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doc: current status of the project
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Update the README and docs with the current status of the project
regarding its maintenance and current direction.
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almet authored and zorun committed Apr 23, 2024
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29 changes: 29 additions & 0 deletions README.md
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- **Backends**: SQLite, PostgreSQL, MariaDB (version 10.3.2 or above),
Memory.

## Current direction (as of 2024)

Ihatemoney was started in 2011, and we believe the project has reached a certain
level of maturity now. The overall energy of contributors is not as high as it
used to be.

In addition, there are now several self-hosted alternatives (for instance
[cospend](https://github.com/julien-nc/cospend-nc/tree/main), [spliit](https://
github.com/spliit-app/spliit)). As maintainers, we believe that the project is
still relevant but should gear towards some kind of "maintenance mode":

* **Simplicity** is now the main goal of the project. It has always been a compass
for the project, and the resulting software is appreciated by both users and
server administrators. For us, "simplicity" is positive and encompasses both
technical aspects (very few javascript code, manageable dependencies, small code
size...) and user-visible aspects (straightforward interface, no need to create
accounts for people you invite, same web interface on mobile...)

* **Stability** is prioritized over adding major new features. We found ourselves
complexifying the codebase (and the interface) by while accepting some
contributions. Our goal now is to have a minimal set of features that do most of
the job. We believe this will help lower the maintainance burden.

* **User interface and user experience improvements** are always super welcome !

It is still possible to propose new features, but they should fit into
this new direction. Simplicity of the UI/UX and simplicity of the technical
implementation will be the main factors when deciding to accept new features.

## Contributing

Do you wish to contribute to IHateMoney? Fantastic! There's a lot of
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29 changes: 29 additions & 0 deletions docs/contributing.md
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# Contributing

## Current direction (as of 2024)

Ihatemoney was started in 2011, and we believe the project has reached a certain
level of maturity now. The overall energy of contributors is not as high as it
used to be.

In addition, there are now several self-hosted alternatives (for instance
[cospend](https://github.com/julien-nc/cospend-nc/tree/main), [spliit](https://
github.com/spliit-app/spliit)). As maintainers, we believe that the project is
still relevant but should gear towards some kind of "maintenance mode":

* **Simplicity** is now the main goal of the project. It has always been a compass
for the project, and the resulting software is appreciated by both users and
server administrators. For us, "simplicity" is positive and encompasses both
technical aspects (very few javascript code, manageable dependencies, small code
size...) and user-visible aspects (straightforward interface, no need to create
accounts for people you invite, same web interface on mobile...)

* **Stability** is prioritized over adding major new features. We found ourselves
complexifying the codebase (and the interface) by while accepting some
contributions. Our goal now is to have a minimal set of features that do most of
the job. We believe this will help lower the maintainance burden.

* **User interface and user experience improvements** are always super welcome !

It is still possible to propose new features, but they should fit into
this new direction. Simplicity of the UI/UX and simplicity of the technical
implementation will be the main factors when deciding to accept new features.

## How to contribute

You would like to contribute? First, thanks a bunch! This project is a
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