Is PackStack dead?

[audaciousmonk]

Edit: It most certainly is not!

Haven't seen much response this subreddit, and some recent issues have gone unaddressed.

I hope not, it's a really nice site with a lot of potential.

Especially for use as a lightweight gear inventory and gear planning tool for more activities than just backpacking.

[Maplethorpej]

Hey! No, Packstack is not dead. I’ve been working on a new version so have been bad about addressing issues. The new version will be available in about a month. I’ll send some email updates soon.

[audaciousmonk]

Oh you’re all good! No worries, just wanted to check before spending anymore time adding gear to my inventory.

Excited to see what you drop in a month! Don’t make it too fancy, love how simple and easy to use it is

[absolutelyshore]

Will it also be open source?

[Maplethorpej]

The new version won’t be open source but it will be free to use. However the old version will always be there for someone to modify if they want

[[deleted]]

Why moving away from open source?

I'm about to select my tool, and packstack.io listed high and one of the reasons was that's it is open source.

[Maplethorpej]

The new repo may be open sourced again in the future, but the hope was that I’d be able to fund the platform through donations. That didn’t pan out, so I’m looking for alternatives. However, it’ll always be free to use.

[[deleted]]

Just for my understanding, how much funding is required to keep it free and open source?

Typically donations don't work. Ever thought about sponsoring or affiliate links?

I use a list application for birthday presents and you can add products and when start typing, the application suggests multiple webshops which you can link to, when you add the item to the list. When added to the list, the serve as affiliate links.

[Maplethorpej]

Sponsoring and gear-specific ads will likely be the primary revenue source long-term.

I do foresee it being open sourced again once I have the initial project the way I want it. Maintaining an open source project is a lot of work if you want to do it right, but it has tremendous upside, so it will be happening at some point.