I honestly don’t remember my first open source contributions. I was involved in some of the early days of hacking, modding, and working on shareware and freeware before the internet and then in newsgroups – remember those? From there I just continued my software development and community work – we didn’t even call our work open source. Over the many years I have become heavily involved in the Java, Android, DevOps, security, and other communities and projects like Apache Maven, Jenkins/Hudson, Trino, and many others.
For years, I’ve dedicated myself to building, maintaining, and improving projects that are critical to developers and organizations globally. The commitment has definitely varied and sometimes included parts of that open source work in my job description, but even then it always included many late nights. Now I am finding myself in a different situation again and I am trying something new…
TL;DR – become a sponsor today at https://github.com/sponsors/mosabua and read on for more info.
A shift in focus, not passion
In March I took an exciting step in my professional journey by joining Chainguard. This new role is a fantastic opportunity, aligning perfectly with my passions for DevOps, CI/CD, security, software packaging, building and the supply chain – all with a heavy focus on open source. For more details on my experience, check out my recent post Six Months a Chainguardian.
At Chainguard I still help on open source projects like Wolfi, Kaniko, or even my own maven-repository-tools project. However, this transition means that my extensive contributions to Trino and other projects under the simpligility banner are now exclusively conducted in my spare time. My commitment remains strong, but my available hours have become a precious resource – and it is heavily competing with my family and other interest like trail building or mountain biking. Or as a Chainguard blog series so right states – This Shit is Hard – including Java and JavaScript and really any open source work.
Transparency through visibility
In the past I never really tracked my work overall and it was not that transparent how deep and wide my work spread. To ensure the community can follow my ongoing work and I don’t loose control myself either, I have made a conscious effort to increase transparency. I am now managing and tracking my open-source work through a dedicated, publicly visible GitHub repository: simpligility/contributions.
This repository is where you can see the issues, tasks, and features I am actively working on—a living roadmap of my spare-time dedication to the open-source projects we all rely on.
Trino and Commander Bun Bun
A main focus of my open source work is Trino. My work combines project management, marketing, and engineering and includes the following tasks:
- Host and organizer for Trino Community Broadcast
- Host and manager for monthly Trino contributor calls
- Leader for Trino Gateway including developer meetings, PR reviews, release management, and development
- Main engineer on the Trino website
- Social media and support on slack and linkedin
- Trino docs authoring, management and reviews
- Organize, work, and help on numerous other sub projects like trino-packages, trino-js-client, trin-csharp-client, trino-query-ui, and Helm charts.
Beyond Trino
My work on Trino also involves working with numerous other projects like Apache Iceberg, Apache Polaris, and many others. Additionally I also help a bit on the Apache Maven lists although my work on Maven wrapper and polyglot-maven mostly stopped. I still drive some of my own open source projects, although very slowly. Overall it always seems like there is way too much to do, and my skills can help all over the place. There is just never enough time.
Supporting the work – why sponsorship matters
Open-source development requires more than just code; it requires time, tools, and a sustainable commitment.
I am now actively seeking sponsors to help cover the costs associated with keeping these contributions flowing and visible and motivate me to keep going. Your sponsorship directly supports the work mentioned earlier and covers costs for some essential tools like StreamYard for community engagement and content creation, Google to facilitate better virtual meetings and collaboration and potentially Anthropic/Claude costs to further speed up my output.
If the work I’ve done over the years has helped your company, your project, or your personal growth, now is the perfect time to give back and ensure that momentum continues. Your contribution—whether large or small—is an investment in the stability and future of the ecosystems I serve.
Join me in keeping the open-source spirit alive and thriving!
- Open-source task tracking: https://github.com/simpligility/contributions
- Become a sponsor today: https://github.com/sponsors/mosabua
Thank you for your long-standing support and trust.
History and what’s next?
While I am heavily involved in the Trino ecosystem today, my history in open source is broad and deep. You might know my past work on essential development tools like Apache Maven, my early contributions to Android development, including influential projects like ksoap2-android or android-maven, and my involvement with the Sontaype Nexus or Jenkins/Hudson. Maybe you met me as organizer of the Vancovuver Island Java User Group (VIJUG) or the GDG Victoria, or as presenter at numerous conferences.
You can explore this decade-plus of work across my personal and organization repositories:
One activity I have been doing for well over a decade is conference presentations, moderator and MC work, panel hosting ad online video tutorials and shows in one shape or another. Nexus Live, Maven Developer Hangouts, OneOps and other training classes, and many other shows have come and gone. I still run Trino Community Broadcast and will continue to do so .. but I think it is time to do my own thing and I have a few ideas. Stay tuned.
Manfred