alt Hacker NewsThis is something I've noticed more widely and is something I think we're going to have to grapple with sooner or later. If anyone can make any software, what happens to our shared computing reality? Now one can steal features from 3 or 4 similar projects and compose exactly what I want, and there are now 5 similar projects.
Similarly, I've already had many issues with project shunning me because I come with AI assisted code, no matter the quality of the contribution. With NixOS it's extremely simple to carry patches, and I do this with a number of projects (k3s, kata, Ardour).
It feels like long-term forks are something we're going to have to accept as the new reality, and find some way to weave together in a new way, rather than as just an escape hatch to route around maintainer issues.
I am not sure that question really applies here with AI tooling. This is still an immature field where people are discovering optimal workflows.
Not to sound too Dropboxy, but you could get an 80% solution to this problem with rsync and a hundred lines of python. Or just punt it all into git. I regularly see people inventing their own workflow utilities. Less so someone vibing a custom IDE.