I'm using a router distribution -- no names please -- where the firmware build process is so intricate that their documented way to build LTS .iso images is via a docker based system. I've had very little luck (until recently) in getting that to actually work.
They provide nightly .iso images, but charge an arm-and-a-leg for the LTS images.
I've tried to use their nightlies, but they were subject to considerable churn in the last few months. That resulted in broken firewalls/routers.
I will NOT trust my firewalls to that, sorry.
In their defense, they _do_ have a way for "community members" (i.e. folks unwilling to pay $1000s/year for a stable build) to gain access to the LTS images. However the bar they have set to gain access is so high that my filing a bug they graded as "high priority" and then tracking down and verifying the workaround for a release candidate didn't qualify me to access the images.
I agree there is a gray area, and that the core developers deserve to be paid. I am actually willing to pay them for their software, but not $1000s/year.
In my honest opinion, they have crossed a line.
(Edited: changed "fix" to "workaround" above.)
You're not entitled to builds. You're not entitled to an easy build process. You're not entitled to access to a special LTS branch.
While I agree that it's annoying when an open source project is difficult to build, that's an opportunity for an interested contributor to step in and try to make it better. Not an opportunity for you to whine about it.
There is no "gray area". Consider if this was a proprietary product: you'd get literally nothing without paying, and even if you paid, you'd probably just get a firmware binary, with no access to the source.
You sound like an entitled person who thinks other people should make your life easier and give you stuff, without compensation. I suggest you adjust your expectations and stop assuming people should and will do free labor for you.
As an aside, I'm not surprised the build process is complicated: this isn't building a single library or binary, it's building an entire OS distribution. I'm sure the entirety of Debian or OpenWRT is difficult to build as well.
Edit: This bit just really got to me:
> I will NOT trust my firewalls to that, sorry.
Then pay! This idea that your firewalls deserve to be safe and secure and maintainable just because you want them to be, but are apparently not willing to pay for the software to make it so... do you seriously not see how ridiculous that is?
If you're unhappy with how this particular vendor gives away its free stuff, and don't want to pay for the product that you really want, find another vendor. If none exist that you're happy with, that is not the problem of any of these project maintainers. It's yours, and you get to solve it by writing code on your own, or by paying someone else to do it for you. You're not entitled to anything!