Htop

"Htop" is an open-source, interactive process viewer for Unix systems, maintained by Hisham Muhammad. It has been a critical tool for many users due to its reliability and efficient performance.

Key Points:

1. History and Development: Hisham Muhammad started Htop as a way to address his frustrations with existing tools. Over time, he found it sufficient for his needs and began taking longer breaks from active maintenance 1.
2. Transition to New Maintainers: Htop 3.0 was a significant update, taken over by new maintainers after prolonged inactivity from Hisham. He welcomed this takeover, feeling relieved and happy that the project continued to thrive without him 2.
3. Maintenance Challenges: Hisham faced several challenges, including assessing the validity of community contributions and dealing with complex patches, particularly when it came to supporting multiple operating systems 3 4.
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     1

     Htop's Evolution

     00:05:45
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     2

     Htop 3.0 Surprise

     00:02:59
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     3

     Htop Maintenance Challenges

     00:13:20
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     4

     Open Source Pressures

     00:20:39
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     5

     Open Source Projects

     00:10:16
4. Advice for Open Source Developers: Hisham emphasized the importance of taking breaks to avoid burnout and the role of the open-source community in maintaining and forking projects if necessary 4. He also highlighted the differences in responsibilities among various open-source projects 5.

For a more detailed discussion, you can refer to the How open source saved htop episode on The Changelog.