@josh if I find a bug in a piece of software, I report it, and then leave it to the developer to do what they will.
If its a program I use regularly, I maintain my own copy with my own patches in it, and link that to them if they want to use any of it.
If its a program I use regularly *and* care about deeply, I try to pay them for it. Some groups (Darktable!) make it essentially impossible, but I do when I can.