I'm looking for someone to take over this project 🤝

[lwouis]

Hi everyone!

The project so far

I've been working on AltTab for more than 3 years now. This project has proven popular:

It's hard to put an exact number on the active users count, because the app has no user tracking (very much on purpose). But I imagine it's in the thousands. I based that on crash reports (on AppCenter) and releases download stats.

The future

I have decided to allocate less time to this project. The project is quite easy to jump into. I've taken time to document steps to understand the codebase, the tools, etc. A lot of people have contributed localizations over time, but few people have contributed significant code changes.

I'm looking for someone interested in taking over this project and become the main maintainer. We can discuss the hand-over. I can walk you through everything, from the codebase, to different tools and services (e.g. AppCenter, Travis, Homebrew, CI, Apple Certificates, etc).

If you're interested, please contact me

Cheers~

[unikzforce]

You've done a great job for the community sir. many thanks.
Is it possible for you to create build manual section in the README.md?
I think many people (including myself) with different backgrounds like to join the effort, And if the first steps become easier for them, then they can do the onboarding conveniently.

[lwouis]

Hi @unikzforce!

As mentioned in my message above:

I've taken time to document steps to understand the codebase, the tools, etc.

You'll find there a section called "Building the project locally". It's very easy to get the project running locally. Basically 2 steps 👍

[knosso2919]

Thank you lwouis for taking care of the project and for your hard work. This application is probably one of the reasons why people keep using mac os on their macs. Thanks to you and to all the people that contributed.

[fennecs]

thanks!

[dresl]

Thank you for doing this. It's awesome!

[prasskaly]

Best app for macos. Can't go back now.
Thank you for this.

[milomylo]

nice project

[XInTheDark]

Thanks for all the effort you have put into this free app ❤️

[siempay]

Did you get any one to maintain this project ?

[lwouis]

@siempay no-one has talked to me about it yet, unfortunately.

[siempay]

If I get you to walk me throu and explain to me the project and what are you expecting from the maintainer to be doing for the future of the project, I would be interested

[imikushin]

It's a great product!

I'd be glad to buy it on the AppStore and even throw in a yearly subscription to pay for continued maintenance (version upgrades) of this app. Just an idea.

[lwouis]

@imikushin AltTab can't be on the AppStore because it uses private APIs and SPIs. We use these because we have to. Without those, the app couldn't list windows from other Spaces, or focus windows properly, just to give 2 examples.

Regarding paying for maintenance: I don't need money. I've always refused donations because I enjoy giving my work away on this project. I don't have time for this in the future though. I would like to find someone who has the will to take over and continue this project. Money wouldn't help here. I need someone skilled that shares my interest for this project.

[XInTheDark]

Could you walk me through the basics of the project? I would be interested to learn about it, but I don't really know much about the Swift language.

[lwouis]

@XInTheDark I'm afraid I'm short on time at the moment. I can suggest that you ramp up your skills with the language, the tools, and maybe start contributing some pull-requests to the project, then if you're enjoying this, we could arrange a meeting and I would tell you all about the more complex topics, architecture, CI/CD, signing, etc. I hope that makes sense for you.

[mayankj]

@lwouis I'd love to help out here and potentially take over if you're still looking. I'm a CS major with a strong software engineering background though I don't have a lot of Swift experience yet. Been meaning to pick up Swift so this would be the perfect opportunity for me as well. Will start making PRs ASAP.

[lwouis]

@mayankj I'm still looking for someone. It's great to hear that you're interested.

Will start making PRs ASAP

Don't hesitate to comment on the ticket describing the feature/bug-fix before you invest time in a PR. Or open an early PR to explain the goals 👍 Don't hesitate to ask me, in tickets, or by email, or on the Discord, which tickets should be top priority, or discuss tickets you have personal interest in.

[hogash]

@lwouis I just discovered the app recently and I'm loving it. I tried most of the alternatives years ago and just gave up.

Would you be willing to make this project commercial (or release some sort of PRO version) to keep it ongoing? It really is the best out there and maybe making it commercial might incentivize. I'd be glad to pay for it. Thanks!

[lwouis]

Hi @hogash,

I would like to keep this project fully FLOSS. I'm looking for someone to take over and run the project as I've been for many years.

Thank you 🙇

[ifsheldon]

Do we have any ways to buy you a cup of coffee? Like Buy Me A Coffee or Patreon? AltTab has helped me a bit day to day, and I really appreciate this.

[lwouis]

Hi @ifsheldon,

Thank you for your kindness. There is no need for donations. More context here: #1179 (comment)

[notdp]

I've been looking for the donation entry, and found the result in this issue.

This is the most useful Mac auxiliary software I've encountered in 2023, it's so fucking good!

I am a backend developer, recently learning Swift, hoping one day I can contribute to this outstanding project, such as fixing some issues.

Wish you a happy life, thank you very much for creating such an efficient window switching software.

[lwouis]

Hi @notdp,
Feel free to tackle some tickets to get familiar with the project. Don't hesitate to ask for help 👍

[dgreene1]

@lwouis thank you so much for this amazing tool. I totally understand the need to move onto other projects and to create more work life balance. I'd like to know what protections you're considering putting in place before you hand this off to ensure that the new maintainer doesn't intentionally or inadvertently merge spyware/malware?

I'm thinking about this famous scenario:

"in the case of event-stream, package maintainership was turned over to another person and that person acted in bad faith."

https://blog.npmjs.org/post/182828408610/the-security-risks-of-changing-package-owners.html

Knowing this will help myself and others feel comfortable using this. I'm sorry to ask such an intense question. But I can tell by your excellent work that you want to make sure you're protecting your legacy, so hopefully the good intent of this question is coming across.

[lwouis]

Hi @dgreene1,

I'm doing maintenance for now and the foreseeable future

I'm doing small maintenance tasks on this project. I'm not rushing the hand-over. Worst case scenario, if no-one steps up, the project will simply not get updates. It's very stable at this point. It's a shame that the full ambition wouldn't get realized. There are some great tickets I wish would be implemented, and some private API topics that I wish we would get better solutions with. But the current state is already at 95% of what this app can be.

Aside: macOS is getting worse, for AltTab

Unfortunately, I only see things getting worse with time, as the last releases of macOS have degraded the experience:

• Big Sur introduced a regression to the API we use. We can no longer see windows from other Spaces, in certain conditions. We could do it before. Nothing we can do about it. See Starting with macOS 12.2, AltTab only grabs windows in active spaces #1324
• Ventura introduced Stage Manager, with no API to interact with it, of course. AltTab is essentially crippled for users with Stage Manager active, and there is really nothing we can do about it. See Thumbnails are tilted/skewed with Stage Manager enabled #1731
• Sonoma introduced the menubar purple indicator which activates when an app calls the screenshot API. AltTab calls it to create window thumbnails. This makes it really unpleasant for users. Again, nothing we can do about it. See macOS Sonoma shows an icon in the menubar with "AltTab is sharing your screen" #2606. Also this bug Apple still hasn't fixed, but I believe they'll end up fixing: Sonoma Caps-Lock indicator shows as a window in AltTab #2849

Handing over

No one has shown serious interest to take over yet. If they would, we would work together for a while. I would like to witness commitment, technical expertise, and that we are philosophically aligned on where the app stands and where to go next (e.g. these values).

I hope this reassures you. There is no plan to rush a bad hand-over and have any sorts of drama. I've invested too much time. I wouldn't let that happen.

Thank you

[dgreene1]

Beautifully stated. Thank you for your impressive volunteerism. If only all maintainers had your beliefs then the internet would be much more secure.

[sumitsahoo]

@lwouis I recently came across this app and I just want to thank you for keeping the open-source spirit alive.

[ecastellongl]

[BenjaminBini]

Not adding anything useful to the conversation, but I also wanted to say thank you to @lwouis for creating and maintaining this app. Without it, MacOS would be unusable. I really can't believe features provided by this app are not native and that Apple did not give you a mountain of money to hire you and make you implement them in MacOS :)

[franklinblanco]

Hey! Just read this whole thread and decided to give my own opinion. First of all let me preface this by saying I absolutely love this and your work will never go unnoticed. At the same time, I do believe that finding another person who like you, has the following traits:
1: Is a skilled enough developer in the specific field
2: Has either a good amount of free time to work on this or would devote it as a sort of charity work
3: Has the project's best interest in mind without wanting/asking/expecting anything in return
4: Connects with you & has no ill intentions

Is pretty much a non possibility.

What is the solution?

Keep the project completely open source, but make the easily downloadable version cost a dollar or two, and if the user does not want to pay, point them in the direction of compiling the code and building the app locally!

Why?

Well, as you stated, you no longer have the time to maintain this repo. And the amount of attention/use it has seen has made it clear that it's valuable. As a developer who knows Swift very well but has A: Too much on his plate that he has to do to feed himself and family & B: Other projects that have a possibility of allowing me to not depend upon a job later on
It's hard to consider this.

Again, wanted to thank you a thousand miles for your work. This is amazing, just wanted to put my thoughts out there to help out a little bit, if you don't like the exact execution of the idea, just take away that there should be some economic incentive coming from somewhere to make it viable for someone else.

Think about it like adopting a 16 year old kid, you get a lot of the responsibilities, but very little if any of the good feeling of having raised the kid. It's an EXTREMELY tough commitment.

[vsisl]

Just read this thread and decided to sponsor your effort. It ain't much but it's the best I can do as someone relying on your work but not having the skills or time to take over the project. I encourage others to do at least the same. Thanks for all your effort!