A simple service to keep your Django project dependencies up-to-date.
$12.50 per dependency, per month.

A Litiks maintenance package looks after the ongoing work of keeping your project in a good state of repair. I will ensure that your project's dependencies are kept up-to-date, and that any security patches are applied quickly. While I'm at it; I'll look after basic bugs and performance monitoring, to ensure that your code runs as smooth and as fast as the day you built it.

A maintenance package does not include any developer time for 'new work' on your project, such as adding a new feature or changing a site behaviour. If you'd like to make ongoing improvements to your django project, you may consider adding a service retainer.

Upgrades and Security:

Outdated dependencies can be a liability for your project. With 13 years of experience; I've been working with Django since v0.9. I understand there can be significant challenges transitioning a project to the latest version of Django, but please believe me when I tell you it is always worth it.

Up-to-date code:

• Is cheaper and easier to maintain.
• Has fewer (known) vulnerabilities.
• Makes it easier to onboard new talent, and build new features.

Here's what I'll do:

• I will set you up with a Dockerfile so you have a simple, reliable way to install, inspect, and test your dependencies.
• I will set up tools (like snyk) to actively monitor your dependencies for known vulnerabilities.
• I will keep your project up-to-date with the latest versions of your operating system, python, javascript, and API dependencies. This includes:
• your operating system (ex: ubuntu)
• os-level dependencies (ex: memcached, nginx, python)
• python-level dependencies (ex: django, mysqlclient, python-memcached)
• javascript-level dependencies (ex: jquery)
• 3rd party APIs (ex: custom implementations using requests-oauthlib)
• I will work with your development team to ensure that my changes are well tested, and rolled out in a fail-safe way.
• I will refactor your code when a new dependency release has breaking changes.

Basic Housekeeping:

Sometimes performance issues are slow to appear.

It's easy to miss a performance faux-paux when the database only has 100 records. But 12 months and 200,000 records later; an innocent looking bit of code like `results = list(queryset)[:10]` can become a major issue.

• I will set up error and performance monitoring tools (ex: sentry, AWS x-ray), to help identify bugs and performance hot spots.
• I will address simple bugs and performance improvements, such as fixing a text-encoding bug, optimizing a database query, or adding caching to a common function.
• Hint: To fix the example issue above, you want `results = list(queryset[:10])`

Pricing

The Litiks Maintenance Package is priced at $12.50** per dependency, per month.

** This pricing is more of a guideline. Let's chat!

When determining 'what counts'; there are a few considerations. In general, a dependency is any 3rd party code which is not maintained within your project itself. A common set of dependencies might be: ubuntu, mysql-server, nginx, python, django, mysqlclient, and jquery. A total of 7 dependencies.

You can usually get an idea of the number of dependencies that your project has by reviewing the following files in your project: Dockerfile, requirements.txt, settings.py, and base.html.

Be aware that pip and node packages often define their own dependencies, which can create an enormous dependency graph. My pricing is usually tied to those dependencies which you call directly, but exceptions may be made for a dependency in your stack which is slow to apply upstream updates. If your requirements.txt file is massive, it's likely a 'frozen' snapshot of your dependencies. Try running pipdeptree to view your 'first order' dependencies.

Working with Aaron

Ultimately, this 'maintenance package' is just a suggested scope of work as you sign into a service retainer with Aaron Mader. But it doesn't have to end there. If you decide to add a new feature, or make improvements to your infrastructure, I've got you covered! I offer end-to-end services, so I'm just as comfortable discussing a new user-story with you, as I am transitioning your project to django 3.x.

I'd love to hear from you!