Patching/Extending existing open source software?

zerointeger writes: "I am still fairly new to programming in C but was asked to extend an Open source authentication module by my employer. The project is complete, testing has been done and it works as designed. The original code was created and is currently maintained by another. The extended/patch I have created is fairly robust as it includes optional configuration options, additional help files, and several additional files. The problem is I have attempted to contact the original developer/current maintainer without success of having this feature added. I think the only reason why I would like to see this included is to prevent any patching of later revisions. Myself as well as a few others I have spoken with agree that the patch/extension would benefit administrators attempting to push linux onto the desktop as we have done at the University I am currently employed by. Has anyone else submitted patches/extensions to what seems to be a black hole?"