Open Source

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OSPO Notes: Open Source Governance — Who Decides, and How

Every open source project eventually hits a moment where someone has to make a call nobody agreed on in advance — and governance is the system that determines who has the authority to make it. This post walks through every major governance model in plain language, from BDFLs and do-ocracies to lazy consensus and multi-stakeholder consortia, including how mature projects like Kubernetes layer several models at once. MkDocs is included as a real-world example of what happens when governance gets skipped entirely.

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OSPO Notes: How to find your community

Most OSPO leaders think their committers are their community — they’re not. Start with git shortlog -sne to identify contributors, then layer in GitHub Insights and LFX Insights for richer data. For the full picture, spin up GrimoireLab to pull from Slack, Discourse, mailing lists, and more. But the real community — the bug reporters, bloggers, meetup organizers, and lurkers in a Telegram group you’ve never heard of — lives outside your repo entirely. Cast a wide net across social media, forums, and conference talks, and don’t be shy about asking your known community where they hang out.

Open Source Survival Guide

Abstract From navigating different incentive structures to fostering healthy collaboration, this practical session delivers hard-earned wisdom from 25+ years of open source experience. Whether you’re a newcomer curious about contributing or a seasoned maintainer, “Open Source Survival Guide” offers concrete rules that help technical professionals, community leaders, and companies work effectively in open source environments. Learn how to build trust, share knowledge, handle contributions, and avoid the pitfalls that can damage projects and careers. ...

GPL vs. LGPL vs. APGL

A comparison of GPL, LGPL, and AGPL licenses

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Data Deception: OSI's Open Source AI Fallacy

If the current Open Source Initiative’s (OSI) Open Source AI Definition (OSAID) is implemented as is, it could potentially lead to a catastrophe for the open source software community and the OSI itself. The fact that the data doesn’t necessarily have to be reproducible in the draft OSAID is a major concern, paving the way for increased openwashing. Even the NY Times has a page dedicated to openwashing, a clear indication of the significant harm this could inflict. ...