I am one of xastir's minor developers. Among my additions to the code are the rtree spatial indexing optimization for shapefile rendering, adaptation of the geotiff code to support unprojected rasters, updates to the weather overlay code to support additional display depths. I've mostly taken over maintenance of the "dbfawk" feature, having fixed numerous bugs, memory leaks, and other small issues, and having added the "translucent polygons" feature. I've also hacked on some scripts to convert TIGER/Line data to shapefiles, and maintain a web site of Xastir map data for my local area that includes some tutorial information of more general interest on my personal web site.
Finally, despite a deep-rooted hatred of Microsoft operating systems, I somehow managed to get involved in maintaining the Xastir virtual machine that makes it easier for users of Windows to get Xastir running on their systems. While I was one of the first people to create a virtual machine for wide distribution of Xastir, I no longer maintain one. Others have taken over that chore and are doing a fine job of it.