I am currently working on a report on the causes of burnout in open source software, and am inviting the OSS community to share their thoughts!
Open Source Burnout Claims Another Project
Yet another OSS maintainer quits because of burnout. To fix this, we need better mental health resources for maintainers.
Burnout in Open Source: A Structural Problem We Can Fix Together ✸ Software Stewardship Lab
Burnout is affecting the entire Open Source ecosystem. Here's what we could do to make things better.
Burnout in Open Source: A Structural Problem We Can Fix Together | Open Source Pledge
Burnout is affecting the entire Open Source ecosystem. Here's what we could do to make things better.
What it feels like to be an open-source maintainer
Outside your door stands a line of a few hundred people. They are patiently waiting for you to answer their questions, complaints, pull requests, and feature requests. You want to help all of them,…
What it feels like to be an open-source maintainer
Outside your door stands a line of a few hundred people. They are patiently waiting for you to answer their questions, complaints, pull requests, and feature requests. You want to help all of them,…
The Few, the Tired, the Open Source Coders
The open source movement runs on the heroic efforts of not enough people doing too much work. They need help.
The Missing Middle of Open Source
Why serious, maintainer-driven projects struggle to sustain themselves—and what it will take to fix it.
Red Squares — the GitHub outage graph
A satirical contribution graph: red squares track GitHub.com platform outages instead of green squares tracking commits.
Working in Public: The Making and Maintenance of Open S…
An inside look at modern open source software developer…
Sustainable Open Source: The Maintainers Perspective or: How I Learned to Stop Caring and Love Open Source
Open Source Resistance
A direct-action manifesto for maintainers keeping open source alive on company time.
Open Source Software and Corporate Influence — Andrew Lilley Brinker
Open source software projects are frequently enmeshed with the interests of corporations. We should update mental models of who works on open source accordingly, and build or modify power structures to be more resilient to corporate capture.
Open Source Maintainers Owe You Nothing
This post is heavily inspired by my experience over the last ten years participating in the open source community and eight years as a maintainer of Homebrew (which I’ve maintained longer than anyone else at this point).
tools | suckless.org software that sucks less
🐌 Slow Software for a Burning World 🔥
In a world of “move fast and break things,” we’ve chosen a different tempo — one rooted in care, deep listening, and collective stewardship. Slow software means building for long-term resilience and meaningful participation, rather than chasing novelty, speed, or scale.