Announcement: Trilium transitions into maintenance mode

[zadam]

Describe feature

Hello, some of you might have noticed that the pace of development slowed down in the recent months.

In short, my time priorities changed and I now have other things on which I want to spend more of my time.

I intend to continue maintaining Trilium for the foreseeable future, not least because I use it heavily. This includes fixing bugs and upgrading electron/node.js/libraries like CKEditor or Mermaid. I assume I will be, from time to time, adding small improvements to existing features as well. On the other hand, I don't plan adding any new major functionality (that includes large PR contributions). If you're a glass-half-full type of person, this should make Trilium more stable than it used to be.

In the eventuality that some developer (or a group of developers) would like to take over the development, I'd recommend simply forking this repository and going from there, the repository contains everything needed. I don't have any copyright or trademark on the Trilium name, the icon etc, although I think it would be practical to differentiate the new fork somehow. If some fork gains traction, I'm happy to feature it prominently on the README, next to the notice on the maintenance status.

Thank you for your understanding.

Additional Information

No response

[rom1dep]

This is too bad, I was having the impression that Trilium was finally getting the recognition it deserves in places like hackernews (where the topic of PKMS and notes-taking apps comes back every other week), and even had some folks around me ask about it with enthusiasm. I hope this announcement isn't going to turn newcomers away from a very stable and complete app, which, moreover, has no real competition out there (self-hosted, data-consistent, local ; the best alternatives generally score 2 out of 3). Perhaps is it time to release a 1.0 to do it justice?

In any case, thanks for the good work! I really wish you success and fun in whatever comes next for you (while secretly hoping that you will stick around for a while ;) )

[rauenzi]

As a developer, I completely understand and empathize with this move. Maintaining and actively developing a project like this is a lot of work even beyond what the public sees. Hopefully what you've decided to switch your priorities to is a bit less stressful 😄

I don't plan adding any new major functionality (that includes large PR contributions)

For me, this is the saddest part for end-users. Does this include the default share theme changes I had been working on? I had other plans/ideas in the works, but I guess I will table them and consider forking at a later time as I make progress (and/or if there's interest).

[foozzi]

Thanks for the amazing project!

[Nriver]

Thank you for your outstanding efforts! Feel free to dedicate the time to the activities you truly enjoy.

[meichthys]

I feared this day would come, but I'm glad you were able to make the necessary decision and that you have gifted this to the community with such an open license! Thank You!

@rauenzi : "consider forking at a later time as I make progress (and/or if there's interest)."

You have interest here. I would prefer a quick fork (or perhaps a restructuring into a Github organization with perhaps @zadam in an owner (or co-owner) role, but not responsible for all day-to-day project management. This would hopefully avoid the loss of momentum that this project had been gaining, and give life to some larger potential contributions.

[rauenzi]

I'm up for either path @meichthys. Moving this existing repository into a new org (and setting it up) is still some management overhead for zadam that I'm sure he does not want to deal with at this time. And while links and such would redirect, it can still be less than ideal and cause issues to move the repository to a new url.

If I do end up forking separately, and I determine I have time to be active, I would likely put it in a GitHub org as well. That would open up possibilities for forking other Trilium-related repos and potentially updating them (e.g. trilium sender for android).

[deajan]

@zadam Thank you for your work and time. I know you struggled alot lately (especially with sync ^^).
Being an open source developper myself, I know that hobby projects can become too big for a one man show without sacrificing too much rest & family time, so I truly understand your decision.

The idea of a github organization where trilium could be hosted, with perhaps multiple maintainers makes sense.
This way, you can still hold a maintenance role, but give potential developper roles and co-maintainers.

Currently running 0.63.1-beta. Which version should be used mainstream ? The latest release or the beta version ?

As said before, Trilium is the only solution I am aware of that ticks all the checkboxes (open source, self hosted, offline sync).
Being a heavy trilium user myself, I don't mind chipping in sponsorship to whoever might step up as (co-)maintainer.
I hope other users might feel the same.

[SiriusXT]

Thank you for developing this awesome software. I think the current functions of trilium are relatively complete. If new functions are constantly added, it will only make the software more and more bloated. Entering maintenance mode to fix bugs and improve stability is a good choice.

[XaverStiensmeier]

Just when I found it ... For now I will continue getting into it both in the estimation that it is already a great open source project and that maybe someone else might pick it up. Thank you for the time you've put into this project!

[perfectra1n]

Definitely a huge bummer as I've used this ever since first starting my career, and as @deajan said, this is really the only solution that I'm aware of that allows offline, self-hosted, and is open source. I've loved Trilium through and through, throughout the years, and I've relied on it in situations that other software just couldn't fulfill.

I hope you're able to find some enjoyment in whatever you head to next @zadam, but all the best wishes to you ♥

But yes, transitioning the project underneath a GitHub Organization would be great in order to allow the project to maintain the steam that it's had. I know that once projects enter maintenance mode that typically the main contributor rolls off of the project completely, rather quickly - leading to vulnerabilities and bugs to sprout. So hopefully moving the project under a GitHub Org would help combat that! I would be more than happy to contribute financially just as I have done in the past.

Additionally, I think that that the Trilium community could benefit from something like a Discord server! :)

[sathyamvellal]

Trilium changed my life, or at last gave me a notes system that I always wanted. Thanks for all your efforts!

[ProfDoof]

@meichthys @rauenzi, I'm still working on my PhD so I don't have as much time to work on it as I would like, but I definitely want to work on this as I want to work it into my workflow more in-depth and being able to go work on code for it would definitely help me with that. Let me know if you guys decide to fork and put it in an Org. I'll definitely keep an eye on it and try to contribute where I can.

[advisorgee]

I just finished testing a bunch of different notes apps, and this one was hands down the best of them. I am going to continue using it and I do hope one of the above people can fork it and keep this alive.

[Potjoe-97]

Hi Zadam, I've been a long time user of trilium and I would like to thank you for all your work on this project. Thanks to your work, I've been able to organize my thoughts, complete my thesis, go through teacher certifications, and I'm finally teaching humanities. Trilium has been (and will still be) a wonderful companion to my work. I hope your next projects will give you satisfaction!

[estaticfear]

Thanks you for best app ever! i still using it along time

[Senectus]

I fully understand, but I'm sad about it.
I run two instances on my home setup one for me one for my son and its been a real boon for both of us.

[dvai]

Thank you for creating such an amazing software!
I agree with your decision, Trilium is already perfect enough.
Just do what you are interested in!

[jdelta1]

Thank you so much for Trilium, we cannot thank you enough. You should be incredibly proud of what you've built! I'm sure there will be some talented folks willing to fork and potentially take it further, but I'm super happy with the current state. Wish you the best!

[signup2k]

Thank you so much for this project. Wish you the best.

[0xbismarck]

Thank you for creating this wonderful FOSS community. I've been using Trilium since last summer, and I'm sad to see it make the change. Like others, this is one of the few apps that met my criteria for fulfilling my note taking needs and is also FOSS. I hope what comes next for Trilium cultivates the community as you have.

[justyns]

Thank you for creating Trilium! I plan on continuing to use it as long as I can. I'm not a great javascript developer, but I'd be more than happy to help out where I can in the future too.

[tidalvirus]

I'm happy with the features Trilium already has, and I was actually not expecting it to change much - considering other bits in the docs that implied any additions could/should be done by Javascript within the app itself. Basically, I like that my note taking system won't be changing every few months, and making me re-learn how to use it :P.

Perhaps I'm missing something where some new functionality would be substantially better?

The only thing I do care about is that updates occur to keep it secure, if, say, a library was found to have an issue. And it sounds like zadam@ is still going to do that. I'm not sure if that also translates to an up to date docker build? (I actually only use the web app for all my usage)

[eliandoran]

@rauenzi , @meichthys , @SiriusXT ,

I've discussed a bit with @zadam about the possibility of having a GitHub organization with multiple contributors/owners. His wish is to keep the existing repo as it is, in maintenance mode with small patches here and there.

Nevertheless, he encourages us to create a GitHub organization on our own and fork the existing repo in order not to have a bottleneck on the development side. In doing so, we also need to make sure to somehow rebrand the application in order to make it clear that we are working on a different version than the original. One example is how we have the vanilla paperless, which got forked into paperless-ng and then paperless-ngx.

We'll have to think what the next steps are, provided you are willing to contribute. Feel free to email me at my public email address on GitHub.

---

For everyone, I guess this would also be the time to consider some big feature updates that we never got around to doing, for example adding support for translations, a plugin system, etc. Feel free to pitch in any ideas and we'll see if we can manage them.

[rauenzi]

As I said above I'm definitely interested in being involved, I will be sure to email you later.

[rom1dep]

I've discussed a bit with @zadam about the possibility of having a GitHub organization with multiple contributors/owners. His wish is to keep the existing repo as it is, in maintenance mode with small patches here and there.

Not that I bear much weight in this discussion, but I would tend to think that an organization is the most desirable outcome here. This community is already quite small, and spreading it thinner across several forks would only be detrimental on the long run:

• As a user, it takes a ridiculous amount of effort and technical knowledge to compare the different alternatives, their capabilities and their maintenance status. Betting on the "wrong" fork also means running an insecure/incompatible/buggier version, and being on our own for anything support-related or for migrating to a better supported version.

• As a maintainer, it takes an unnecessary amount of effort to keep an eye on the different forks, their code, their issues, their dependencies, and incorporating changes becomes exponentially harder with time and the increasing number of forks

At least having an org would alleviate most of those problems: Issues, PRs, discussions, support, documentation (and community management at large) could be kept in one place and pooled. Maintainership could pass from hand to hand without entire "reboots". Forks outside of the org would remain an option for the most adventurous or disruptive ideas.

That said, I can also understand why @zadam would prefer spin-off projects: all the above then becomes someone else's problems, Zadam remain in control of the code they run for themselves, the project returns to a state of being "low-profile" and personal.
But even there, an organization could bring valuable benefits: Trilium in its current form could exist under the new org as "Trilium Legacy", so people could run either "Zadam's version" (the "Legacy" one), or "Trilium Next". Both could be found and compared in one place, the migration path would be one, Zadam could even get some help with maintaining the "Legacy" version without having to argue about new features and moderation as much, and that would certainly contribute to carrying Zadam's ideal for Trilium on the very long run.

For everyone, I guess this would also be the time to consider some big feature updates that we never got around to doing

Could this become a new forum/"Discussions" subcategory?
I am personally very happy with the current Trilium, but I would love to see explorations towards new editors (so we could finally have paragraphs embeddings), and towards "Databases" (as a mean to visualize and edit metadata/attributes as tables, not unlike what's possible in Notion, Tana, … we have the right model there, but just lack some convenience and polish).

[eliandoran]

@rom1dep , I agree that an organization would be best given the circumstances. We also have to consider the fact that Trilium is a one-man show; even after we create the organization it will take a lot of time until any other developer will gain the experience necessary to develop and not just maintain the application. I think @zadam 's wish to have a fork repo/org with a different branding is a good middle-ground.

My plan is to create soon an organization to bring us together, both for development and ideas. Certainly we'll have our own discussion forum to see what we can do. The first step is to come up a decent name for the org.

[meichthys]

My plan is to create soon an organization to bring us together, both for development and ideas.

Thanks @eliandoran I agree with your sentiments wholeheartedly, so I will follow your lead on this 👍

[rom1dep]

@eliandoran : Looking forward to the new organization and to see how things will shape up! Exciting times ahead for sure :)

Since, as you said, Trilium is mainly a one-man show, I think it would give a ton of confidence to future adopters if the new org "builds upon" (or absorbs) the current project rather than "forks out" of it, but my earlier message was enough, and I'll leave my rambling at that :)

"Trilium Next" is the best name I can come up with in this context.

Edit: by the way, how come my previous comment has been "minimized" and hidden? Does it come out as inadequate?

[AngelShaka]

Thank you for contribution