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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsDuring May 2023, open-source communities marked Maintainer Month with events, stories, and funding initiatives. GitHub’s June 8 retrospective reports that 16 organizations offered 42 activities over 31 days, from meetups and conferences to podcasts and a library of maintainer stories. The month centered on a practical question that remains relevant: how can projects and the people who depend on them make maintenance sustainable?
What happened during Maintainer Month 2023?
In its June 8, 2023 retrospective, GitHub described Maintainer Month as a time for open-source maintainers to gather, share, and be celebrated. The activity took place during May 2023. The figures below are GitHub’s reported totals, not independently audited measurements.
- 31 days, 16 organizations, and 42 activities made up the month, according to GitHub.
- 15 meetups, workshops, and talks convened nearly 500 maintainers, GitHub reported.
- Two conferences gathered thousands of participants: the Linux Foundation’s Open Source Summit North America in Vancouver, Canada, and JupyterCon in Paris, France.
- 24 podcasts and streams featured conversations about maintainership.
- 27 maintainers shared stories in an open library.
One workshop example was “Empowering Open Source Contributors and Building Future Leaders,” held with CHAOSS Project Africa. The podcasts and streams included “The journey to becoming a maintainer with Jessica Tegner” on Open Source Stories and a Sustain podcast episode with Predrag Gruevski and Kingsley Mkpandiok. These examples show the range of formats; they are not a complete list of the 42 activities.
What challenges did the month put in focus?
GitHub’s retrospective grouped maintainer discussions around finding balance, stepping back, and planning for succession. Those themes connect a project’s day-to-day workload with a longer-term question: who can take on responsibility when current maintainers need to reduce their commitments or leave?
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Recognize the people behind widely used projects
A project can have a large user base and a very small maintenance team. At Open Source Summit, Anne Bertucio wrote on the Maintainer Month wall: “Thank you to all the two-maintainers keeping up libraries with 10,000+ users!” GitHub reproduced the message as a social post. It captures why appreciation matters, while also pointing to the imbalance that can arise when a small number of people support widely used software.
Make leadership shareable
The retrospective included examples of people and practices connected to sustainable leadership. Duane O’Brien discussed “Critical Human Infrastructure.” Bob Killen described mentoring contributors into larger maintenance roles so he could eventually step back from some leadership responsibilities. Kelsey Hightower discussed burnout and finding new leaders, while Filippo Valsorda discussed security-oriented maintainership. These are examples featured in the article, not universal findings about every project or maintainer.
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What were companies invited to consider?
GitHub’s company-focused message was to increase support for open-source funding. Its retrospective pointed to a Changelog conversation about corporate sponsorship models and how funds are allocated, Bloomberg’s second round of FOSS Fund nominations, and GitHub sponsorship matching for organizations using Sponsors for Companies. It also described Ockam seeking recommendations in 2023 for sponsorship of people and projects working on systems it called “secure by design.”
These are historical examples of 2023 activity. GitHub’s retrospective does not establish whether any program is open now, who currently qualifies, what terms apply, or whether matching is available. Maintainers and companies should check the official program information before relying on an opportunity or directing funds.
How can you keep supporting maintainers after the event?
GitHub’s closing suggestions translate the month’s themes into small, practical actions:
- Thank a maintainer whose work you rely on. A specific note about what their project enables is more useful than a generic expression of praise.
- If you maintain a project, take stock of your workload. GitHub pointed readers to the Open Source Burnout Checklist and the Maintainer Community for advice, and suggested considering a vacation.
- Share memories and examples of support. GitHub encouraged readers to share Maintainer Month memories to help sustain attention beyond May.
For contributors and organizations, the themes also suggest a broader practice: support continuity, not only releases. That can mean helping new contributors grow into responsible roles, making leadership knowledge easier to share, and considering how a project’s funding and workload are sustained over time.
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