team of full time developers.

GrapheneOS will always prioritize privacy and security related features. Unless these non privacy/security related features are added to AOSP, I see no reason to expect the small team of developers to prioritize these features.

Being in their Matrix room I have seen the stress these developers have to endure to put out this wonderful open source project. Have some empathy for them.

    Thanks for your fast reply. I got a lot of empathy for the developers. And I'm really thankfull that they develop this amazing OS. Nevertheless am I irritated. 🤷‍♂️

      dirksche I understand totally.
      My concern comes from the fact that in the FOSS community it's common for consumers to expect so much from developers that developers often quit out of frustration. Call me selfish but I'd hate for GrapheneOS to go under because the community became too toxic for the devs to handle.

          dirksche Nevertheless am I irritated. 🤷‍♂️

          There is a solution to that - you can implement the feature yourself by coding or paying someone to code it for you and then ask GOS to include it

              dirksche The power button is wired into the PMIC and has other functionality besides just turning the screen on and off. You don't want to be using that for controlling the flashlight.

                Graphite Is there a list of devs who take money for coding feature requests?

                I honestly dont know as never had the need for that, but, I'm guessing there must be places for freelancers.

                    Puh. I'm very sorry that I started this weird discussion. I'm out. 😁

                      f13a-6c3a

                      I'm sure there are many freelancers. But how many have ever actually submitted a pull request that has been accepted by GrapheneOS?

                      Many open source projects have a very tight knit project team. I'm not sure the recommendation of paying freelancers has ever actually been done on this project.

                          dirksche Puh. I'm very sorry that I started this weird discussion. I'm out. 😁

                          That's all it took? Really? It must not be then "this extremely practical feature" :)

                          Graphite I'm not sure the recommendation of paying freelancers has ever actually been done on this project.

                          I was thinking about that when typing the recommendation and if it was me who needed something like that, I'd probably start in the Matrix chat, get some details from the mods and devs and MAYBE, offer one of the GOS devs a quick side gig (if it was indeed quick) to get it done. If unsuccessful, then I'd re-evaluate based on the probability of GOS including my pull request, or just pay to have GOS fork of my own with the function I need.
                          The bottom line: there is no free lunch :)

                                Along with getting someone to work on and implement features like this, it also has to be considered whether the project actually wants the feature to be added in the first place, and whether it's something that they want to maintain going forward.

                                In all of the issues linked in this thread, the project's position was explicitly clear on that it is not a feature that they want to add. Even if someone submitted a pull request for it, either as a volunteer or someone who was paid to do it, it's very unlikely that GrapheneOS would accept that patch.

                                  matchboxbananasynergy now I'm getting irritated. 🤷‍♂️
                                  /s

                                  That's it! That's the answer - not happening in GOS, the only other solution for someone who absolutely needs a function that's not in GOS is to fork their own

                                    matchboxbananasynergy

                                    Very true. For this feature request, it's never going to happen.

                                    There are other features that I would like to see that currently have a feature request open in the OS issue tracker on GitHub. Low priority and been open for a while. I think those are the targets to get outside help.

                                    f13a-6c3a MAYBE, offer one of the GOS devs a quick side gig

                                    1. No joy. I asked on GitHub if I could donate just to get higher priority for this feature, and was promptly shot down.

                                    Features are not prioritised based on the amount of donations/bounties for it. GrapheneOS team are not contract workers.

                                          matchboxbananasynergy

                                          I don’t mean this with any disrespect and I generally agree that a feature like this doesn’t necessarily fit with the prioritization of security with Graphene. One comment though, the ‘project’ doesn’t have a position as it’s not a living/thinking thing. Often times depersonalization language like that is used to avoid saying some person (presumably Daniel) or couple of ppl (devs) doesn’t agree, but to try to make it sound more official and less authoritarian.

                                          Just my two cents

                                            f13a-6c3a That's all it took? Really? It must not be then "this extremely practical feature" :)

                                            What do you want to know now exactly. My only point is, that i'm irritated because of the harsh tone of the devs, that this feature will never be implemented. Thats all. As a LOS user I loved the feature.

                                                jarell 'd hate for GrapheneOS to go under because the community became too toxic for the devs to handle.

                                                You stated that the devs are few in number. I can see that on the github page, unless there are many not listed there.

                                                In my decades of experience, most devs in anything but a tiny project should develop - not interface with the public.

                                                Many devs have knowledge and experience which are in short supply - as stated here repeatedly. Their valuable time is squandered by hanging in chat forums. And some devs are not people persons so they actually do their project harm by interacting directly with users and leaving bad, public impressions instead of designing, coding, testing, and releasing which only they can do.

                                                Fortunately, GrapheneOS devs are complemented by non-devs like @matchboxbananasynergy who have proven enthusiasm and skills dealing with users - even me - day after day. I would suggest that folks like @matchboxbananasynergy are equally as valuable to a F/LOSS project like GrapheneOS.

                                                If a dev on any project is getting turned off by "toxic" users, I suggest they focus only on the software work, especially in a project like GrapheneOS where there are already excellent public-facing volunteers doing a good job. People who create excellent documentation are equally valueable.

                                                On that, I want to give a big shout out to the longtime developer and F/LOSS community member Marcel Bokhorst of FairCode, who has not only produced an excellent F/LOSS mail client, which I use on GrapheneOS, but has top notch, friendly interpersonal communication with his users. I am a new FairEmail user and just gave him a big donation this week for all of these attributes.

                                                A well-known tenet in the non-profit fundraising world of which I have experience is that people give do not give to infrastructure or even organizations. They donate to people. GrapheneOS falls short here in my experience with many organizations, but that can be changed and the project - and devs - will benefit.