Stop Using Conventional Commits

Before GitHub

Open Source before GitHub was reputation-driven and full of friction

A method for giving credit to organizations that contribute code to Open Source

By tracking organizational contributions in Git commits, we can give organizations more tangible reasons to fund open source and help sustain it over time.

Something Big Happened in 1998

It is reasonable to accept that OSI founded Open Source with the Open Source Definition.

A DEVELOPER MADE A REAL COMMIT WITHOUT EVER TYPING GIT ADD OR GIT COMMIT -- JUST TO PROVE THE COMMANDS YOU LIVE BY ARE A THIN SHELL OVER A DATABASE YOU'VE NEVER ONCE OPENED 55 minutes from Tim Berglund, a longtime Git teacher and GitHub evangelist, taking the tool apart down to https://t.co/vJNRCmSBb9

A DEVELOPER MADE A REAL COMMIT WITHOUT EVER TYPING GIT ADD OR GIT COMMIT -- JUST TO PROVE THE COMMANDS YOU LIVE BY ARE A THIN SHELL OVER A DATABASE YOU'VE NEVER ONCE OPENED55 minutes from Tim Berglund, a longtime Git teacher and GitHub evangelist, taking the tool apart down to… https://t.co/z8Tf4udInA pic.twitter.com/vJNRCmSBb9— slash1s (@slash1sol) June 4, 2026

Open Source, Incentives, and Why 'Monetize Later' Often Backfires

How misaligned incentives undermine open source projects — and why 'monetize later' often leads to the very restrictions open source was meant to avoid.

Anthony Fu

It’s not a secret that open-source projects are now a critical part of almost every software project. While most open-source projects are maintained by volunteers, the sustainability of these projects becomes a big concern. The recent xz/liblzma vulnerability accident is a great example that shows the importance of open-source projects and how severe the problem could be.

The Missing Middle of Open Source

Why serious, maintainer-driven projects struggle to sustain themselves—and what it will take to fix it.

GitHub Star History

View and compare GitHub star history graph of open source projects.

Contributor Covenant | Contributor Covenant 3

The most widely adopted code of conduct in open source. Stewarded by the Organization for Ethical Source.

A GitHub Issue Title Compromised 4,000 Developer Machines

A prompt injection in a GitHub issue triggered a chain reaction that ended with 4,000 developers getting OpenClaw installed without consent. The attack composes well-understood vulnerabilities into something new: one AI tool bootstrapping another.

Respectful Open Source

Maintainer attention as a finite resource.

Transmutations

We know from experience and empirical analysis that open source and open standards projects drift into oligarchies that struggle to reform themselves and become ossified. Often, we can simply let them die and replace them with fresher alternatives, but when that's a costly option we can learn from theoretical models of institutional change to understand how to compost the oligarchy and regrow the project from within.

Open Source Explained — Open Indie

Musings on the concept of ‘open source’, in the broadest possible definition of the term. Also an invitation to become a participant in ...

Tyranny of Permissionlessness

open source’s narrow focus further empowers those with other ways to exclude

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.