--- title: free open source tools cost me 10 hours a week. here's... description: A developer shares that open source tools cost them roughly 10 hours per week in hidden time taxes. The breakdown: Arch Linux's rolling release model causes... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/gb6zjg9ua twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: free open source tools cost me 10 hours a week. here's where it goes | daily.dev og:description: A developer shares that open source tools cost them roughly 10 hours per week in hidden time taxes. The breakdown: Arch Linux's rolling release model causes... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/gb6zjg9ua og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/gB6ZJg9UA.png og:image:alt: Post cover image og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # free open source tools cost me 10 hours a week. here's where it goes **[Ongoro Blog](https://daily.dev/sources/ongoroblog)** · [@georgeongoro](https://daily.dev/georgeongoro) · 112 upvotes · 27 comments ## Summary A developer shares that open source tools cost them roughly 10 hours per week in hidden time taxes. The breakdown: Arch Linux's rolling release model causes package failures 25-80% of the time depending on how out-of-date the system is, averaging 1.5 hours of debugging per failure. Editor friction in tools like Kate creates hundreds of modal prompts during AI-assisted refactors. And the npm/PyPI ecosystem carries growing security risk, with a 48% increase in malicious packages reported by Kaspersky. The conclusion isn't to abandon open source, but to consciously audit which tools are worth their hidden costs and budget time accordingly. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@fabianletsch** · 25 upvotes > The trick is to choose boring and stable software over bleeding edge. > > > My Linux Mint machine is actually free also in regards to time. I never debug it and i actively use it for software development. Its boring, its not on the bleeding edge, the last release where i said "Wow what a cool feature" was about 10 years ago. > > > The comparison to Mac and Windows in the article feels unfair to me. This is not a Linux vs Mac/Windows thing. **@axtroz** · 22 upvotes > With all respects to the author, I think they should save up and buy a Mac. > > > Without so much respect... How oblivious are you? > > WDYM "manual dependency resolution" ??? Never seen the output of `pacman -Si ` ? That `Depends On` list didn't come through you manually installing every single listed package. Throw in an aur helper, and you get automatic build dependency installation (with the option to cleanup build-deps post-build) and installation of third-party packages. A single-file definition that AI generates in a couple of minutes (chatgpt doesn't event require you to login... **@outofthevoid** · 11 upvotes > what a cry baby! > > stating that windows gracefully handles all software updates is such a joke... **@andradei** · 4 upvotes > I never thought the day would when I'd be the guys that says "I haven't had these issues in years." > But... yep. Been running Arch with an environment I built for several years now and never had any major blocks updating, using, configuring, or doing anything else. > A lot of time was invested initially, however. Like days, weeks, reading and configuring tools. **@astridsawatzky** · 2 upvotes > It is called **bleeding** edge for a reason, isn't it? ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [How much does it cost to use open source software?](https://daily.dev/posts/how-much-does-it-cost-to-use-open-source-software--semacve7r) · Google Open Source Blog · 0 upvotes · 1 comments - [The $8.8 trillion advantage: how open source software reduces IT costs](https://daily.dev/posts/the-8-8-trillion-advantage-how-open-source-software-reduces-it-costs-wjenhvka3) · Ubuntu · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Don't Kill the Goose That Lays the Golden Eggs](https://daily.dev/posts/don-t-kill-the-goose-that-lays-the-golden-eggs-nly5utrph) · Socket · 9 upvotes · 1 comments - [The AI slop problem threatening open source maintainers](https://daily.dev/posts/the-ai-slop-problem-threatening-open-source-maintainers-unezbi42s) · All Things Open · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#security](https://daily.dev/tags/security), [#open-source](https://daily.dev/tags/open-source), [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux), [#npm](https://daily.dev/tags/npm) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/gb6zjg9ua) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"DiscussionForumPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https://daily.dev/posts/gb6zjg9ua","headline":"free open source tools cost me 10 hours a week. here's where it goes","text":"Shared: free open source tools cost me 10 hours a week. here's where it goes","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/gb6zjg9ua","datePublished":"2026-05-19T06:40:39.333Z","dateModified":"2026-05-19T06:41:52.260Z","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"George Ongoro","url":"https://daily.dev/georgeongoro","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--jXl_MleY--/f_auto/v1779359556/avatars/avatar_JCfNZtLPNzTFifdLCBjRk?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","description":"Full-Stack Engineer | Go \u0026 TypeScript | Shipping production software, open-source CLIs, and systems","worksFor":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Geohack","logo":"https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=geohack.top\u0026sz=128"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"EndorseAction"},"userInteractionCount":6520}},"image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--foaA6JGU--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2004","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":112},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":27}],"sharedContent":{"@type":"WebPage","url":"https://api.daily.dev/r/rxAOtKK9F"},"comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"The trick is to choose boring and stable software over bleeding edge.\nMy Linux Mint machine is actually free also in regards to time. I never debug it and i actively use it for software development. Its boring, its not on the bleeding edge, the last release where i said “Wow what a cool feature” was about 10 years ago.\nThe comparison to Mac and Windows in the article feels unfair to me. This is not a Linux vs Mac/Windows thing.","datePublished":"2026-05-19T12:52:48.572Z","dateModified":"2026-05-19T14:27:45.825Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/gB6ZJg9UA#c-kRz0wMCg2","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Fabian Letsch","url":"https://daily.dev/fabianletsch","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocKR6BVy_wn23EoOKq7-BlszlcXcLmASlnb7l-GtS-q1bePnkaJf=s96-c"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":25}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"With all respects to the author, I think they should save up and buy a Mac.\nWithout so much respect… How oblivious are you?\nWDYM “manual dependency resolution” ??? Never seen the output of pacman -Si \u0026lt;package name\u0026gt; ? That Depends On list didn’t come through you manually installing every single listed package. Throw in an aur helper, and you get automatic build dependency installation (with the option to cleanup build-deps post-build) and installation of third-party packages. A single-file definition that AI generates in a couple of minutes (chatgpt doesn’t event require you to login these days) enables you to have an actual, properly tracked package in your OS with all the build-deps and install scripts. What are you on about?\nHow do you manage to break your packages with a system upgrade? The “requires manual intervention” packages are published on the frontpage of the the official website before those packages are available in the repository, with extensive instructions on what to do before you update. They even provide an RSS feed so that you can get that information crunched and chewed for you if you like.\nThen, there’s the Kate issue… Let me fix it for you:\n\nYou’re welcome. No more nagging. I’m not entirely sure how a VSCode/Neovim user did not find this 30 seconds after the initial issue was encountered. Apologies that the defaults don’t cover your expectations.\nOnto the kaspersky report. My brother in Christ, did you seriously figure out that the open source ecosystems are fluffed by a _kaspersky report? _\nMalicious groups are literally announcing they’re gonna f**k s**t up on bloody social media, and you’re surprised when they do that? In the age of AI where everyone with half a brain discovers vulnerabilities??? Brother, AI found memory vulnerabilities in Mac’s billion-dollar secure kernel. What chance does Tom, Dick, or Harry have with their convert-string-to-number NPM package???\nNevermind that - sure, packages are being targetted. Sure, things are broken. So was Windows back in the day (or this year for that matter - 9 major issues locking people out of their PCs, or email, or bluetooth, or all files thanks to bitlocker, and that’s a proprietary OS that should save you time). Clicking a download button abused IE’s lack of security to steal your cookies and turn your facebook profile into a viagra seller. “risk of compromise”? It’s the bloody world, mate!\nAre there problems? Absolutely. The question here is “how do we make it better”? Those 10 hours you budget… Run an AI agent to actually fix those problems. The main difference between open source and proprietary is that you, me, and anyone who has the resources (time or otherwise) have the ability to do something about it, and that’s the beauty of it!\n\nwhat about you?\n\nOpen source has saved me probably years in time; gave me a career, allowed me to learn things that are otherwise gated behind expensive certifications and courses, and allowed me to grow.\nAny open source tool that does its job saves time. As the saying goes, time is money, so that $300 product costs 2 hours and an open source tool readily available from the repo that installs in 5 minutes and gets the job done saves you both. Now, if the tool doesn’t get the job done, that’s another story. But if you’re unsure, that $300 product may not as well. I know I wouldn’t want to write a web server. Or buy one.","datePublished":"2026-05-19T18:47:42.781Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/gB6ZJg9UA#c-UfLbtcTi0","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Iskren Hadzhinedev","url":"https://daily.dev/axtroz","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--C19l3DZF--/f_auto/v1751873071/avatars/avatar_lO9k8VXJCvNZH1yCv4kj6?_a=BAMClqZW0"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":22}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"what a cry baby!\nstating that windows gracefully handles all software updates is such a joke…","datePublished":"2026-05-19T13:49:08.303Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/gB6ZJg9UA#c-DnAboolVY","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Stephan","url":"https://daily.dev/outofthevoid","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--MnblALEP--/f_auto/v1739345945/avatars/avatar_xpAZZGaGPoG0aHloq2cOB"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":11}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"I never thought the day would when I’d be the guys that says “I haven’t had these issues in years.”\nBut… yep. Been running Arch with an environment I built for several years now and never had any major blocks updating, using, configuring, or doing anything else.\nA lot of time was invested initially, however. Like days, weeks, reading and configuring tools.","datePublished":"2026-05-19T18:53:48.436Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/gB6ZJg9UA#c-BN8s8CGwE","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Isaac de Andrade","url":"https://daily.dev/andradei","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/2653546?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":4}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"It is called bleeding edge for a reason, isn’t it?","datePublished":"2026-05-20T11:48:40.769Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/gB6ZJg9UA#c-tLpmO5khu","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Astrid Sawatzky","url":"https://daily.dev/astridsawatzky","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocJbukrgZR9URWebcHm13gYzTT2zAsV42qwW2RDt0GDwLhK_hQ=s96-c"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}}],"isPartOf":{"@type":"WebPage","url":"https://daily.dev/squads/ongoroblog","name":"Ongoro Blog"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ongoro Blog","item":"https://daily.dev/squads/ongoroblog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"free open source tools cost me 10 hours a week. here's where it goes"}]} ```