Professional maintainers: a wake-up call

Open Source software runs the Internet, and by extension the economy. This is an undisputed fact about reality in 2021. And yet, the role of Open Source maintainer has failed to mature from a hobby into a proper profession.

The Missing Middle of Open Source

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

Sustainable Open Source: The Maintainers Perspective or: How I Learned to Stop Caring and Love Open Source

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 ...

Nibble Stew: The Nine Phases of an Open Source Project Maintainer

There is more to running an open source project than writing code. In fact most of all work has to do with something else. This places addit...

I Don’t Want to Know What “Open Source” Means

I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all on GitHub.

Coraline Ada Ehmke: The Rising Ethical Storm in Open Source

In the twenty years since the term “open source” was coined by Christine Peterson, our community has grown astronomically, all the while learning from its successes and failures. A lot has changed for open source developers in the past two decades. But the political and technological landscape has also changed.

The shape of open source

At its core, open source is about collaboration. Whether it’s version control, licenses, or issue trackers—everything exists to support people working with each other. Open source embodies a model for…

Open Source Resistance

A direct-action manifesto for maintainers keeping open source alive on company time.

Twelve tips for growing communities around your open source project | Ben Balter

Publishing code isn't enough. Twelve practical tips to attract users, welcome contributors, and grow a healthy open source community.

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.

Open source and the software supply chain

Managing something as esoteric as resources for building software with a variety of contributions made by the open source community is more amorphic.

Give Away Your Code, But Never Your Time — William Gross

As software developers, I think we can agree that open-source1 code has transformed the world. Its public nature tears down the walls that prevent some pieces of software from becoming the best they can be. The problem is that too many valuable projects stagnate, with burned-out leaders:

The Minimally-nice Open Source Software Maintainer

Being involved in open source software is rewarding, yeah? You start off contributing to your favorite project, and it feels so heartwarming when that project’s maintainers recognize your effort. Then a few years later you somehow end up responsible for that project, and maybe some satellite projects, and people are clamoring for your attention, and your inbox is never empty, and it’s exhausting and terrifying, and the skills necessary to cope with all the personalities involved are entirely different from the skills you used to get your foot in the door in the first place.

The Minimally-nice Open Source Software Maintainer

Being involved in open source software is rewarding, yeah? You start off contributing to your favorite project, and it feels so heartwarming when that project’s maintainers recognize your effort. Then a few years later you somehow end up responsible for that project, and maybe some satellite projects, and people are clamoring for your attention, and your inbox is never empty, and it’s exhausting and terrifying, and the skills necessary to cope with all the personalities involved are entirely different from the skills you used to get your foot in the door in the first place.

Open Source Initiative

The steward of the Open Source Definition, setting the foundation for the Open Source Software ecosystem.