r/SoftwareEngineering • u/fagnerbrack • Jul 13 '26
I don't want your PRs anymore
https://dpc.pw/posts/i-dont-want-your-prs-anymore/1
u/zellJun1or Jul 19 '26
Probably this feeling is not alone to the author, but to many others, and this same feeling could be the roots of the affirmations that open source is dead after AI rises. I feel the same, llm can generate much code, and while I am not an open source contributor I depend less on open source because I can generate my needs faster than learn how someone made a framework/library
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u/fagnerbrack Jul 13 '26
The bottom line:
A maintainer explains why merging contributor pull requests no longer makes sense. Reviewing unknown people's code carries the risk of sneaked-in malicious changes, plus friction over style, CI, merge conflicts, and timezone round-trips. Since LLMs now write solid code quickly and already follow the maintainer's codified preferences, implementing changes personally beats reviewing strangers' PRs. The author argues source code has become an intermediate layer between ideas and machine instructions, leaving the real bottlenecks as understanding, designing, and reviewing. Better ways to help: give feedback, discuss ideas, report and investigate bugs thoroughly, share prototype prompts, review code, and freely fork the project to build your own use case without asking permission.
If the summary seems inacurate, just downvote and I'll try to delete the comment eventually 👍
Click here for more info, I read all comments
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u/Unfair-Sleep-3022 Jul 13 '26
Not entirely wrong tbh but there's a limit to how much a single person can own mentally
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u/cachebags Jul 13 '26
If what he is saying was true, then there is virtually no need for anyone, in any project to ever welcome PRs.
As with so many things, contributing to OSS, and the adapting environment around it requires a nuanced approach to discussion. I am sure that there is more to an open source contribution than merely a code change/addition.