Create Automated Update Tool for Cookiecutter Django

A common request that I see is “how can we update our project to use the current version of Cookiecutter Django”. It’s not an unreasonable request to make, Cookiecutter Django has some pretty awesome features. However, currently the answers I give are:

1. “There isn’t an easy answer.”
2. “Do a diff between your project and what Cookiecutter Django renders.”" Having done this myself and being a core developer, I can attest to how unpleasant and error-prone this process is.
3. “Write a script that does it for you.” Again, having done this, I can tell you it is a pretty challenging process to write and maintain.
4. “I’ve got a solution, but I need you to pay me to implement it.” Unfortunately, that never goes anywhere. Which sucks because while I have a real solution to the problem, unless I get paid to do the work, it requires much more up-front investment of my all-too-limited free time than I can afford to give. Also, it would be followed by an ongoing amount of time I can’t afford to give to maintain the solution.

The more I think about it, the more I want to do Option #4. The problem, of course, is that no one (so far) has been willing to financially support an automatic updating tool. Yet I believe that the problem is common enough that it might be possible to crowd fund a solution.

I’m well aware that @tomchristie made DRF financially maintainable. I don’t need the equivalent of full time wages for this, just enough to justify it.

My idea is to:

• Run a $1000 kickstarter to start a new project called ‘Cookiecutter Django Updater’. If I can’t get $1000 of donations for this effort, then it will be clear the interest isn’t enough for me to put in the time to do it.
• For ongoing maintenance, rely on Patreon to cover the costs of maintaining the tool.
• A potential side effect of this idea is that it will help me cover my time and that of the other core maintainers when it comes to resolving issues and pull requests for Cookiecutter Django.

Before I start on any of this I would like some feedback. Here’s what I would like:

1. A 👍 or 👎 attached to this issue depending on if you like it or not.
2. Any thoughts or feedback that have.

[polinom]

Good quality work should be rewarded. I’m the first one to contribute on kikstarter

[hackebrot]

Not seeing much support for Cookiecutter development so far… 😞